WARNER ROBINS — The good book says, “And a child shall lead them…”

In the Region 1-AAAAA tournament championship game on Saturday, the Tift County Blue Devils were led by their child — freshman Donell Tuff.

Tuff had 11 fourth-quarter points, including the game winner on a goaltending call with 9.6 seconds left to lead the Blue Devils to a 75-73 victory over the Lowndes Vikings at Houston County High in Warner Robins.

Tuff got the basket after the Blue Devils stole the ball away from Lowndes. The Vikings came down the floor and found Justin Mayfield for a 3-pointer, but the ball bounced off the rim and Tift celebrated their first tournament championship since 2002 under Tommy Blackshear.

With the league title, the 23-4 Blue Devils will host a first-round Class AAAAA state playoff game Friday night at The Palace.

Lowndes (17-11) also earned a home playoff game against an opponent from Region 4-AAAAA. That region will hold the championship and consolation games today at Creekside High.

“It’s unreal — I can’t believe it,” Tift head coach Eric Holland said.

“The kids worked hard. It is a true testament to hard work.”

Tuff’s 16 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and steal were the closing act to a fabulous opener by Blue Devil center Breon Dixon.

The junior scored the first 14 points for Tift in the game, as the Devils broke out to a 14-7 lead midway through the first quarter. Dixon finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks, two assists and a steal, one night after leading Tift to a win over Coffee High with 16 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks.

The Vikings played well at times, but never led the game at any point, as Tift held an eight-point first-quarter lead, and a 39-36 halftime lead.

Lowndes outscored Tift 22-17 in the second quarter, behind nine points from Mayfield. The Vikings got to within one on two occasions early in the third quarter on baskets by Robert Powell.

But after each Powell basket, Tift answered with buckets by Jerome Graydon and Vernon Moore. Colby Neloms then had a steal and an assist to Moore with six minutes left in the third quarter to give Tift a 45-40 lead.

The Blue Devils would own a 54-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter and with Tift leading 58-55, the Devils got a basket by Tuff, and four consecutive free throws by Moore and Neloms to extend the Tift lead to 64-55 with 5:20 left in the game.

The teams would trade baskets until the 2:24 mark when Tift led 71-62 after a pair of Rod Downs free throws.

From there, the Vikings would make their move. The ever-dangerous Lowndes team, who earlier in the tournament scored 42 fourth-quarter points to defeat Houston County, got a basket by Brian Moore. Then Brian Wright (who had 34 points in the Houston game) got a free throw, before Moore hit two more at the charity stripe on the Vikings’ next possession.

Wright then capped the 8-0 Viking run with a 3-pointer to draw Lowndes to within one at 71-70 with 1:25 left in the game.

Tuff would then hit a pair of free throws five seconds later to give the Blue Devils a 73-70 lead that was erased on a Kenneth Durden 3-point basket with 1:04 remaining in the contest.

That would set up Tuff’s shot, and the subsequent goaltending call on Powell.

Besides Dixon and Tuff, Moore had 12 points. Downs and Neloms had eight points apiece. Neloms also had six assists and three steals. Graydon had six points, six rebounds and four assists. Trent Hillman added four points and five rebounds off the bench.

Mayfield led a balanced scoring attack for the Vikings with 13, while LaVonta Jones had 11 points and Wright and Moore added 10 apiece.

Powell had nine, and Durden and Moses Mitchell chipped in with eight points each.

Coffee defeated Valdosta 90-83 in overtime in the consolation game. Jay Rome led all-scorers with 52 points for the Wildcats (20-5), while the Trojans (19-7) were paced by Trevis Simpson’s 46 points.

Valdosta, the regular season champion, will likely face No. 1-ranked Westlake High in the first round of the playoffs, barring an upset.