Pack survives Tift air attack to win 35-14 and go to 2-1 in region

Published 11:27 am Saturday, October 19, 2024

By Wayne Grandy
wayne.grandy@gaflnews.com

TIFTON – It may not have gone as smoothly as some might have anticipated, but the Colquitt County football team continued its mastery over Tift County on Friday, taking a key 35-17 Region 1-6A victory at Brodie Field.

After a disappointing 7-3 loss at Valdosta the Friday before, the Packers got off to a 21-0 lead and then survived a surprising proficient Blue Devils passing attack to climb into a four-way tie for first place in the region at 2-1.

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Richmond Hill’s 35-14 upset of Valdosta and Lowndes’ 33-7 thrashing of Camden County scrambled the region standings with two weeks remaining.

Tift falls to 0-3 and is likely to be one of the two region teams that will not make the playoffs.

Lowndes, Colquitt County, Richmond Hill and Valdosta are each 2-1.

Camden, which will play host to Colquitt County next Friday, is 1-2.

The Packers will close out the season when they play host to Richmond Hill on Nov. 1.

The Packers, now 5-3 overall, never appeared in danger of being caught by the Blue Devils.

But Tift, which went into the game ranked fifth in the region in passing, got 342 yards through the air from sophomore quarterback Damieon Dixon, who threw for two second-half touchdowns.

The Blue Devils, who were averaging 206 yards of offense a game, put up 453 yards.

One of Dixon’s incompletions was pulled down by safety Alfonso McNeil and returned 94 yards for a touchdown to put Colquitt up 21-0 in the second quarter.

“We had some coverage busts and things we did not do well,” Packers coach Sean Calhoun said. “But we’ll get that fixed.”

The Packers also got an impressive fourth-quarter goal line stand and a strong performance by junior A’Zhiyen Alridge, who made his first start at quarterback filling in for the injured Cohen Lawson, who did not play.

Alridge ran the offense confidently and completed two of the five passes he was asked to throw.

He also broke a 52-yard touchdown run to help put the Packers up 14-0 in the first quarter.

“How about our backup quarterback?” Calhoun said. “I am really proud of that kid.”

Backup center Martin Yingling also got his most reps of the season in place of starter Matthew Dillon.

“It seemed like a long time since we had won,” Calhoun said. “And we were a little mad about the way it ended last week.

“I’m proud of the kids. We are getting better. But we still have things we have to work on and get fixed.”

The victory was the seventh in a row by the Packers over the Blue Devils. The last time Colquitt lost at Brodie Field at 2008.

After Tift won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half, the Packers took the kickoff and drove 74 yards in 10 plays to score on a 12-yard Day’Shawn Brown run.

The first of five Brett Fitzgerald extra points put the Packers up 7-0 with 8:14 left in the first quarter.

Tift then drove to the Packers 18, but a 36-yard field goal attempt by David Olguin was wide left.

Colquitt scored again with 44 seconds left in the quarter when Alridge ran a keeper, found a seam and bolted 52 yards for the Packers second touchdown.

The Packers got a defensive touchdown when a Dixon pass was snatched away from the intended receiver at the Colquitt 6 by McNeil, who took it to the house and the Packers had increased their lead to 21-0 with 6:50 left in the half.

Olguin’s 26-yard field goal with 29 seconds left on the clock finally got the Blue Devils on the board.

Tift got the ball first in the second half and drove 80 yards to score its first touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Dixon to Dai’Jon Hayes with 7:56 left in the quarter.

But Jah’Boris Fuller returned the kickoff 41 yards to midfield and nine plays later Brown scored his second touchdown of the game from 3 yards out and the Packers led 28-10.

Tift took its next possession from its own 27 to a first down at the Packer 4, but never could punch it in after four tries.

“That was amazing,” Calhoun said of the goal-line stand that protected a 28-17 lead with 10:41 left in the game.

But after a Colquitt fumble, Tift scored on a pass from Dixon to tight end Kaden Lawson to pull to within 11 at 28-17 with 7:12 left.

Jae Lamar put the game out of reach when he scored on an 11-yard touchdown run with 2:39 left in the game.

Lamar finished with 130 yards on the ground.  He carried 10 times for 98 yards in the fourth quarter as the Packers put the game away.

Brown added 80 as the Packers were content to run the football.

Alridge completed 5-of-8 passes for 76 yards. Three of those completions went to Lamar.

Dixon kept coming up with big completions for the Blue Devils, who had 24 first downs.

Dixon completed 20-of-26 passes. He also rushed for 40 yards on seven carries.

Hayes had eight catches for 151 yards and the touchdown. Ahmadre Woods had five receptions for 76 yards.

“We’ve got to go to Camden next week and try to find a way to make things happen,” Calhoun said.