TIFTON — The Tift County soccer teams held a pair of matches over the weekend as they approached the midway point of the season.
On Friday night, the Lady Devils came up short against Camden County, falling 1-0. The boys’ team, meanwhile, won their matchup over the Wildcats 2-0.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Devils blanked Dooly County 7-0, while the Blue Devils fell to the Bobcats 1-0.
Girls Recap
The Lady Devils (6-4, 1-4 Region 1-6A) found themselves in a tough spot throughout Friday night’s game against the Lady Wildcats (5-3, 3-2 Region 1-6A) as they fell 1-0.
Camden County lived in the attacking third for vast stretches of the game, allowing them to get multiple shots on goal.
While sophomore goalkeeper Marely Cruz and her supporting cast held up for most of the game, the Lady Wildcats ultimately did find the net for the game’s only score.
Lady Devils head coach Irvin Alvarez believes that Cruz has a “high ceiling” and that she made several crucial saves to keep the Lady Devils in the game.
“Yeah, she’s barely a sophomore, and she’s got a huge ceiling,” Alvarez said. “She made some fabulous saves that she kept us in the game with. I can’t count how many saves she’s made, but it was a good bit of them. She definitely has a lot of potential going forward.”
After a scoreless first half, the Lady Wildcats scored with 27:50 left in the match. They were then able to hang on from there, playing keep away in the final minutes to ice the game.
Alvarez was disappointed with the outcome of the game but was proud of the way his team played.
“Yeah, [Camden] definitely was the attacking team, but I thought we defended it pretty well,” Alvarez said. “Then, you know, it just sucks. We were in the game the whole time. It was just a one goal game, and it’s just, it’s a tough loss especially. I thought the girls, they played their hearts out, and I mean, that’s all I can ask.”
As for his team’s offensive performance Friday, Alvarez says his team struggled with their ball control.
“Well, offensively, I think we lack on our ball control,” Alvarez said. “I was telling them that we were able to recover the ball well, pretty good. But when we’re on it, we kind of take too many heavy touches and that just — it makes it a lot easier for the opposing team to get the ball back from us.”
It’s safe to say the message was received.
In Saturday’s game against the Lady Bobcats (2-11), the Lady Devils got off to a slow start offensively before really ramping things up a notch in the second half.
They scored just one goal before intermission before scoring the ball seemingly at will in the second half. In all, the Lady Devils had six goals in the second half, rolling to a 7-0 win.
With his squad now halfway through the region slate, Alvarez believes they are well within striking distance of their region rivals as they face each team for a second time.
“I was telling them that I feel, this is the second round,” Alvarez said. “I feel like every team is beatable. Of course, Richmond Hill, they’re the top dogs. I mean, they’ll be the most difficult to beat, but all the other teams are definitely within our reach. They’re winnable games. I think we’re going to come out with some wins, a good amount of wins, in the second round.”
Boys Recap
The Blue Devils (5-5, 2-3 Region 1-6A) began their homestand with a statement win Friday night against Camden County (2-6, 1-4 Region 1-6A).
The Blue Devils scored a goal in the first half and a goal in the second half, while senior goalkeeper Braylon Samuel came up with some clutch saves as they beat the Wildcats 2-0.
Blue Devils head coach Bobby Earls compared the team’s game against Camden with Camden’s other games against region opponents, referring to their victory as a “psychological win.”
“That’s a psychological win, because Lowndes only beat them by one,” Earls said. “Colquitt only beat them by one. We just beat them by two. So that’s going to tell the rest of the region that Tift is improving and getting much better. So, I’m super pumped. That now takes us out of fifth place and up to fourth place in the region standing. So, we’re getting there. I’m super pumped. These guys played a great game. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
It was a very physical matchup for all 80 minutes of action against a tall Wildcat lineup that the Blue Devils had to endure. They broke through on the scoreboard midway through the first half with a goal by junior forward David Olguin.
Earls says his team has put a lot of extra time in the weight room to be ready for physical matchups like the one the Wildcats provided.
“In the past, we’ve kind of shied away from that, but we’ve been working hard and focusing on being stronger in the weight room in summer workouts,” Earls said. “I think that kind of paid off a little bit tonight. We’re starting to get a little stronger. We didn’t back down. We didn’t back down from their physicality. We stood toe to toe with them. Their boys, most of them are six feet tall. We didn’t back down from the physicality, we matched their physicality, which we don’t always do, so I’m super proud of that.”
The second half was very much a tussle as both teams struggled to find the net. Camden had a golden opportunity to score a goal with 29 minutes left in the game with Samuel out of position, but Samuel recovered to record a crucial save to keep the Wildcats off the board.
“Braylon played great,” Earls said of Samuel. “He didn’t have to make too many [saves], but he come up huge on that one. The boys just dug down deep. It’s huge to get a clean sheet. Coach Copeland was really pushing for that. He wanted to make sure we got the zero on their part of the scoreboard, and we did so great game.”
The Blue Devils padded their lead with just over 13 minutes remaining. Senior forward Jordan Lopez made a pass to senior midfielder Juan Rodriguez, who knocked it through the net to make it 2-0.
Earls commended Lopez for his unselfish play.
“We’ve been working on trying to find the open man, and so I think we did a much better job of that tonight, using our spacing,” Earls said. “We’ve been working on that in practice, using the width of the field and just knocking it around. Had some kids come up big. David Olguin’s goal is massive. Our second goal. Jordan was playing so unselfish. Knew he didn’t have it, slotted it back to Juan, and Juan finished it off. So, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t score four or five, but I’ll take a 2-0 win.”
The Blue Devils were in control from there, running out the clock and securing a big region win.
Saturday’s game, however, didn’t go quite as well. They played Dooly County (12-2) to a scoreless first half but yielded a goal in the second half that proved to be the difference, losing to the Bobcats 1-0.
The Blue Devils had a few shots on goal but were unable to connect as Bobcat goalkeeper Michael Hyatt came up with three saves.
UP NEXT
The Blue Devils and Lady Devils will be back at home for a doubleheader against Richmond Hill on Friday, March 20. The girls’ game is set for 5 p.m. with the boys following in the nightcap at 7 p.m.