Jeraldo Zermeno tries a free kick during the second half.

TIFTON – The first home region soccer games for the Tift County Blue Devils ended in a split Friday night.

The Lady Devils scored three times in the first half and defeated Lowndes, 3-0. The Vikings also scored thrice in the first half, and topped the Tift boys by a 4-0 margin.

Tift girls coach Zac Martin said he was “pretty excited” by the result.

“We hustled,” he said.

The Lady Devils challenged Lowndes all night, never giving the Vikettes a chance to breathe. Every step they took saw a Tift player step with them. Lowndes was harried on pass attempts to the point even clearing the ball was an issue.

Lowndes did not have a chance to settle in before Tift County was on the scoreboard.

Claire Kimbrell’s shot from deep hit the top right corner of the net for a 1-0 game at 36:31.

“That was a great goal,” Martin said.

Tift kept up the pressure, missing on a corner kick two minutes later. A header by Betsy Brooks was high and Maggie Clark just missed a pass in front of the goal during the first half of the first period.

Their hard work finally paid off at 7:18 when Emma Choate, despite being thoroughly covered by two defenders, hit a shot in front of the goal.

Choate scored again at 2:22 on a penalty kick after Tift was fouled near the net.

Nearly all of the first half was played in Tift territory. Lowndes had a corner kick at 29 minutes, but the Lady Devils knocked away the try.

Lowndes’ defense tightened in the second period, though the Lady Devils’ barrage never ceased.

A series of impressive saves by the Vikettes’ keeper denied Clark multiple goals. Alexandria Heard and Lupe Osorio also had shots saved.

Lowndes’ best chance at scoring came midway through the second period, but Brooke Smith was there to preserve the shutout.

While few balls came her way, Smith was a major reason for Tift’s win, said Martin. Whenever Tift needed to clear in their territory, Lady Devils players passed to Smith, who got the job done every time.

“They looked pretty good tonight,” Martin said. The win improved their record to 7-2, 2-0 in Region 1. The shutout was their fifth of the year.

Whereas the Lady Devils keep Lowndes on its heels all night, the Blue Devils had less luck with the Vikings.

A handful of players were out of the lineup with illness or injury and Richey Hernandez had to sit out after receiving a red card last week against Colquitt County. The absences forced head coach Bobby Earls to make some alterations to his lineup.

Lowndes scored 10 minutes into the game after being able to retain possession after a failed free kick. The score increased to 2-0 when Lowndes banged in a goal into the right side of the net at 16:46.

Rosendo Ramirez made diving saves to hold Lowndes at bay, but another free kick try was successful at 6:13, which wound up first half scoring.

Tift had more success controlling the ball in the second half, but the Vikings’ defense was impenetrable. Armando Garcia was stopped twice in the first four minutes of the half.

Jeraldo Zermeno and C.J. Copeland were stopped as well, Copeland’s shot almost slipping out of the keeper’s hands.

The pressure, said Earls, made him proud.

“We showed a lot of heart and composure,” he said. “I thought we won the second half.”

Lowndes added its fourth score at 18:28. Ramirez had plenty more saves to his name during the half.

“Rosendo played great,” Earls said.

The loss dropped Tift to 0-2 in Region 1. He said they would be back to work Monday, preparing for a non-region game at Deerfield-Windsor Tuesday and a region road game at Camden County next Friday.

Camden County is 0-2 in region competition following a 7-0 loss to Colquitt County Friday.

After Camden, Tift has another road game, a non-region contest at Veterans High March 20 before returning home March 23 to play Colquitt County.