MOULTRIE — Finishing first or second in the Region 1-AAAAA standings automatically qualifies a team for a berth in the state tournament.

The other four teams in both the boys and girls standings will play on Thursday with the winners also being guaranteed of a state tournament game.

The Colquitt County boys and girls team fit into that category, needing a victory in their region tournament opener to advance.

Tift County grabbed the top seeds in both the girls and boys tournaments and will be off until Friday, as will the No. 2 seeded Lowndes girls and Houston County boys.

The Lady Devils and Blue Devils not only have the advantage of being the top seeds, they also will be playing at home in front of their fiercely loyal fans at the Tift County High Arena.

Tournament play will open at 4 p.m. Thursday with No. 4 seeded Houston County girls playing the No. 5 seeded Coffee High Lady Trojans.

Colquitt County’s boys, the No. 5 seed with a 4-6 region mark, will meet No. 4 Coffee at 5:30 p.m.

Colquitt’s girls, 6-4 and the No. 3 seed, will play at 7 p.m. against No. 6 Valdosta, which finished winless in six region games.

Thursday’s final game will pit the No. 3 seeded Lowndes boys against No. 6 Valdosta.

The four Thursday winners and the top two seeded teams will advance to first-round state tournament games against teams from Region 2-AAAAA.

The Region 2-AAAAA tournament opens today.

The Packers, who split with Coffee in the regular season, could advance to meet Tift County at 8:30 p.m. Friday in a semifinal game.

The Lady Packers, who swept Valdosta during the regular season, would advance with a win to play Lowndes at 4 p.m Friday.

Of the two Colquitt County teams, the Colquitt County girls appear to have come up with the better draw.

The Lady Packers had little trouble with Valdosta in either game this season.

On Jan. 7 in the Gladys Espy Gymnasium, Colquitt won by 23, 56-33.

In the rematch in Valdosta, the margin was 32, with Colquitt winning 67-35.

And if the Colquitt girls win as expected, they will not have to face Tift County in the second round.

Instead of the Lady Devils, the No. 1 seed and winner of three games over the Lady Packers this season, Colquitt would meet Lowndes.

Colquitt lost to Lowndes by two in Valdosta, but came back to defeat the Vikettes in Moultrie 56-53.

The Lady Packers had hoped for one last pre-region tournament tuneup last Saturday when Thomas County Central visited the Espy Gymnasium.

Because of a scheduling mixup, no officials showed up to call the games.

Although Colquitt County came up with local officials, Thomas County Central coach Jenny Johnson refused to play the game and took her team back to Thomasville.

The Lady Packers defeated Bainbridge 68-49 on the road on Friday and will take a 16-8 overall record into the game. The win over the Lady Cats followed a disappointing 39-33 loss at Coffee on Tuesday.

Colquitt will continue to count on its front court of senior Jessica Lemus and sophomore Taquella Coates.

Nikki Hudson and Ashley Stafford also will start.

In recent games, Lady Packers coach Joe Parker has started freshman Nicolle Thomas in an effort to give his team a little more scoring punch.

Dorothy Strong has started much of the season at point guard.

Colquitt County first-year boys coach Kirven Davis is glad that his team still has a shot at the postseason, but probably would rather meet someone other than Coffee in the first round.

The Trojans are small and quick and especially gave the Packers fits when the two teams met in Douglas last Tuesday.

“They handle the ball pretty well,” Davis said.

Davis said Coffee “hit about 70 percent” from the field and rolled to a 73-53 victory.

Colquitt had won the first meeting between the two teams in Moultrie by six back on Jan. 10.

And the Trojans are on somewhat of a roll.

After knocking off the Packers, Coffee defeated Houston County 55-53 on Friday. The Bears are the No. 2 team in the region.

The Trojans finished the region part of their schedule with a 5-5 record.

The Packers shed a six-game losing streak when they defeated Thomas County Central 69-43 on Saturday at the Espy Gymnasium. The victory allowed the Packers to take a 12-12 record into Thursday’s meeting with Coffee.

“This is a must-win for us,” Davis said. “It gives us a chance to get at Tifton again. I want another chance at those guys.”

The Packers lost to the Blue Devils 57-52 in Moultrie and 49-47 in Tifton when the Blue Devils hit a pair of free throws in the final 4.7 seconds after Davis was hit with a technical foul after arguing an official’s call of a charge on Colquitt County’s Rahawn Melvin.

For most of the season, the Packers have used senior James Trimble and junior Andrew Wallace in the front court, junior Orion Ponder playing the point and seniors Antwan Tuff and Jeremy DeBruce playing the wings.

“We need Wallace, Tuff and Trimble to play well,” Davis said. “They are our three-headed monster. When that three-headed monster wakes up, we’ll be hard to handle.”