Blue Devils head to Ashburn

Published 11:00 am Thursday, December 22, 2022

TIFTON — Before the Tift County Blue Devils host their own tournament, the boys basketball team will spend two days in Ashburn this week, playing at the Ronalda Pierce Classic at Turner County.

Tift (4-2) is set to take on Macon County and Worth County, Macon County at 7 p.m. Dec. 22 and Worth County Dec. 23 at 4 p.m.

Macon County is a Class A-sized school, but that does not automatically mean victory. The Bulldogs have been excellent in 2022-23, with only two losses going into Tuesday’s game against Dooly County. The losses were to Wilkinson County and Manchester, two of the state’s perennial powerhouses.

Tommy Blackshear, Tift County head coach, said there was “no shame” in falling to Manchester, noting the Meriwether County school was loaded every year.

Wins for the Bulldogs include Crisp County and Greenville.

Tift and Macon County have rarely, if ever, played one another in any sports. The schools are similarly aged. Macon County opened in 1959, consolidating high schools at Montezuma and Oglethorpe. The former town is where the high school is located. A second county high school, D.F. Douglass (also of Montezuma), consolidated into the high school in 1998.

Despite a very solid history, the Bulldogs have never won a state championship, though they have made three trips to the semifinals. (One of its predecessors, the Montezuma Aztecs, won two titles and was runner-up four more times.)

Blackshear said the Bulldogs have some height and “a streaky-shooting guard.” Proud of what his defense has done so far this season, the TCHS mentor said they’ll take their chances.

Worth, Tift’s immediate neighbor to the west, is fielding a very young squad this season. The Rams lost their first five games, but had a two-game winning streak going into a Tuesday game against Southwest Georgia Academy.

The Rams’ first victory was 54-53 over Turner County. Their second came Monday against Westwood of Camilla in a much more convincing fashion, 60-33. Worth is also slated to play Pelham this week.

Tift is coming off what Blackshear said was a “pretty good week,” going 2-1 with a revenge win over Valdosta. He would have bumped it up to an outstanding week had they beaten Westover. The squads went to a Devils-record four overtimes before the Patriots won with a buzzer-beater.