MOULTRIE —
Colquitt County head football coach Rush Propst and four of his players were honored at Monday night’s South Georgia High School Football Awards banquet sponsored by In the Game High School Football Magazine. The banquet was held in Valdosta.
Propst was named the South Georgia co-Coach of the Year after leading the 10-4 Packers to the state semifinals for the fourth straight year, winning three straight road games after going into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed from Region 1-AAAAAA.
He shared the award with Valwood’s Ashley Henderson.
Senior linebacker John Gray was named the South Georgia Defensive Player of the Year.
Will Bannister was the Academic Player of the Year.
The magazine covers football in Southwest Georgia and honored the top offensive and defensive players from Berrien, Brooks County, Clinch County, Coffee, Colquitt County, Cook, Fitzgerald, Irwin County, Lanier County, Lowndes, Tift County, Valdosta and Ware County high schools and from Tiftarea Academy and Valwood School.
Senior quarterback Cole Segraves was named Colquitt County’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Junior Jamiyus Pittman was named the Packers’ Defensive Player of the Year.
Also honored on Monday were Lowndes kicker Gustavo Gonzales, who was named the Special Teams Player of the Year, and Valdosta quarterback Shelby Wilkes, who received the Community Service Award.
Gonzales was coached by Vikings assistant Patrick Hunter, a former Packer.
And Wilkes is a former Colquitt County High quarterback.
Of this and that:
• Arkansas State center Bryce Giddens has been named to the Sun Belt Conference All-Freshman Football team, selected by the writers who cover the conference.
A notation accompanying Giddens’ listing stated that the former Packer “started 10 games at center. One of the best linemen on SBC’s top scoring and rushing offense.”
• Former Lowndes and Valdosta head football coach Rick Tomberlin has announced his retirement after a 30-year coaching career, the last three of which were spent at Effingham County.
Tomberlin won state championships at Washington County in 1994, 1996 and 1997 and finished with a career record of 236-118. He also won nine region titles.
He was the head coach at Lowndes from 1989-1991 before his successful run at Washington County.
He returned to Lowndes County in 2006 and was the head coach at Valdosta from 2006-2009, posting a 22-21. He was replaced by Rance Gillespie.
Tomberlin was 2-5 against Colquitt County in his career.
• Former Tift County and Coffee High head coach Charlie Winslette has been selected for induction into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Also selected were Leslie “L.C.” Baker, football; Chuck Miller, basketball; Joe Williams, basketball; Billy Peek, golf; and Bill Holleman, soccer.
Winslette is one of 14 coaches to win state titles at two GHSA schools -— West Rome in 1985 and Greene-Taliaferro in 1993. He is one of only three coaches to take four schools to the semifinals. The other two were Tift County and Statesboro.
Winslette's record in 34 seasons as a head coach is 260-134-3.
He coached Coffee in 1994 and posted a 5-6 record. He then left and went to Tift County, where he went 28-19 in four seasons. He took the Blue Devils to the 1997 state championship game, where they lost to Parkview 21-7.
Winslette had a career record of 4-5 against Colquitt County.
The induction ceremony will be held June 1 in Dalton.
Local Sports
Several Packers honored by In the Game Magazine
- Local Sports
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Packers head to Tifton to chase state golf championship
When the Colquitt County High golf team tees off in Monday’s state tournament, the Packers will be playing a course that it sometimes plays better than its own.
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Davis Insurance, Hutson Motors win boys baseball championships
Davis Insurance edged Liberty Tax 13-12 on Thursday at the Magnolia Sports Complex and claimed the Farm League baseball championship.
Hutson Motors won the Tiny Mites championship after defeating Holman Supply 15-0 to finish its season undefeated.
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Harrell Auto Electric wins Mite girls championship
Harrell Auto Electric defeated M&M Diesel 13-4 on Thursday and, combined with Little Debbie’s 13-10 over Kirk Clinic, clinched the Mite girls championship.
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Colquitt girls seek state golf title on home course
The Colquitt County girls golf team will certainly have an advantage in Monday’s Class AAAAAA tournament at Sunset Country Club with three fine players competing on familiar territory.
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As expected, defense shines in Packers scrimmage
To no one’s surprise, the talented Colquitt County defense had its way much of the time in Saturday morning’s spring scrimmage at Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.
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Colquitt County producing top offensive linemen
Since Rush Propst rode into town in 2008 and installed his gun-slinging, rapid-fire offense, Colquitt County has produced record-setting teams and players.
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TOURNAMENT RUNNERS-UP
The Colquitt County Legends 9U travel baseball team placed second at the Berrien County 10U Invitational Tournament held last Saturday. All the teams in the tournament were 10U teams except the Legends, who were the only 9U team. Shown are, front, from left, Chasyn Miley, Hayden Moore, Abraham Daniels, Jace Autrey, Henry Underwood, Hayes Lightsey and Landon Griffin; middle, Cole Whatley, Nathan Harden, Davis Dalton, Cannon Whatley, Drew Johnson and Mason White; back, coaches Andy Whitaker, Chris Miley, Ricky Griffin, Keith Whatley and Clay Underwood.
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Lowndes, Tift County eliminated
And now there are none. Region 1 had three representatives in the Class AAAAAA baseball semifinals, but none reached the Final Four.
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Dairy Queen wins Junior girls championships
Dairy Queen clinched the Junior girls softball championship on Tuesday, defeating Pretty Poison II 6-1.
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Quality Employment wins Midget League title
Quality Employment needed a win or a tie in its game against Southwest Georgia Insurance on Tuesday to claim the Midget League championship.
Quality won the title when the game ended in a 5-5 tie.
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