The Vipers celebrate a big play during their mini-scrimmage before Brooks and Tift played Aug. 9.

TIFTON — The warmup is out of the way and the Tift County Blue Devils will be on the field for real Aug. 16, opening the regular season at Griffin.

The Devils entertained Brooks County Friday in a scrimmage, mixing three varsity quarters and one of young players. Brooks denied Tift near the goal line twice in the fourth quarter to hold on to a 6-0 score. Tift’s youth held the Trojans to (-15) rushing yards in a 9-0 blasting to start the night.

Head coach Jeff Littleton said his team has something to build on after the scrimmage.

“We’re very young,” he said. The Blue Devils are replacing 1,000-yard rusher Damion Moate this season, as well as their primary quarterback and top two receivers. Littleton said Tift made mistakes. “We have to correct those and move on,” he said. “But we played really hard. We fought all night long.”

One completion made all the difference in the final score.

Early in the fourth quarter, Junior Burrus lofted a high pass from his own 48 that seemed headed for Tift’s bench, but caught enough air to land in the arms of a receiver, who was tackled at the 2.

The Devils dropped Brooks for a loss and an incompletion, but Cameron Cobb sliced his way through the middle of the line for a touchdown at 10:36. That was all for the Trojans; on a two-point conversion try, Burrus was stopped behind the line.

Tift had two possessions inside the 20 late in the fourth.

After the touchdown, the Blue Devils were halted at Brooks’ 40, resulting in a Corey Howard punt that was downed at the 3. Three incompletions and a delay had the Trojans punting from their own end zone. A bouncing punt was fielded by a punt team member, who surprised Brooks by running it back to the 11.

Kamari Holloman was stopped twice for no gain, then Damieon Dixon found Kaden Lawson for a nine-yard pickup on third down. The Trojans stopped up the line on fourth down, with Tift two inches short of having first-and-goal at the 1.

Tift had Brooks at the 3 on third down, but a Burrus prayer was caught for 37 yards, digging the Trojans out of a hole. They didn’t get much farther, though, seven yards in three snaps. The punt snap went high, Brooks covering at their 28, a 19-yard loss. The Blue Devils had a fresh set of downs here with 1:33 remaining.

Brooks’ secondary held on first down, moving the Blue Devils to the 18. The Trojans forced one incompletion, then came up with an interception inside the 10. With 1:05 left, that was enough to run out the clock.

Holloman was the locals’ main weapon for the night Their first seven plays were runs, Hollomon carrying six of them for 40 yards.

At Brooks’ 32, Dixon fired to Royal Scott for a 10-yard gain. They ran out of downs at the 22 late in the second frame.

Brooks only had only single varsity yard at halftime. Howard, Danny Freeman and D.J. Office had a sack in the second and punt went awry for the Trojans, leading to Freeman making the tackle at the 9.

Tift almost scored twice on that possession.

Dixon had a touchdown pass to Hollomon wiped out on a hold. The Devils attempted a 34-yard field goal, the attempt bouncing off the left upright.

Brooks had three plays from Tift’s 9 in the third, the Blue Devils forcing three overthrows. They also stopped the Trojans on downs at the 14 midway through the period.

Holloman finished with an unofficial 86 rushing yards on 24 carries. DIxon had 24 passing yards.

Brooks had an unofficial 140 yards in its varsity quarters, 87 coming on the two big Burrus completions.

Youth opened the night, with Tift County dominating Brooks.

David Olguin nailed a 34-yard field goal at 10:11 for a 3-0 lead. Tift kicked off, but had the first offensive possession when the Trojans fumbled the return. Jishaun Robinson’s first touch went 17 yards to put the Devils at the 16.

At 4:24, the Devils made it 9-0 when Ty Roberts checked down to back Jontrez Woodard, who bolted up the right sideline for a 44-yard touchdown. The extra point was wide.

Brooks had zero luck moving in the first quarter, finally hitting a long pass as time ran out. That came under serious pressure, with the quarterback knocked down on the play. The Trojans were held to (-15) rushing yards, with Tift in the backfield on every snap.

Before Tift took on Brooks, the Vipers showed off Tift County’s next generation of Blue Devils, running plays on the south end of the stadium.