Steve Carter/News Editor
CNHI
TIFTON —
Historians will not look back at Friday night’s Tift County Blue Devil-Shiloh High General football game as a prime example of a well-played game. Five different scores came as a result of either fumbles or bad snaps from center, but at the end, Tift’s defense stood tall and the result was a 32-14 win for the Devils.
The win puts Tift at 2-1 on the year as one of the top teams in the state, the Stephenson High Jaguars, will come to Tifton’s Brodie Field next week. Stephenson went to 2-0 on the year Friday with a 24-18 win over Cedar Grove.
Even though Shiloh outgained Tift by a 173-127 advantage in total yardage in the first half Friday, the Devils still had a 17-6 lead at intermission.
The 17 points were unanswered as Shiloh took advantage of a Tift miscue for its first score.
Two plays after the Generals’ Wesley Washington recovered a fumble by Tift’s Markeith Hayes, Ellis Livsey went 60 yards for a touchdown.
A try for two failed and Shiloh was up 6-0 with 10:44 left in the first quarter.
Tift held Shiloh and forced a punt on the Generals’ next possession. A low snap from center on the attempted kick forced the General punter to cover the ball on the Shiloh 4.
On the next play, Hayes raced in around the right side for the Devils’ first score of the night. A bad snap on the attempted point after resulted in kicker Griffin Martin being tackled, and the score was 6-6 with 6:14 left in the first.
After Tift’s Patrick Atwater caused a fumble that was returned 38 yards by Alex Martin to Shiloh 14, the Generals held and forced a 31-yard field goal by Martin.
Later in the first half, Tift scored the only touchdown that was not the result of a miscue.
After a punt went dead on the Tift 15, the Devils went 85 yards on 10 plays for a score. That touchdown came on a Nick Utley 4-yard reception from Tadric Jackson with 2:23 left in the half.
Jakevin Jackson had couple of nice catches on the drive, but the big play was a 42-yard pass from Tadric Jackson to Trent Hillman on a 2nd-and-8 play from the Shiloh 47.
The miscues continued in the third quarter as a fumble recovery by Tift’s Terrance Felton led to a 7-play, 81-yard scoring drive.
Tadric Jackson scored the touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 5:54 left in the third. The big play of the drive was a 52-yard run by Hayes.
After Shiloh recovered a fumble by Tift’s Gerald Pledger on a punt return, the Generals went 76 yards on seven plays for their final score of the night. That touchdown came on a D.J. Brown-to-Derrick Butts 12-yard pass. Sam Muse ran the ball in for two, and the score was 23-14 at that point with 1:30 left.
Tift would then put the game out of reach with a pair of fourth quarter scores. One came on a 19-yard pass from Tadric Jackson to Drew Davis, and the other came on a safety when Bre’nard Williams sacked Brown in the endzone with 8:33 left in the game.
Demetrius King, Ricky Sutton and Steven Waters were among the Devils that had other strong nights on defense. After gaining 173 yards on offense in the first half, Shiloh only managed 98 in the second half, 76 of that coming on the Generals’ one scoring drive.
Muse had eight carries for 83 yards in the contest for Shiloh, while Brown was 9-for-19 passing for 123 yards.
Tift managed 288 yards of offense in the game. Tadric Jackson was 13-of-18 passing for 157 yards. Hillman had four catches for 85 yards receiving, while Jakevin Jackson had three catches for 26 yards. Hayes ended the game with nine carries for 110 yards.
