MOULTRIE — Even Kirven Davis noticed it.

“There’s a real buzz about this game,” Colquitt County High’s first-year boys basketball coach. “Everybody’s taking about it … students, players, coaches.”

“It,” of course, is tonight’s meeting between the Packers and the Tift County Blue Devils.

The Packers are 9-4 overall and 2-1 in the Region 1-AAAAA standings.

The Blue Devils, ranked No. 8 in Class AAAAA in Georgia, are 12-4 overall and are 2-0 in the region.

The Packers can take a share of first place in region with a victory over the Blue Devils.

“We won’t be intimidated,” Davis said Thursday. “We’ve been having spirited practices the last couple of days.

“We’ve just got to go out and play our style of play.”

Tift County is led by All-Region performer Justin Brownlee, who leads the Blue Devils in scoring.

For much of the season, he has been joined in the starting lineup by Keith Cagle, Randy Parker, Chris Range and Maurice Morrow.

That group, with Larry Dean providing a spark coming off the bench, was potent enough during the Blue Devils first 15 games of the season.

Then, on Tuesday in a key region matchup with Lowndes, ranked No. 9 in the state, the Blue Devils unveiled Terrell Johnson, who transferred in from Ware County.

All Johnson did was scored 16 points in his first game in a Blue Devils uniform as Tift County defeated Lowndes decisively 60-51.

Brownlee also had 16 against the Vikings. Morrow chipped in nine.

The Blue Devils are under semi-new leadership on the bench this season.

Johnny Spurlin, who was an assistant both when the Blue Devils won the state championship in 1996 and when they were the state runners-up in 2004, has taken over from Robert Moore as the head coach.

Spurlin takes over a team that defeated Groves and Tri-Cities to advance to the state quarterfinals a year ago before being eliminated by Stephenson 50-41.

Although the Blue Devils have made a change at the top, the team appears not to have varied from the philosophy most identified with coach Tommy Blackshear, who stressed defense.

The patient, methodical Blue Devils will offer a different sort of challenge for the Packers, who have won five of their last six games.

The one loss came by 10 points to Houston County a week ago. But the Packers have defeated Valdosta and Coffee since then.

A victory over the Blue Devils, who have been a region nemesis for a number of years, would be a big one for the team, the program and Davis.

The Packers will start senior James Trimble and junior Andrew Wallace in the front court.

In his first season as a starter, Trimble has played consistently and leads the Packers in scoring and rebounding.

Listed at 6-foot-3, he may be shorter but plays taller and has been outstanding in the three region games.

Trimble scored 15 against Houston, 13 against Valdosta and 17 against Coffee to raise his scoring average to 12.1 points a game.

Wallace, a 6-foot-5 forward, scored a season-high 20 in the victory over Coffee to get his scoring average into double figures at 10.1.

The wings will be seniors Antwan Tuff and Jeremy DeBruce. After scoring just five and six points in his two previous games, Tuff returned to form and had 14 against Coffee. He averages 12.7 points a game.

DeBruce is averaging 10 points a game.

Orion Ponder continues to run the Colquitt offense from his point guard position and often is just too fast for opposing defenses.

Davis sounded optimistic.

“We can only stop ourselves,” he said. “It’s all about execution. Our kids haven’t quit and they sense the urgency. This game is the corner we’ve been trying to turn.”