TIFTON — The Tift County Board of Education approved the 2016 Blue Devil football schedule at their meeting Tuesday night.

This year’s schedule will be perhaps the most ambitious for the squad, featuring five home games, three on specifically on the road and two at neutral sites. All 10 regular season opponents, as well as the scrimmage, will be against teams who made the playoffs in 2015. Two are against state finalists, with Colquitt County being defending state champs. Fitzgerald also reached the championship game.

The schedule starts with a Aug. 12 scrimmage at home against Turner County. Schools from the two towns have not met on the gridiron for a regular season game since Ashburn High in 1928.

Head coach Ashley Anders said it would be beneficial for both sides. Former Tift assistant Ben Simmons patrols the sidelines at Turner and besides being under the lights of Brodie Field, it will be beneficial for the locals, too, as it will be the first time for many of them on the big field.

The remainder of the regular season gets going Aug. 19 with South Effingham at Georgia Southern’s Paulson Stadium. Aug. 26 is Cook at home, Sept. 1 will be a Thursday night game against ThunderRidge (Colorado) at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida. After is Valdosta at home Sept. 16, home against Parkview Sept. 16, at Coffee Sept. 23 and home against Fitzgerald Sept. 30. The Region 1 schedule then begins at Lowndes Oct. 14, home with Colquitt Oct. 21 and at Camden County Nov. 4.

South Effingham and ThunderRidge will be the Blue Devils’ first neutral site games in 10 years, with ThunderRidge being

their most distant opponent ever.

Getting to Orlando was a process that was begun a year ago, Anders said. He applied to play there and they were selected. He was given a list of teams recommended as competition and got in touch with their head coach, Joe Johnson.

“We thought we matched up well,” said Anders. The two are similar in size. Wikipedia lists three state championships

for the Grizzlies, despite being only 20 years old. They were 7-5 last year, according to the Denver Post.

In addition to the varsity contest, there will also be a junior varsity game between the schools, he said.

The other neutral game will be at Statesboro.Though Anders is a former Georgia Southern assistant, he said scheduling

this game came through Devil assistant Mike West.

When West was head coach at Metter, they played a 2013 game there and he was able to use his connections to set up a

game for Tift.”It will bring back memories,” said Anders of his days at GSU. Some things have changed, though. Paulson Stadium has expanded and there is also matter of the field itself.

“We’ll have the first game on Paulson Stadium turf,” he said. The artificial surface is currently being installed.

The rest of the opponents are a mix of new and old. All games have been arranged with the purpose of helping Tift out

in the long run. “As a staff,” he said, “we decided to play quality competition.” Six schools went two rounds or deeper

into state.

He is also excited to bring back some old rivalries. Though some of the other schools, such as Parkview, are not area

teams, the travel will be a bonus for potential postseason games. Parkview will be here this year, but in Lilburn next. “It will help our kids prepare for travel,” he said, referring to the deeper rounds of the state playoffs.