TIFTON — The soccer teams of Tift County High had vastly different fortunes against Region 1 rival Colquitt County Friday night.

The Lady Devils stormed Colquitt for a 6-0 victory, but the boys could not break the ice against the Packers, falling 5-0.

“We played well, we played hard,” said head coach Zac Martin, whose squad improved to 4-0 in the region and 9-3-1 overall.

Tift and Colquitt were scoreless for the first 30 minutes of the contest. The Lady Devils had not been able to punch in a penalty kick and Maggie Clark’s pass in front of goal was not able to find a teammate. The Lady Packers’ goalkeeper kept up the shutout by corralling loose balls on occasion, once between Clark and Betsy Brooks and another as Lupe Osorio approached.

A throw-in and shot by Anslee Bassett changed their fortunes with 14 minutes to go in the half. Bassett and Clark were both in front of the net, Bassett providing the score.

The floodgates opened after the first goal.

Emma Choate cleaned up a rebound with five minutes remaining for a 2-0 lead. As time wound down, Claire Kimbrell intercepted a Colquitt attempt to clear. She made her way to the corner, then towards goal, finding a charging Clark open in front of the net. With mere seconds before intermission, Tift had a three-goal lead.

The pressure continued in the second half.

Osorio and Clark almost connected on another goal and Choate had a shot clank off the crossbar four minutes into the period.

A minute later, Clark provided her second goal of the afternoon.

Colquitt got the ball to Tift’s half of the field, but were not able to mount a scoring attack. A clearing pass went to Choate at midfield, who with a tap of the foot, sent the ball to Caroline Vickers. Vickers passed to a wide open Osorio, who made the Lady Packers pay with 32 minutes remaining.

Osorio and Anna Mendoza both had shots hit off the post during the half before Kimbrell wrapped up scoring with the squad’s sixth goal with 2:09 left in the game.

“Emma and Betsy really controlled the midfield,” said Martin. Brooks had to exit the game after a scary moment during the second period when she was upended and hit the turf. Brooks was helped off the field and watched the rest of the contest from the sidelines.

Martin also praised Kimbrell and Chayla Lopez for their work on defense.

“Rock solid as always,” he said.

COLQUITT 5, BLUE DEVILS 0

The Packers’ defense tortured Tift County all evening Friday. They flew all over the field, breaking up passes and allowed few shots on goal.

Colquitt scored twice in the first half, once goal at 27:05, another at 11:37, coming from Abram Sanchez and Ruben Gonzalez.

Jeraldo Zermeno had two close calls during the half. His free kick was wide right at 4:30 and the Packers snatched his other free kick try with 17 seconds in the period.

After a stalemate to open the second half, Emanuel Rodriguez banged in a shot at 22:58 to increase Colquitt’s lead to 3-0.

Richey Hernandez nearly broke Tift into the scoring column with a shot that hit the crossbar and a diving save prevented Zermeno from scoring four minutes later.

Carlos Osorio ran down a Colquitt forward to block his path to the goal, but the Packers soon found the net again.

Raymon Garcia found the right corner with 3:30 left. Tift was unable to clear after a Colquitt shot, which led to Colquitt’s fifth and final goal by Brandon Mendez at 1:08.

“They came out on fire,” said Tift boys head coach Bobby Earls after Colquitt’s win.

Earls listed all the ways his team tried to keep the Packers out of goal.

“We tried five midfielders, we tried three forwards,” he said.

Fortunately, Tift has a break in the region schedule coming up. They visit Cairo Tuesday for a non-region game, then won’t play again until April 10, another non-region game against Thomas County Central. Tift’s next region games double as Senior Night, with Camden County coming in April 13.

The Blue Devils are 1-3 in Region 1 play. Colquitt and Lowndes both have 3-1 marks. Camden County is 1-3 as well.

The Lady Devils lead the girls’ region race at 4-0. Camden has a 3-1 record after defeating Lowndes Friday. Lowndes is 1-3 and Colquitt is 0-4.