Football: Tift trio earn 1st team All-Region

Becky Taylor, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
·2 min read

Dec. 13—TIFTON — A trio of Tift County Blue Devils earned Region 1-6A 1st team football honors.

Northside, Lee County, Houston County and Thomas County Central dominated the awards. Thomas County Central won the region championship and finished the regular season undefeated.

Damion Moate, Za'Morian Brown and JaCoiley Nathan were the 1st team selections.

Moate came out of nowhere in his first season as a varsity starter, running for seven touchdowns, with a season high of 190 yards against Veterans.

Brown and Nathan are both defensive players for the Blue Devils, with Brown additionally used as a returner on special teams. Among Brown's feats in 2022 were interceptions against Dutchtown, Colquitt County and Thomas County Central. He also blocked an extra point against Veterans.

Nathan helped anchor Tift's defensive line and particularly drove Lee County crazy with his quarterback pressures. He had come back after suffering an ankle injury in the 2021 state playoffs which came, appropriately enough, while he was sacking Marietta.

Four Tift County players earned 2nd team All-Region 1-6A: Tyler Parker, Tyrese Brown, Jonta Strozier and Antonio Gomez.

Parker scored four times this season and scored 22 touchdowns total during his four years. The number ties him with Barry Bennett for seventh all-time in Tift County (1962-present) history. Three of Parker's 2022 touchdowns were receiving, with a kickoff return score against Dutchtown. During his career, he also threw for six touchdowns, though none this year.

Brown is an offensive lineman. Strozier played secondary and Gomez handled punting and placekicking duties.

Strozier's stats included fumble recoveries, sacks and an extra point block in 2022. Gomez kicked 11 extra points. He has 31 extra point kicks for his career and five field goals.

Coach of the Year honors in 1-6A went to Justin Rogers of Thomas County Central. TCC also had one of the co-Defensive Players of the Year, Javion Revels, one of the co-Offensive Players of the Year with quarterback Sam Brown and co-Athlete of the Year with Tyler Floyd.

Lee County's Ousmane Kromah was overall Player of the Year. Other winners at Offensive, Defensive and Athlete of the Year were A.J. Hill of Houston County, Tyler Williams of Northside and Damare Franklin of Veterans, respectively.