TIFTON — Tonight, Tift County is looking out for No. 1.

The Colquitt County Packers, 8-0 and the top-rated team in all six Georgia high school polls, comes to Brodie Field tonight for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Blue Devils (6-2). Already a big game atmosphere because of the game circumstances, tonight doubles as Senior Night for the Blue Devils. They have just under 30 senior football players on the roster.

Tift head coach Ashley Anders was putting it mildly this week when he said Colquitt’s team contains “so many athletes.” The Packers are loaded anywhere and everywhere on the field, from quarterback Jaycee Harden to linebacker Rashard Revels to kicker/punter Ryan Fitzgerald.

The Packers have made it their usual season of conquering everyone on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Harden, a junior, is a first year starter at quarterback, but has yet to blink. He has thrown for nearly 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns while completing 59 percent of his passes.

At running back is the two-headed monster combination of Daijun Edwards and Ty Leggett. Junior Edwards, who has started since his freshman year, is averaging 6.2 yards per tote and also has 14 touchdowns. Leggett is gaining seven yards per carry.

Fitzgerald, first team All-State at kicker last year, has connected on nine field goals, with a long of 57 yards. He kicked a 62-yarder last year.

Then, there is the defense. If it’s not enough that Colquitt is giving up a mere 9.25 points per game, there is the personnel in the unit.

“Their overall team speed is as good as I’ve seen,” said Anders.

The numbers of Kendrick Neloms and Revels are nothing short of amazing. Revels have already notched 108 tackles, 22 of those for losses. Neloms has 25 tackles for losses. No one has scored more than 14 points on the Packers this season. That includes Grayson, who went into their Sept. 21 contest with Colquitt as the No. 1 team in the state. Anders said takeaways contributed to the 26-14 final score.

“They’re very, very good,” he said.

Anders and staff are working to find weaknesses in Colquitt County. The Blue Devils made the most of what they did find in Lowndes last week, exploiting one-on-one coverage of Tyler Ajiero for three long touchdowns. Ajiero finished with 205 yards on six catches and Patrick Felton threw for a season high 283 yards. At 932 yards, he is on the cusp of a 1,000 yard season.

“It worked out well for us,” Anders said.

His defense held Lowndes to 17 points, 10 below the Vikings’ next lowest game. Lowndes came in averaging 50 points per game and are still the top scoring team in the region. A big part of that was holding Travis Tisdale to 82 yards on 22 carries.

“We played well against the run all night,” Anders said. Tift was able to keep the defensive line fresh against Tisdale, rotating players in and out all night. Anders said he believes the Devils run eight deep on the line.

Lowndes was further limited in the air — 60 yards between their two quarterbacks. A pair of sophomores, Stephen Thomas and Wendell McClain helped lead that charge. Thomas had a big breakup on Lowndes’ final offensive possession that prevented a first down.

The last time Tift County faced a No. 1 in their own classification was 2015, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. That, too, was the Packers. Tift lost 41-33, but Colquitt had to field an onside kick late in the game after Griffin Collier threw for 411 yards, 248 to R.J. Merriweather.

Tift’s last win against a No. 1 in its own classification was against Brookwood in the 1997 semifinals. The Blue Devils have another victory over No. 1 in 1966 over Moultrie High in the first ever game at Brodie Field, which was then primarily known as Tift County Stadium.

The Blue Devils will have one more regular season game remaining after tonight. They go to Camden County next Friday. Camden (6-2) is at Lowndes (6-2) tonight.