At the beginning of the second quarter, Tift staged a 14-play, 63-yard drive to double its lead. Dixon kept the drive alive with a three-yard run on fourth-and-2. Four plays later, the Blue Devils faced another fourth down, this time needing 10 yards. Tift’s Jared Davis got behind the cornerback, and Dixon found him wide open in the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown pass, making it 14-0.

Valdosta got on the board with 3:15 left in the first half. Tavoris Belcher had a 22-yard run and caught a 13-yard pass to move the ball into the red zone. Then, one play after an intentional grounding penalty put the Wildcats in a third-and-26 hole from the 28, Turner fired a strike into the end zone. Belcher leaped and hauled in the pass for the touchdown, cutting Tift’s lead to 14-7.

In the final minute of the half, with the ball at the Wildcat 33, Tift tried to move into position for more points. But Valdosta cornerback Kevin Stokes picked off Dixon’s pass, and returned it all the way to the Blue Devil 32. Turner’s 21-yard pass to Arnold and a three-yard run put the Wildcats at the 8-yard line with nine seconds left in the half. On the next play, Turner found Belcher again in the end zone for his second touchdown. But the extra point went wide right, and Tift held a 14-13 lead at halftime.

“At one point, they led 14-0 and had all the momentum in the world,” Tomberlin said. “But scored, and then Kevin’s interception was big, and we were able to score right before halftime.”

At the end of the third quarter, Valdosta drove into Tift territory, thanks in part to a 29-yard pass from Turner to Marcus Ewings. Arnold kept the drive alive with a four-yard gain on fourth-and-1 from the Blue Devil 5, then dove in on the next play to give Valdosta its first lead of the night. But Marcus McNair dropped a low throw on a two-point conversion pass, and the score remained 19-14 with 11:20 left in the game.

Four minutes later, Tift’s Tabias Walker recovered a fumble at the Valdosta 39. That led to a 7-yard run by Hess, making it 20-19. Tift’s two-point pass fell incomplete.

But Valdosta came right back, driving down the field into Blue Devil territory, and King put Valdosta ahead to stay with the touchdown on his first carry of the season.

Valdosta will travel to Warner Robins next Saturday for another 1-AAAAA battle.