Blue Devils sweep weekend soccer opponents

Published 12:00 pm Monday, February 14, 2022

TIFTON — The Tift County Blue Devils are two wins richer following their annual Metro Atlanta trip.

Tift defeated another set of Blue Devils, Marietta, on Friday night. Saturday, they rolled past Dutchtown. The Lady Devils fell in both matches, but picked up valuable experience.

The Devils defeated Marietta in overtime, 3-2, Jonathan Salazar booting the winning goal in the first overtime session. The teams tied, 2-2, in regulation, three of the goals coming in quick order.

Head coach Bobby Earls said Tift scored with 42 seconds remaining in the first half. In most games, that would be enough to make to halftime, but Marietta tied it, 1-1, with 3 seconds on the clock. To top it off, Tift scored in the first 12 seconds of the second half.

A Marietta penalty kick later evened the score at 2-2.

“We had to make Marietta a little more interesting,” Earls joked.

Tift’s regulation goals were both by Anthony Palomares, who, prior to Friday, had scored a single goal in his career. An injury left the Blue Devils short a man at striker and assistant Caleb Dawson suggested Palomares. The move paid off. Manny Marin had two assists.

Marietta defeated the Lady Devils, 7-0.

Saturday saw bodies in constant motion as Earls said he tried to generously sub against the Bulldogs. Tift had a 4-0 lead at intermission.

Marin scored a hat trick against Dutchtown, with Daniel Gomez and Salazar providing the others. Kevyn Lopez, Salazar, Marin and Palomares provided assists. Mike Taylor, Cohen Barrow and Joel Gutierrez all spent time in net.

The Lady Devils led against Dutchtown, but saw the host team pull out a 3-2 victory.

Head coach Sherri Constable credited Abby Goddard and Gigi Elizalde with goals.

Tift will be home Tuesday against Valdosta, with the girls match starting at 5:30 p.m. Valdosta’s boys are 1-0 on the season, having defeated Bainbridge. The Bearcats are the Devils’ next opponent after Valdosta, with Tift traveling on Friday.