Brooke Smith

TIFTON — Ten Tift County soccer players will get special recognition Tuesday evening. Between games with Thomas County Central in Tifton the group will be honored as part of Senior Night festivities.

“They’ve been incredible,” said Lady Devils head coach Zac Martin. The girls and boys teams are close. Martin assisted Bobby Earls’ Blue Devils for several seasons before taking over the Lady Devils this year. Earls spends much time working with the girls, even with a full plate with the boys team.

Each squad has five senior players.

The Blue Devils are to celebrate C.J. Copeland, Richey Hernandez, Carlos Osorio, Marc Renner and Jeraldo Zermeno. The Lady Devils’ five are Betsy Brooks, Emma Choate, Ashlee Golden, Claire Kimbrell and Brooke Smith. Choate is a technically a junior, but will graduate a year early. She signed with Birmingham Southern (Ala.) in February to play soccer at the collegiate level.

“They’ve been role models to these younger kids,” said Earls. “They’ve worked hard.”

Martin described his group as “wonderful leaders” and that he was “pretty excited by their futures.”

Tuesday’s girls game is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. Senior Night activities should occur around 7 p.m.

Both coaches prefer to have Senior Night against a non-region opponent, but warn that their battles with the Yellow Jackets won’t be easy ones.

“TCC is no slouch,” said Earls.

The Blue Devils are 6-5-2 in 2018 and the Jackets are 6-2. Their only losses are to Veterans High, both by single-goal margins. Tift lost 4-0 to Veterans. TCC also has wins over Lowndes and Colquitt County.

The Lady Jackets enter with a 3-7 mark, which also includes a win over Colquitt. They demolished Bainbridge in their last outing, 7-0. Tift is 10-3-1 and have won their last two matches by a combined score of 12-0. They are 4-0 in conference play and lead Region 1 in the standings.

Martin thinks the Lady Devils can advance far into the state tournament. He was hopeful that spring break reenergized his team and that they were able to heal up some injuries. Tift’s girls did not practice during the week, but will be back on the field Monday.

Earls’ Devils jumped back into the thick of the race for a state tournament home game by defeating Camden County 2-1 before the break. A Colquitt win over Lowndes Tuesday would clinch region for the Packers. Second place is still up in the air, but Tift needs victories in both of their remaining region games to have a shot at the slot.

Tift will host Camden Friday before wrapping the region slate at Lowndes April 17. State is set to begin a week after the region finale.