MOULTRIE — There is plenty of upside for the Colquitt County High golf teams as they prepare for Monday’s state tournaments at Jekyll Island.

The Packers have been one of the state’s most successful teams this season, winning five tournaments, including the Region 1-AAAAA championship.

The Lady Packers also are coming off a region championship, turning in a score that won the state championship in 2005.

The Colquitt County boys have a team scoring average of 300.2 strokes in nine tournament rounds. They are solid throughout its top four, with Josh Dale, Matt Smith, Aaron Elrod and Clarke Hendrick all capable of shooting par or below. Dusty Campbell and Ian Hester are not far behind.

And they are state-tournament experienced, with the trip to Jekyll the third for Dale, Smith and Elrod. Hendrick is a freshman.

The experience that Dale, Smith and Elrod have playing in the grueling 36-hole state tournament is lessened somewhat since the site has been moved from Jekyll’s Oleander course to Pine Lakes.

The switch could be to the Packers advantage, Colquitt County coach Donald Dale said, helping make his team one of the front-runners, along with Harrison, Centennial and Peachtree Ridge. Tift County, the Region 1-AAAAA runner-up, also could make a run.

“We have a chance,” Dale said. “Our top four have to play well. Our guys feel confident, which is good. Going over there with the vision of winning is much different than going over with the idea of ‘If we play well, we can be in the top five.’”

The Packers started the season with second-place finishes at Bainbridge County Club in the Bearcat Invitational, with a 305, and the Landing in Warner Robins’ Demon Invitational, with a 317.

Colquitt then reeled off four straight tournament championships, shooting a 289 at Grand Island Club in Albany; a 294 at Sunset Country Club in the Packer Invitational; a 294 in the rain-shortened tournament in Vidalia; and a 304 in the Blue Devil Invitational at Spring Hill in Tifton.

The Packers shot a 298-312 to finish ninth in the Hardaway Invitational on the course at Fort Benning, but came back to win the Region 1-AAAAA championship at Sunset with a 291.

The Packers were a model of consistency at the region tournament, with Elrod scoring a 71; Smith, a 72; Dale a 73; and Hendrick, a 75.

Elrod turned in his best round of the season at the region tournament to lower his stroke average to a team-leading 74.1.

Smith has the team’s best round of the season, a 69 to help the Packers post their 289 in the Trojan Invitational. One of the Packers’ two seniors, Smith has a stroke average of 74.2.

Dale, the other senior, has a stroke average of 77.1 Hendrick, the freshman, is averaging 75.2 per round.

“None of them has to play over his head,” Donald Dale said. “If we just play like we can, we have got a chance.”

Dale said the 2006 team is the best he has had since taking over the program. From 1995 to 1998, the Packers featured an outstanding pair of golfers in Jack Croyle, who went on to play at Georgia State and who won the State Amateur, and Andy Blanton, who played at Valdosta State.

But those teams could not consistently post four low scores.

“All four of our guys can shoot even par or under,” Dale said.

The Packers will have played a couple of practice rounds at Pine Lakes by the time they tee off on Monday and Donald Dale believes his team is well-suited for the course.

“It is easier than Oleander,” Dale said. “It’s more wide open. It’s long, but our guys can mash it. We’re long enough off the tee to play a long golf course.”

Dale said he believes Harrison may be the favorite.

“They are absolutely loaded,” he said. “They are six deep. I’d say they have the best chance.”

The Colquitt County girls will play18 holes at Indian Mounds and if they shoot what they did in the Region 1-AAAAA tournament, they could make a run at favorite Glynn Academy.

Glynn won the 2005 state title with a 150. The Lady Terrors got 75s from Rebecca Durham and Laura Hall and both are back this year.

The Lady Packers shot a 150 to win the region title, getting a 5-under par 67 from Anna Leigh Keith and a season-best 83 from senior Lindsay Hargrove.

Shannon Giddens and Jill Flowers also will play for the Lady Packers on Monday.

“If we get close to 150, we’ve get a chance,” Donald Dale said. “If we got to 160 or under, we’ll be in the top four or five.”

Hargrove competed in the state tournament last year and shot a 91 as the Lady Packers turned in a 207 to finish ninth.