KINGSLAND — The Tift County Blue Devils are back in the playoffs hunt.

They defeated the Camden County Wildcats Friday night, 37-34, in overtime. It raised their overall record to 6-2 and, more importantly, a 1-2 mark in Region 1-AAAAAA. Camden (5-3, 0-3) had been ranked 10th in the Georgia Sports Writers Association poll.

The victory came on a Tajhea Chambers sneak up the middle on 2nd-and-goal from the 1 with Tift trailing by 3 points. His sneak came two plays after he dove for 2 on 4th down at the 5.

Camden had the ball first in overtime after the Devils won the toss. Starting at their 15, they drove down to the 7 where the defense held firm. Hudson Jordan booted a 24-yard field goal to give them a 34-31 lead.

It took an unbelievable comeback by the Blue Devils to even get to overtime.

At 8:25 in the 4th quarter, they were on the edge of doom, down 10 points and Malik Henry had just been tackled at the 9 yard line after the kickoff. But fate — and penalty flags — were in their favor. Camden was penalized for a personal foul, pushing the starting point to the 24; they would be called twice more for 15-yard infractions during the drive.

It still was not the easiest of possessions. Chambers lost 11 yards on a fumble near midfield, but a late hit on the next play advanced it to the 29. From there, Henry caught a 1st down pass, then ran for an 11-yard touchdown two plays later. At 5:17, they had cut the margin to 31-28.

The defense held the Wildcats to a 4-and-out and received possession again at their 47. Chambers-to-Malik Johnson for 18 yards picked up a big 1st down at the 43, then John Reid reached into his bag of tricks with a double pass from Henry to Chambers that carried them to the 17.

This time, though, it would be the ‘Cat defense who stiffened and Frankie Mejia was brought in to try a field goal from the 15 with 24 seconds left. His kick was true and the score was knotted at 31. The Wildcats moved upfield some in the limited time left, but opted for runs to send the game to overtime.

The wildness of the 4th quarter was only rivalled by the 1st, when each team scored 14.

Tift was ready to play Friday. That was evident immediately as Henry took the opening kickoff 45 yards to the 35. It would only take them six plays to land in the endzone, a 5-yard pass from Chambers to Quay Duggins. Mejia booted the extra point and Tift had 7 on the scoreboard at 9:20.

Camden, however, showed the power that had been evident all year when Brandon McMaster burst through a loaded box of defenders for a 70-yard score to tie the game at 7.

Tift quickly responded. With the ‘Cats helping on a personal foul, they made their way into enemy territory. They picked up 10 on a catch by R.J. Merriweather, then used the legs of Chambers and Berry Bennett, the latter scoring on a 16-yard run. On that run, Bennett looked to be stuck in traffic at the line of scrimmage, but emerged in the secondary and outran his pursuers over the goal line.

The quarter concluded scoring on a 48-yard pass from Antonio Hamilton to Centarius Williams at 1:29.

Both sides settled down in the 2nd. Neither scored, but Tift appeared to have made a vital error when Bennett fumbled at the 32 very late in the period. Jordan lined up for a long field goal attempt, but a Devil gunner blocked it.

Camden struck first in the 3rd, on a 32-yard field goal by Jordan to give them their first lead at 17-14. Tift would take the lead back less than two minutes later when Chambers ran it in from the 4. Disaster then struck for them as Antonio Wimbush took the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown to give the ‘Cats the lead right back.

The game seemed out of reach for Tift after a pair of personal foul penalties backed them up. Punting from his own 14, Mason Gann’s kick was blocked by Dondre Winn, who fell on the ball in the endzone. That increased Camden’s lead to 31-21 with 8:25 remaining.

Bennett was an unsung hero for the offense, rushing for an unofficial 102 yards. Chambers ran for 83 on 18 carries and had a near perfect game passing, going 22-29 with one interception. Johnson and Henry each had 9 catches.

McMaster led with 91 yards rushing. Hamilton was 6-9 for 75 yards.

Both teams are idle next week.

This was the first overtime game for Tift County since 2006, when they beat Colquitt in three overtimes.