Devils, Lady Devils win region soccer openers against Colquitt

Published 9:00 am Saturday, February 26, 2022

TIFTON – Tift County’s soccer teams are Region 1-7A’s leaders after the first night of action. Friday, the rapidly improving Lady Devils defeated Colquitt County, 4-1, while the Tift boys earned a late 3-2 victory over the Packers.

Even better than a win over their arch-rivals, both Tift squads made further statements. The Lady Devils have already tied the number of wins they achieved in 2021 (4) and the Devils stayed undefeated. Currently their record is 8-0-1.

“Like I told them,” said head coach Bobby Earls after the win, “We got up big, then we dug ourselves in a hole, but we showed some character.”

Colquitt County battled back from a 2-0 second half deficit to tie with 13:12 remaining in the contest.

With instructions from the Tift bench to “win it back,” the Blue Devils went to work doing just that. First, however, Mike Taylor had to make a pair of saves.

RaJae Mickins took a deep shot with 12:05 left, which seemed to turn the tide towards Tift control on their end. Colquitt made a tip save on Manny Marin, then stopped an Alex Cardoso shot.

Finally, Jonathan Salazar served the ball deep into the Packers’ zone to an open Marin. Marin faked the keeper and took his shot, hitting the back of the net with 2:38 to go.

“We talked about putting it on frame because things happen when it’s on frame,” said Earls.

Marin had a shot go high not long after his goal, but the locals could not keep possession and Colquitt hustled the ball down the field for one last attempt, fielded by Taylor with 4 seconds left, cementing the victory.

Tift and Colquitt are always hyped for their soccer matches. Friday saw them perhaps hyped a little more than usual.

Neither team was able to take control for nearly all the first half. Taylor made a bevy of leaping saves, but the action was end to end. Salazar had a free kick hit the crossbar and another free kick tipped away.

Immediately off the second Salazar free kick, the Devils earned a corner kick and Jayden Arzola barely missed heading it in. At the end of the period, Arzola had the same bad luck as Salazar, a header hitting the crossbar.

Finally, one of the free kicks paid off. Beto Aguirre took one from nearly midfield. His shot was high, but perfect, sailing in with 6:55 remaining in the half.

The slim 1-0 lead made it the rest of the way through the half, but did not stand by itself much longer.

Two minutes into the second half, a throw-in from midfield was nudged over to Marin who burst by two Packers for a breakaway and goal.

Colquitt’s first goal came with 33:50 to go in the second half.

Earls gave kudos to the back line. There were two goals, “but Colquitt was just hammering it,” he said.

“But this is the first step towards winning that region title,” said Earls.

After the game, athletic director Chris Martin had a special presentation on the field for Earls, who won his 100th game with the Blue Devils Feb. 18 at Bainbridge.

A signed team photo and gift card were presented to Earls by Salazar.

LADY DEVILS 4, COLQUITT 1

The teams were all square at 1 goal apiece at halftime, but the following 40 minutes were completely controlled by Tift.

Diana Reducindo made two stops in the first five minutes, then her teammates got to work on offense.

Gigi Elizalde sent a free kick high over the Lady Packers’ wall with 34:14 remaining for a 2-1 advantage. Exactly three minutes later, Elizalde cleaned up a loose ball in front of the net to go ahead 3-1.

Both Caroline Dotson and Elizalde kept up the pressure over the next few minutes and when Elizalde clanked off the post, Yareli Espinoza hammered the rebound into the net.

With 28:52 to go, the Lady Devils had a commanding 4-1 lead. Though they did not score further, they never let off the gas.

Kaylen Andrews, who played an excellent defensive game, had two attempts saved during the next five minutes. Over the last 20 minutes of game time, Abby Goddard, Laura Kate Wright, Espinosa, Kim Sanchez and Kiondria Haggins all got looks at the Colquitt net.

Reducindo began the contest with a kick save, an indication that the Lady Devils were not going to stay back.

“She’s committed,” said head coach Sherri Constable. “Whatever she’s going to do, she’s committing herself.” Reducindo was shaken up briefly during a second half collision, but substitute Midori Moffett was only in the net a couple of minutes before Reducindo asked to sub back in.

Wright, Goddard and Elizalde also let Colquitt know immediately that Tift was going to strike hard on offense and not even 10 minutes in, they broke through.

Sanchez got a clear shot off a throw-in with 31:16 on the clock and she buried a shot in the top left corner of the net.

The Lady Packers evened with the score with 18:36 left, but had few other chances during the half.

Constable was happy with Sanchez’s work at the center/midfield spot. Andrews was one of those making Reducindo’s job easier, frequently cutting off Colquitt before they were too deep down the field. Constable said a change was responsible for that.

“Moving Kaylan to the outside has made all the difference in her game,” she said. Andrews had been playing in the middle of the field. Once outside, Andrews has found more space to move around.

Tift will head to Thomasville next Tuesday, then to Coffee next Friday. Their next home matches will also be the next region matches, March 8 against Lowndes.