Dameion Dixon goes over left tackle to score Tift County's final touchdown in a 43-0 win over Griffin.

TIFTON — Could 2024 be Tiftarea Academy’s year? Three games into the campaign, the year already has a special feel.

The Panthers are off to their first 3-0 start since 2019, which includes a 46-21 win over John Milledge Academy. It was their first in seven attempts in a series that saw most games thoroughly dominated by the Trojans.

And the victory was over a John Milledge program that not only has been outstanding, but lived by the slogan, originally attributed to UCLA’s Red Sanders, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

From 2020-23, John Milledge won 62 consecutive games. Valwood knocked them out in the GIAA 3A state finals in 2023, then JMA suffered an additional blow in the 2024 opener with a loss to Bethlehem Christian.

By thumping the Trojans, Tiftarea rose to No. 2 in the GIAA power rankings on MaxPreps on Monday behind Valwood.

Valwood is the team to beat in the GIAA, but that matchup with Tiftarea will have to wait until Oct. 4 when the Valiants make the trek to the Panther Pit for the District 3-3A opener.

The showdown will be a huge one, but no guarantees of how huge. Tiftarea has big games on this docket in between, including this Friday’s meeting with Frederica Academy and a huge one Sept. 13 at home against Westfield, MaxPreps’ No. 5.

Westfield, 2-1, lost a close 33-29 game to Deerfield-Windsor last week. After a rough 2023 that saw the Knights go 1-9 — including a 20-0 loss to Tiftarea — Deerfield-Windsor has bounced back to be 3-0 and are third in the power rankings.

Meanwhile, Tift County will attempt to even their record at 2-2 with a trip to Bainbridge.

The Bearcats, 0-3, dropped a 49-7 decision to Ware County last week. Ware had a 49-0 lead at halftime. Bainbridge’s other games were against powerhouses as well, resulting in a 59-6 loss to defending state 5A champion Coffee and a 13-10 loss to Cook.

Bainbridge has struggled to run the ball. Official stats posted to MaxPreps show them with a net of 19 yards on 71 carries. Bryce Olds leads at 56 yards on 24 tries.

All three Bearcat touchdowns have come through the skies, two thrown by Camryn Scott. Scott is 17-of-39 for 191 yards. He’s been picked off once. Vontrey Willingham has two of the touchdown receptions and is the most prolific receiver at 124 yards on seven catches.

Defensively, BHS is credited with four sacks, two by Bowen Smith.

Like Tift, Bainbridge is very young.

Tift got a touchdown from Davieon Dixon last week. They’ve been held to one score in each of the past two games after a 43-0 smashing of Griffin in the opener.

The Blue Devils had no turnovers in either game against Lee County and Gadsden County and Damieon Dixon has completed 20 of 38 throws, which include a touchdown to Dai’jon Hayes.

Hayes is Tift’s leading receiver at 72 yards. Kamari Hollomon has 186 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the year. Davieon Dixon’s long run against Lee gets him over 100 rushing yards for 2024.

This is the first meeting between Blue Devils and Bearcats since 2019. They were once region rivals and frequent opponents, but games have been scant Bainbridge left the highest classification in 2002. Since then were the meetings in 2018 and 2019, both Tift wins. Overall, Tift County is 21-12 in the series.

Bainbridge is coached by Jay Walls, Tift’s coach from 2005-11. Littleton head coached Bainbridge from 2013-23.

Next week the Blue Devils host Houston County (3-0), the No. 9 team in Class 5A in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll. Houston plays in-county rival Warner Robins Friday night.

Houston is Tift’s last non-region opponent. They’ll be off Sept. 20 before opening 1-6A at Richmond Hill.