By Becky Taylor

becky.taylor@gaflnews.com

TIFTON — Colquitt County was ahead of Tift County in few categories Friday night. The Blue Devils out-gained the Packers, out-passed them and came up with more turnovers, but Colquitt had a 35-17 advantage on the scoreboard at the end of the night.

Damieon Dixon had an incredible game under center, throwing for an unofficial 342 yards and two touchdowns. Dixon had 20 completions on 26 attempts. The passing yards were the most of a Devil quarterback in a game since 2017.

Dai’jon Hayes was the biggest recipient of Dixon’s career night, eight receptions for 151 yards and a touchdown. Kaden Lawson had the other TD catch, for 13 yards.

Tift had more than 450 total yards.

Without Cohen Lawson available at quarterback, the Packers kept it mostly on the ground, with only five passing attempts total. The run game, Colquitt’s specialty all year, was especially humming Friday, with nearly 300 yards.

Tift dominated in time of possession, too.

The Blue Devils had the ball nearly all of the second quarter. Colquitt had the ball in the offense’s hands all of 23 seconds. Unfortunately, they outscored Tift in the frame.

On a drive that started in the last minute of the first quarter, Tift took the ball from its own 22 to the 19, where Dixon seemed to have converted a fourth down with a 15-yard pass to Hayes at the 6. Alas, the hand of fate was not kind.

Alfonso McNeil ripped the ball out and, quick as a flash, went up the visiting sideline and all the way to a score. The 94-yard touchdown came at 6:10 and took away a drive that could have halved Colquitt’s 14-0 lead and instead made it 21-0.

The Blue Devils commenced another long drive after the kickoff, moving from their 24 to the 9 over 10 plays, but had to settle for a 26-yard David Olguin field goal with 23 seconds left in the half.

The drive featured a sensational catch by Ahmadre Woods to come back on his route for a 26-yard gain to the Colquitt 33. It was also a big catch in that it erased yards lost to a pair of penalties.

Colquitt almost added another score at the end of the half, but Tift head coach Jeff Littleton iced Brett Fitzgerald and the normally automatic kicker missed a 37-yard attempt wide right as the half expired.

Tift began the second half by going 80 yards for its first touchdown at 7:56 in the third, courtesy a 21-yard pass from Dixon to Hayes.

The Hayes catch saw him break free of his defender and slash to the middle of the field to catch the pass in stride. One play earlier saw perhaps Dixon’s best throw of the night, ducking past a Packer to scramble to his right and fire a laser beam to Quay Bell for 25 yards. It was Bell’s first catch of the season.

Olguin’s point-after brought the Blue Devils to 21-10. Colquitt wasn’t going to let it get closer.

The Pack ran the ball eight of nine plays on a 50-yard drive. The last three went to Day’Shawn Brown who plowed in from short distance at 4:13. Fitzgerald’s kick got the lead back up to 28-10.

Tift was on the 4 when the quarter ended, having nearly scored on a 47-yard reception by Hayes. Colquitt’s defense stiffened, forcing a turnover on downs when the Devils couldn’t get into the end zone.

But as was the case a week ago, the defense had their backs.

Colquitt was in the process of picking up a big gain on a run when Jaden Nelson punched the ball out, Danny Freeman recovering on the TCHS 44 at 8:44.

Davieon Dixon picked up 17 yards on a first down run, then Damieon Dixon got the ball to Bell for a 27-yard gain to the 12. Tift lost a yard on a run, but Damieon Dixon threw a high pass that the tall Lawson reeled in at the 4, then Lawson darted to paydirt at 7:12.

The Devils were initially going to go for two points to hopefully make it a 10-point game, but a false start changed the plan back to an Olguin kick. They trailed 28-17.

Tift County needed a big stop and finally forced a punt, but it came at the expense of a Packer first down and more than two minutes off the clock. Colquitt forced Tift to its only punt of the night seconds later

Jae Lamar added an insurance touchdown from 11 yards out at 1:01. Tift was on the move again, all the way to to the Packer 25 on three completions, when time expired.

Colquitt had two first quarter touchdowns, a 13-yard run by Brown at 8:14 and a 51-yard dash by acting QB A’zhiyen Alridge with 44 seconds left. In between, the Blue Devils got inside the 20 but could not make a field goal.

Besides the tremendous nights by Damieon Dixon and Hayes, Woods got 76 yards on five receptions. Bell had 52 on two.

The Dixons were Tift’s leading rushers, 44 yards on 13 carries for Davieon and 40 on seven touchdes for Damieon.

Colquittt’s win raises their region record to 2-1 in 1-6A, which has unexpectedly become a logjam. Richmond Hill upset Valdosta, 35-14 Lowndes defeated Camden County 33-7. Four teams are tied with 2-1 records: Colquitt, Richmond Hill, Lowndes and Valdosta.