MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County High football team will open the 2006 football season with a pair of road games in Adel and Thomasville, but will play its next four games at home, according to schedule released by Packers coach Tim Cokely.

The Packers will open on Sept. 1 at Cook High and will go on the road again the following Friday night to renew is series with long-running series with Thomas County Central. Colquitt will then be home the next four Friday nights, meeting Lee County, Bainbridge, Valdosta and Coffee.

On Oct. 13, the Packers will be at Houston County, then will have their off-week on the Friday night before traveling to Valdosta to meet defending state champion Lowndes.

The Packers will make their second trip to Warner Robins on Nov. 3 when they play the Demons, who will be the newest addition to Region 1-AAAAA, at McConnell-Talbert Stadium.

Colquitt will close out the regular season at home on Nov. 10 against Tift County.

The schedule still must be approved by the Georgia High School Association.

Cokely is still trying to schedule a preseason scrimmage game for Aug. 24 or 25.

The schedule does not include a non-Region 1-AAAAA game against Class AAAAA that would give the Packers an advantage in the case of region tie.

“It’s not for a lack of trying,” Cokely said, adding that he made a number of attempts to schedule a Class AAAAA team in one of its four non-region slots, but was unable to do so.

Colquitt County was able to claim a playoff spot in 2005 when a tie was broken in its favor because of a victory over Region 8-AAAAA’s Meadowcreek.

Warner Robins, which is moving up from Class AAAA in next school year, is expected to make Region 1-AAAAA even more competitive in football next season.

The Demons were 9-2 last year, losing only to Northside-Warner Robins 20-14 in overtime and to Douglas County 24-20 in the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs.

Warner Robins won the Class AAAA state championship in 2004, beating Statesboro for the title and posting a 14-0-1 record. The tie was by a 7-7 score against Houston County in the season-opener.

Colquitt County last met Warner Robins in the 2000 playoffs when the Demons ended the Packers season with a 41-0 victory in the first round of the playoffs.

The two schools have met 13 times, including in the regular season each year from 1960-1965 and again in 1972 and 1973, with the Packers winning seven of the eight games.

The Packers and Demons did not meet again until 1991, when Colquitt County ended the Warner Robins season with a 21-0 victory in the first round of the state playoffs.

In the interim, Warner Robins had won state championships in 1976, 1981 and 1988 under Robert Davis.

Colquitt County defeated Warner Robins 7-3 in the second round of the 1999 playoffs by holding future Florida State star Willie Reid to just 77 yards on 26 carries.

With Warner Robins joining the region, Cokely had only four non-region games to find.

Meadowcreek, Americus-Sumter County, Parkview and Worth County have been dropped from the schedule.

The game against Thomas County Central will be the 31st meeting between the Packers and Yellow Jackets and the two schools have met on the gridiron every year since 1992.

The Yellow Jackets defeated the Packers 41-21 in Moultrie last season and went on to finish 10-2, losing in the second round of the state playoffs to Northside-Warner Robins 14-7.

Cook was 10-3 last season, advancing to the third round of the Class AA state playoffs before being eliminated by a strongGreene County team, 27-6.

Coach George Dean’s Hornets also lost 34-14 to Cairo in the season-opener and 9-0 to Brooks County.

The Hornets also went 7-4 in 2004, 11-2 in 2003, 6-5 in 2002 and 13-1 in 2001.

Lee County was one of the surprise teams in the state last seasons, going 10-2. The Trojans lost 38-31 to Dougherty and 49-21 to Griffin in the second round of the Class AAAA playoffs.

The Trojans were a member of Region 1-AAAAA 2000-2003, but lost four straight to the Packers during that span, 28-13 in 2000; 41-20 in 2001; 35-14 in 2002; and 61-0 in 2003.

Colquitt County also defeated the Trojans in non-region games in 1988, by a 46-6 score, and 1989, 33-0.

Bainbridge is no stranger to the Colquitt County schedule, having played a home-and-home non-region series as recently as 2002-2003.

The Packers and Bearcats have met 62 times, with Colquitt County holding a 45-14-3 advantage.

The first round of the state playoffs will begin on the weekend of Nov. 17-18 this season.

The semifinals will be held again in the Georgia Dome on the weekend of Dec. 8-9.

The state championships, held for the first time at neutral sites selected by the Georgia High School Association executive director, are scheduled for Dec. 15-16.

Colquitt County’s home football games will start at 7:30 p.m. this season.

In fact, except for the Oct. 27 game at Lowndes, which will start at 8 p.m., all of the Packers games will have 7:30 p.m. starts this season.