TIFTON — Local football is off to an outstanding start. Not only did both Tiftarea Academy and Tift County win their first games last Friday, but did so in dominating fashion.

Tift rolled over Griffin, 43-0, while the Panthers destroyed Central Fellowship, 48-0.

It was the first time since Sept. 11, 2009, that both schools won a shutout on the same night. That evening saw Tiftarea win over Brookwood, 21-0, while Tift beat Cook, 20-0.

Kamari Hollomon’s four touchdowns were one short of the Devils’ team record of five, set by Tyler Parker, Kaream Hess and Rashad Daniels. The four touchdowns were the first four for Hollomon as a varsity player.

Defensively, it was outstanding night as well.

The win over Griffin was the Blue Devils’ first true road shutout since 2005, a 31-0 victory against Crisp County. Tift did have two neutral site shutouts since: 2016 and 2017, both against South Effingham in Statesboro.

Forty-three points in a road shutout were the most since a 45-0 win over Macon’s Southwest in 1983.

Griffin had (-48) rushing yards, according to Tift statistician Paul Nelson. That’s a new record, breaking the (-38) set by Worth in that 2020 contest. Griffin did finish in positive total yards at 12, thanks to 60 gained through the air.

Tiftarea’s defense put up a zero on the road last year at Deerfield-Windsor. The win over Central Fellowship was their largest since 2019’s 56-0 win over Westfield. That game was at Perry, so it’s also the biggest road shutout since that night.

Friday night, Tift will play its homecoming game against Gadsden County, Florida, while Tiftarea will make one of the shortest road trips possible; the Panthers play at Turner County.

While not the same type of homecoming as the one for the Blue Devils, it is a homecoming for Tiftarea head coach Erik Soliday. He previously coached at Turner over two stints, 1989-1996 and 2004-2012.

Soliday won 103 games at Turner. He is up to 36 wins at Tiftarea.

Turner, since re-nicknamed Titans since Soliday last coached there, brings in a 0-1 record. They lost 44-6 in their regular season debut to Worth County last week. The Rams lead 30-6 at intermission.

Despite that score, “We have our work cut out for us,” said Soliday.

After a 3-8 campaign in 2023, the Titans have turned the reins over to new head coach Demario Barber. This will be not only the first football meeting between the teams, but the first in contact sports.

Tiftarea finally gets its first home game next week, against defending state runners-up, John Milledge Academy. John Milledge upset last week by Bethlehem Christian, 28-14, the Trojans’ first regular season loss since 2015. JMA travels to Augusta Christian this week.

The trip to Tift County will be the first game of 2024 for Gadsden County. The Jaguars were 6-5 last year, including a 17-0 loss against the Blue Devils.

This is the first road game of the year for Gadsden. It won’t be their longest … or even their second-longest. The Havana-based school is going to McCallie, which is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, next week. Two weeks after that, they will drive through Tifton a third time on their way to Coffee.