Kadarius McDaniel (right) brings Colquitt quarterback Jaycee Harden to a knee during a sack.

TIFTON – The No. 1 ranked Colquitt County Packers put all of their talents on display Friday night for the Tift County Blue Devils and left Tifton with a 45-7 victory and their ninth win of the season.

Moving like a tremendous machine, the Packers excelled on all fronts.

Daijun Edwards ran for three touchdowns and an unofficial 106 yards. Jaycee Harden completed 12 of 16 passes. And Colquitt’s defense threw Tift for lost yardage on 11 plays, moving so quickly into the backfield that quarterback Patrick Felton rarely found more than a split-second to throw.

Colquitt scored 14 points in the first quarter, 17 in the second, to take a 31-7 lead at halftime.

Though the Packers were in command for nearly all of the contest, Tift County notced a 7-7 tie in the first 2:30 of the game and had a chance for the lead following a punt.

Colquitt struck first Friday, an 80-yard bomb from Harden to Tyler Walker on the initial snap. Ryan Fitzgerald kicked the first of his six extra points and the guests led 7-0 with only 14 seconds gone in the game.

When Tift got the ball on the kickoff, Felton immediately went to the air, finding Tyler Ajiero on a 35-yard pass to get to the Packers’ 45. After a pair of four-yard runs by Mike Jones, it looked like Tift was going to him again on third down, but Felton snatched the ball out of his belly and charged through a hole at left tackle. Felton raced down Colquitt’s sideline and into the end zone for a 37-yard touchdown at 9:44.

Rosendo Ramirez kicked the extra point and the schools were knotted at seven points each.

Aided by a Rod Redding stop of a Harden pass at the line of scrimmage, the Blue Devils forced Colquitt to punt on the ensuing possession. Fitzgerald’s punt went out of bounds at the 50 for a promising start, which grew even better on a 10-yard gain by Ajiero on a reverse.

But Colquitt’s defense grabbed hold of Tift at that point, a grip not released until the game’s final whistle.

The Devils advanced to the Pack’s 37, where on fourth down they sent Ramirez out to try a 53-yard field goal. His effort had the leg, but went wide right.

That turned the ball over at the 20 and so started Colquitt’s steady trek forward.

The Packers were actually in a hole at the start of the possession. A personal foul penalty and six yard loss on a pass made it third-and-22.

It was there Edwards was given his first carry of the game, a burst that went for 25 yards and a first down. They moved methodically after that, until Harden found K.T. Wilson on a pass that took them from Tift’s 37 all the way down to the 10.

Edwards got the next two carries, each for five yards, with the latter going for a touchdown. Colquitt led 14-7 at 2:18.

Two short fields following punts set up both of the Packers’ second quarter scores.

The first exited the playing surface at the 36. Harden threw 22 yards to Lemeke Brockington to the 7, setting up Edwards’ seven-yard scoring run on the next play.

After forcing another short punt that went out at the 28, they went to Edwards again. He ran for 11 yards, though a holding penalty put the ball on the 27.

Edwards immediately broke several tackles and ran past Tift defenders for a 27-yard touchdown at 10:02.

The Blue Devils finally found a bit of luck when Deontae Overstreet stripped a Packer punt returner of possession at the 42. Tift did not move far, but were able to flip field position.

Further good news came when Kadarius McDaniel dropped Harden for a 12-yard loss on a third down sack.

Back with the ball in their hands, Felton threw to Jones for a first down at the Colquitt 38, which saw 15 more yards added on a personal foul. Unfortunately a field goal try from the 20 went astray.

Colquitt had one final mad dash to end the half, Edwards and Harden moving them from the 20 down to the 9 in six plays. Time caught up with them there and Fitzgerald booted a 26-yard field goal as the horn blew.

As dominating as the Packers were on defense in the first half, they stepped it up further in the second.

The third quarter started with a barrage of turnovers – both teams had two each in six plays from scrimmage. It started with an Akeem McKiever interception for Colquitt.

Walter Jackson took the ball right back for Tift on a pick, then Colquitt had it in their hands on an interception two plays later. Finally, Antonio Howard fell on the ball when the Packers mishandled a snap.

Following a punt, Edwards increased Colquitt’s margin to 38-7 on a 61-yard run.

Tift had another fumble recovery later in the quarter, but were halted on offense by an intentional grounding penalty, a result of the unceasing quarterback pressure.

Mar’kaybion Spradley helped lead the Packers down the field for a long fourth quarter drive. Harden, still in at quarterback in the second half of the fourth period, fired a 32-yard pass to Ja’Naz Graves for Colquitt’s final touchdown at 4:45.

Felton was Tift’s leading rusher on the night with 40 yards on nine attempts. He completed just three of 17 pass attempts. Besides Ajiero’s first quarter grab, Bricin Savage and Jones had the other catches.

Harden passed for 226 yards on 12 completions. Edwards had 167 yards on 14 rushing attempts.

Tift falls to 6-3 in the loss. They will close out the regular season next Friday at Camden County. Camden was a 28-27 loser at Lowndes Friday night.