MOULTRIE — Colquitt County football coach Rush Propst said he ranks Friday’s 22-21 victory over Stephenson as one of the most satisfying of his long coaching career.

For Colquitt County fans, it is certainly one of the most satisfying in a decade.

The Packers rallied twice from deficits in the final seven minutes to defeat the No. 5-ranked and previously unbeaten Jaguars to advance to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1999.

That 1999 Colquitt County team went 11-2 and the Packers have a chance to match that record when they return to the Atlanta area next Friday to meet a second-straight undefeated team, Lassiter High.

The Trojans, coached by former Propst offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, advanced on Friday with a 70-49 victory over South Gwinnett.

In that game, Lassiter quarterback Hutson Mason passed for 530 yards and eight touchdowns.

The Trojans have scored 132 points in their two state playoff games.

But the challenge Lassiter will offer cannot be any bigger than the one the Packers faced at Hallford Stadium in Clarkston on Friday.

Stephenson has 16 players with scholarship offers and many believed these Jaguars had a chance at a state championship.

A quick look at the statistics and one might be hard-pressed to find out how the Packers could have won the game.

Stephenson rushed for 228 yards and passed for 177 more and rolled up 20 first downs.

And the Jaguars outstanding defense held the Packers to just seven first downs, one offensive touchdown and just 156 total yards.

Propst defended his offense.

“There was just nothing there,” he said. “That was as good a defense as I’ve coached against.”

But ...

The Packers picked off three passes, one of which was run back for a touchdown, another of which set up the Packers other touchdown and the third of which came with 1:13 remaining and Colquitt clinging desperately to a one-point lead.

Colquitt also got fourth-quarter kickoff returns of 70 and 86 yards by Quin Roberson, setting up two Rich Tyndall field goals, the second of which put the Packers ahead to stay with 2:28 remaining.

“We knew offensively we’d struggle,” Propst said, adding he hoped fora defensive score and strong special teams play.

He got both.

William McCrary breathed some life into his team when he returned an interception 20 yards for a second-quarter touchdown that tied the game.

Amel Magwood’s diving interception at the Stephenson 26 in the fourth quarter set up Roberson’s 2-yard touchdown run.

“That was one of the most remarkable interceptions I’ve ever seen,” Propst said.

And when Davis picked off Jordan Tarver’s pass with 1:13 left, the Packers may finally have believed they just might pull off one of the two biggest upsets of the Class AAAAA playoffs.

Stephenson, averaging 39 points and giving up just 5.4 points a game this season, appeared to set the tone of the game by marking 61 yards on 12 plays to score on a 17-yard run by Raymond Sanders with just 5:20 gone in the game.

The Packers missed a field goal, threw an interception and punted on their first three possessions before McCrary stepped in front of a pass thrown Tarver, who was under heavy pressure.

“We had a little glazed look in our eyes before William got us that pick six,” Propst said.

The Packers missed another field goal later in the quarter and the game was tied at 7-7 at the half.

Colquitt managed just 40 yards of offense in the first two quarters.

If the McCrary interception was the big play of the first half, a 55-yard run by Tevin King with a screen pass from quarterback Tyler Brown kick-started the second.

King bounced off of tacklers, and several of his teammates, in stumbling, lunging run that took him from his own 38 to the Jaguars 7.

Stephenson bowed up and Tyndall connected on the first of the three field goals he would make in games final 17 minutes, giving the Packers a brief 10-7 lead.

Stephenson responded with a 14-play 80-yard drive that ended on the second play of the fourth quarter when Sanders reached the end zone from 11 yards out and the Jaguars were up again 14-10.

But then the fun started for the Packers.

Roberson took the kickoff at the Packers 1 and took it all the way to the Stephenson 29.

A Brown pass to Tommy Hudson and run by King got the ball to the Stephenson 12, but again the Packers stalled.

And again Tyndall trotted out and punched it through to pull the Packers to within 1 at 14-13.

Magwood came up with next big play when he slid across the Hallford Stadium SprinTurf to haul in an errant Tarver pass at the Stephenson 13.

This time, the Packers would not need Tyndall.

Roberson would get the touchdown from 2 yards out, but a pair tough runs by King set it up.

The junior running back banged ahead for nine yards on a third-and-7 and, on the next play, knifed through the Jaguars for 12 more yards to the 2.

Roberson got in behind the jumbo personnel to score.

A 2-point conversion attempt failed, but the Packers were up again, 19-14, with 6:35 left.

But again Stephenson answered swiftly, needing just six plays to go 80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown scored by Denzel Hartley on a run from 19 yards out.

With his team up by one, Stephenson coach Ron Gartrell elected to send out Colin Anderson to kick the extra point rather than go for two and perhaps take a three-point lead.

That decision set the stage for the Packers final thrust.

And it started with Roberson, the all-state receiver candidate who had been held to just one catch for 2 yards by the Jaguars.

He bobbled the kickoff for a moment, the picked it up, faced five blue-shirted Jaguars, then outflanked them and got the left sideline where he streaked downfield in front of the Stephenson bench.

The Jaguars finally knocked him out of bounds 86 yards later at their 9.

The Packers sent King into the Jaguard defense three times for three yards before sending out Tyndall for the biggest kick of his career.

Ashley Mead’s snap, Davis Durham’s hold and Tyndall’s kick were all perfect and the Packers had their final lead 22-21 with 2:28 left.

“I am so proud of him,” Propst said of Tyndall, who has kicked the Packers extra points and short field goal attempts this season.

Propst said he personally worked with Tyndall on his short field goals during last Tuesday’s practice.

“He always gets great elevation and on Tuesday I decided if he looked good I’d go with him for short field goals against Stephenson. And he was dead on, dead on, dead on.

“On Friday, he did just like he practiced all week.”

The interception by Davis made most in the gold sweatshirts breathe a little easier, but Stephenson had one last shot, taking over with 12 seconds left.

Tarver completed a pass to Sanders for 24 yards and another to Nathan Benford for 6 yards on what appeared to the final play.

But the officials put 1 second on the clock and Tarver threw again. This one fell harmlessly to turf and Packers began to celebrate the improbable win.

The win was just the latest South Georgia teams have inflicted on Stephenson, which currently has 32 former players performing at the collegiate level.

The Packers are the seventh South Georgia team to knock the Jaguars out of the playoffs in the last nine seasons.

PACKERS NOTES: Roberson had four kickoff returns for 198 yards against the Jaguars. ...

Sanders led Stephenson with 132 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. He also caught four passes for another 68 yards. ...

In addition to the three interceptions and 227 return yards it surrendered, Stephenson was hurt by 10 penalties for 115 yards.

Colquitt County was penalized just four times for 35 yards. ...

The 405 yards of offense was the most surrendered by the Packers this season. They gave up 398 or more four times last year.

The Packers will have a chance to knock a second-straight unbeaten team out of the playoffs when they return to Lassiter next Friday.

Colquitt County went to Lassiter on Aug. 15 and defeated the Trojans 24-13 in a game called early in the third quarter by lightning.

The Trojans have not lost since.

Lassiter rides Mason’s strong right arm. Mason is the first quarterback in Georgia history to surpass 4,000 yards in a season.

The 530 yards he threw for against South Gwinnett came up short of the state-record 545 he threw for in a victory over Milton earler this season. ...

Propst said the Packers would leave Moultrie in the afternoon on Thanksgiving day and bus to Atlanta.