Tift goes up against Coffee in region soccer

TIFTON -- The Tift County High Blue Devils and Lady Devils soccer teams took on Coffee High in Tuesday night Region 1-AAAAA action.

Coach Ann Herzog's Lady Devils came close to getting a shutout with a 6-1 victory over the Coffee High Lady Trojans. Coffee avoided the blanking on a late goal off of a penalty kick.

Down 2-0 at the half, the Devils got two goals from Danny Ruelas in the second half. However, Coffee also managed one goal in the final 40 minutes to take a 3-2 win.

With its victory, the Tift girls are now 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the region. The Lady Devils' next match will be at region power Lowndes High Friday.

"We played all right, but we are going to have to do better against Lowndes Friday," Herzog said.

Maggie Crowley led the Lady Devils with three goals. Adding one goal each were Tatjana Foremes, Natalie Smith and Ronni Smith. Besides her goal, Natalie Smith also added an assist to the Lady Devil cause.

Goalkeeper Ivy Gartman was impressive on the night with five saves for the Lady Devils.

According to Devils coach Harlie Foremes, the Tift defense "played well" against Coffee.

"It was a pretty good match. We have just got to persevere and learn how to finish," Foremes stated.

The Devils are now 0-3 in the region and 0-6-1 overall.

Tift will play Lowndes at 6 p.m. Friday.