Devils attempt to tame Cats

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Tift County quarterback Ryan Wedgeworth pitches to a Devils back against Camden County Bob Dandeneau

October 18, 2012

Devils attempt to tame Cats

Becky Taylor CNHI The Tifton Gazette Thu Oct 18, 2012, 08:00 PM EDT

TIFTON — The Tift County Blue Devils will host the Valdosta Wildcats tonight at 8 p.m. and get another try at cracking their losing streak and moving up in the Region 1- AAAAAA standings. Their skid increased to four straight after last week’s 47-0 loss to Camden County.

The Devils will be fac- ing a Valdosta team with two-game losing streak. They were defeated by Camden County, 43-6. Then, the Cats lost in the final seconds on a field goal to the Lowndes Vikings last week, 17-14.

“They sure did,” said Tift head coach John Reid about Valdosta having played a heartbreaker.

The Winnersville Clas- sic, like in so many years, was a tight battle through- out. Lowndes had a 3-0 at the half but the Wildcats scored on their first pos- session of the third quar- ter to take a 7-3 lead.

Lowndes cut the lead to one with another field goal, but saw it increase to

eight points when Valdosta quarterback Shelby Wilkes scored a touchdown on the opening play of the final quarter.

The Vikings tied the game a few minutes later, but a break allowed them to win. With less than two minutes left, Wilkes threw an interception in his own territory, setting up the field goal.

Reid said he does not think that at this point in the season that the effects of such an emotional loss will carry over from week to the next for Valdosta.

“They’re pretty well coached,” he said.

Valdosta enters tonight’s game with a 3-3 record. One of their other losses has been similarly close. In the second week of the season, they were defeated by one of Class AA’s top teams, Brooks County, 28-24. Their other loss was to Camden Coun- ty, 43-6, in their region opener. Lowndes has been their only other Region 1- AAAAAA opponent.

Like the Cats, Tift has been shut out so far in region wins.

The Blue Devils lost at Coffee, 24-7, to start region action, then hosted Colquitt County and were defeated, 49-7, and last week saw them travel to Camden.

In Kingsland, John Reid made some adjustments, most noticeably with Ryan

Wedgeworth. Wedgeworth, who nor-

mally starts at quarter- back, saw quite a bit of game action against Cam- den, playing on both sides of the ball.

In addition to his quar- terbacking duties, he spent

several series as a member of the defensive secondary. Reid said the experi-

ment probably would last more than one game and “hopefully” Wedgeworth would be playing more de- fense.

After tonight’s game,

the Devils will have anoth- er home game against an- other team hailing from Valdosta. Lowndes will be visiting next week. The Vikings, currently sitting at 7-0, are hosting Coffee tonight.

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