I was going to do a column about Friday night’s football game and mention just how bad the officiating was in that contest.

But if you were within 200 miles of Brodie Field Friday night, you know about the officials.

With that being said, I am going to just talk about the positive, which is of course, the Tift County Blue Devils are going to the Georgia Dome. Even more importantly, the Devils are now within one game of playing for a state title.

North Gwinnett had been ranked No. 1 in the state for most of the year by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Bulldog quarterback Michael Tamburo had been made to sound like another quarterback named Michael that plays in Atlanta, you know the one that told fans they were No. 1 last week.

But, after the Tift defense got through with Tamburo, the sophomore probably didn’t even feel like raising a finger to remove his uniform at the end of the game.

Since he was hit so much, if Tamburo had gotten an autograph on every bruise that he was given, his body would have been a good collector’s item for a Tift County football fan this season.

“It was a complete team effort,” Tift defensive end Anthony Woods said after the game. “We got pressure on him and kept him contained. The linebackers came in to make plays and our secondary kept everyone covered.”

As Woods said, Tift’s defense totally controlled the contest, especially in the second half.

In the final 24 minutes, Tamburo was completely shut down as he and the Bulldogs’ vaunted offense could not even muster a first down.

Like I said I was going to make this a positive piece, so I can truthfully say the Devils POSITIVEly beat up the North Gwinnett offense.

DON’T FORGET THE TIFT OFFENSE: While the Tift County defense deserves a lot of praise for the way they shut down the Bulldogs’ offense, we should not forget the Blue Devil offense.

Tift was playing against a good North Gwinnett defense and had a tough go of it for most of the contest.

However, the Devils did figure out a way to put up points.

Sean Baxley was able to complete some passes and Kaream Hess finally began to wear down the Bulldog offense with his running.

I was especially happy to see Marqus King and Lanarius McKinley score the two touchdowns.

Those two guys are fine examples of what the Tift County team has been this year. Neither of them are flashy, but both of them figure out a way to get the job done.

Friday’s game was just typical of the Blue Devils’ season. They are not pretty, they are just finding a way to win.

I called last year’s team “The Blue Collar Blue Devils.” I think that term is appropriate this year, as well.

TICKETS: Tift County is expected to get an allotment of tickets for Saturday’s game at the Georgia Dome against the Roswell High Hornets. Head coach Jay Walls is supposed to attend a meeting today to discuss the matter, but he said Saturday the school should have tickets available.

The tickets will be $15 each. A spectator can watch all five football games that will be played that day for the price of one ticket.

If you can’t get tickets from the school, you can get them at the Dome box office, which will open at 8 a.m. Saturday.

For more information about the tickets, read Tuesday’s Gazette.

ONE OTHER THING: For those of you that didn’t know, my 8-year old nephew, Tripp McKee, was in an accident a week ago today.

Tripp broke the femur in his right leg and he is expected to take up to 10 weeks to recover.

Most of you that know me know how close I am to Tripp and his sister, Carter. I just wanted to tell all of you thank you for taking the time to ask me how he is doing.

I especially wanted to thank Jay Walls and the Tift County football team for signing a football for Tripp and for continually asking me about his condition.

I also wanted to thank the folks at Tift Regional that helped Tripp, as well as my sister, Stephanie, and brother-in-law, Von.