MOULTRIE — When the Colquitt County boys soccer team lost to Houston County 2-0 on March 23 at home, it appeared the Packers shot at Region 1-AAAAA championship were gone.

But five days later, the Bears were defeated by Tift County and now, with a return engagement between Colquitt County and Houston County set for Friday in Warner Robins, the Packers still have a title pulse.

Houston County is 8-1 in the region with a match against Warner Robins scheduled for today.

The Packers, 6-2 in the region, will travel to Coffee on Wednesday. If both Houston and Colquitt County win on Wednesday, the Packers will have a shot at first place on Friday.

And if the Packers win by three or more goals on Friday and the teams finish tied atop the standings, Colquitt would win the region title.

Houston County is 13-1-1 overall and ranked No. 9 in Class AAAAA. The Bears have outscored their opponents 53-8, but Colquitt County coach Mell Wier said he thinks his team is capable of beating the Bears.

“We played real well against them,” Wier said of loss to the Bears last month. “They got a couple of lucky goals and we stopped them from doing a lot of the things they like to do.”

But to make the Friday match against the Bears meaningful, the Packers must take out Coffee in Douglas tonight. The Trojans are 4-5 and played a close match with the Packers at Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium on March 17 before falling 1-0 on a Salvadore Duque goal.

“Coffee plays very physical and I don’t think we were ready for it,” Wier said. “We know what to expect now.”

The Packers, who are 11-2 overall, have come a long way since last season’s finish of 6-11 overall and 3-7 in the region. Colquitt avenged its only other region loss this season, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Tift County, by beating the Blue Devils 2-1.

“We knew we would be pretty decent, especially with the seniors and all the experience we had,” said Wier, who teams with Rob Craft as the team’s co-head coaches. “But we didn’t think we’d be this good.”

Wier said the team’s strength is its chemistry and depth throughout its lineup.

“We don’t have a superstar, one person you have to shut down to beat us,” Wier said. “We have other guys who can pick up the slack.”

In today’s first match, the Lady Packers, 3-5-1 overall and 3-5 in the region, will meet the Lady Trojans, who are 0-9 in the region.

Colquitt County’s matches with Warner Robins, originally scheduled for Friday, April 20, have been moved to Monday, April 16. The matches will be at Warner Robins.