Jameson Turner loses his balance, but not the ball on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Felton.

KINGSLAND – Tift County was left in limbo Friday night as their hopeful plans for a No. 2 seed in Region 1-AAAAAAA went askew at the hands of Camden County.

Camden won its first region game of the year, 28-24, and sent Region 1 spiraling into a three-way tie for second place. Playoff positions were not 100 percent confirmed, but Tift officials had heard unofficially Saturday morning that the Blue Devils qualified for state as the at-large team. If that holds up, Tift will be on the road next Friday at Roswell.

The Wildcats, a much improved 7-3 in 2018, found overall yardage tough against Tift, but thanks to outstanding plays on special teams, scored points anyway.

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, courtesy of a long run by quarterback Patrick Felton and a touchdown pass from Felton to Tyler Ajiero.

Camden began its turnaround as the opening period ended.

After getting its first stop on defense, Cody McCartha threw a 44-yard pass to Shawn Hardy for the last play of the quarter. Hardy went down at the 6 and the Wildcats had first down and goal to go.

Tift made three goal line stops on the ‘Cats, but on fourth down, Jamie Felix hurtled the line got just enough air to cross the plane. William Nettles kicked the first of four extra points at 10:23 and their dim start finally saw life.

Then the special teams began making their impact felt in a big way.

Camden got a piece of a Colby Gann punt, setting up a first down at the Devils’ 41. Tift again made three stops on defense and it was fourth down and four yards to go at the 35.

The Wildcats came out in punt formation, but holder Trace Dorminy caught the snap and threw a pass to Roninn Wright just beyond the line of scrimmage. Wright quickly gained blockers and made his way into the end zone at 7:35. The game was now tied.

After getting one hand on a Tift kick, Camden did even more on the next opportunity. The Devils gained a single yard in three downs and in their own territory, opted for another punt.

This time, the Wildcats got all of the ball on a block.

Jordan Billups gathered it on the bounce at the 25 and zipped into the end zone for a 21-14 lead, their third touchdown in 4:30.

The Blue Devils settled back down, were successful on a subsequent punt, then held Camden to the same. The Wildcats’ special teams downed Nettles’ kick on the 1.

Tift immediately climbed out of that hole, Danny Hill running for 18 yards to the 19. Then Felton found Ajiero for another first down at their own 38. At this point 2:06 was left in the half and the Devils had most of the field ahead of them.

Felton ran for a first down at midfield and hit Ajiero for 11 more to the 39. Tift lost a down on an illegal touch, but made up for it in a major way when Jameson Turner caught a Felton strike while falling down in the end zone. The play covered 39 yards and with 49 seconds to spare, Tift was able to force a 21-21 tie at intermission.

Camden’s winning touchdown came on the first possession of the third period.

McCartha took advantage of a slightly shorter field to start the second half, first passing to Logan Berryhill for 15 yards to the Tift 26. Following a short loss, it was McCartha to Berryhill again, a 28-yard touchdown at 10:15, making the score 28-21.

Then came a long stalemate.

Stephen Thomas broke up a sure Camden first down when he deflected a pass from a receiver. The Wildcats tipped a Felton pass to start the fourth quarter. There were six punts over a series of six combined possessions.

Tift caught a break when Camden shanked the last punt, the football sailing all of two yards before landing in the walkway in front of the visiting stands. The Devils took over at the hosts’ 35.

Airick DeLoach immediately broke for a 15-yard run, but there the drive bogged down. With fourth-and-10 at the 20, the Devils used trickery of their own on a fake field goal. Holder Jacob Beach tossed to Turner on the left sideline, a first down by the nose of the ball.

Felton scrambled nearly from sideline to sideline on the extended drive, but Tift picked up only a yard more. Rosendo Ramirez kicked a 26-yard field goal at 6:47, narrowing the score to 28-24.

Camden, looking to kill clock after the kickoff, nearly got even more. McCartha extended the drive on a pair of completions and Felix had bursts of 17 and 23 yards.

The Wildcats had first and goal, but on third down at the 8, coughed up the football. Tift recovered at its own 1. Less than three minutes remained in the contest.

Felton kept the drive going. A first down pass to Ajiero at the 13, another first down pass to Ajiero 28, this one combined with a 15-yard facemask penalty. Felton barely missed Turner on a long pass, then threaded the needle to him at the Camden 37 with 1:06 left.

In the end, however, the Wildcats held on downs and took over possession at the 42. With Tift out of timeouts, Camden knelt once on the ball to end the game.

The Blue Devils started Friday with a flurry of offense.

On the legs of Mike Jones and Felton, and through a brief rain, they went from their own 17 to the 50 in four plays. There, Felton faked a handoff to Jones and dashed up the middle, scoring untouched at 10:17. Ramirez added the first of his three extra points for a quick 7-0 lead.

That lead doubled quickly.

After a pair of sacks on Wildcats starting quarterback Logan Watson, Tift had the ball on the Camden 31. After a three-yard run by Jones, Felton threw deep, Ajiero leaping to catch the ball with two defenders on his back. The Devils were ahead 14-0 at 7:10.

Jones picked up an unofficial 32 rushing yards in the first quarter, but did not play the rest of the game. In his absence, DeLoach and Hill took over duties at running back. Felton ran for 93 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts.

Ajiero had seven catches for 86 yards. Turner had his best yardage night for Tift County, picking up 75 on five receptions. Both scored a touchdown.

Felix had almost all of Camden’s rushing yards, 87 on 16 tries. In relief, McCartha completed 8 of 13 passes for 146 yards. He threw for one touchdown.

Hardy had three catches for 61 yards, Berryhill three for 45.