Connie Southwell/The Moultrie Observer GOTTA SCORE: With Tommy Marshall (54), Xavier Ward (63) and Trey Rhymes peering from end zone posters, Colquitt County’s Tevin King (22) scores a touchdown against Lassiter. The Packers, who managed just one touchdown in the loss to Cook last Friday, would like to make a number of trips to the South Panola end zone during the teams’ non-Region 1-AAAAA game that starts at 12:45 p.m today at Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County coach Rush Propst flew to Petal, Miss., last Saturday to watch South Panola pound the Panthers 38-0 and came back with this observation about the Tigers:

“All their kids look like football players,” said Propst, who has sent teams out against some of the top programs in the country over the last 22 years.

“They are good. They could beat anyone in the country.”

South Panola has defeated nearly all comers over the last eight years, winning 117 of its last 120 games.

The defending Mississippi Class 6A champs bused over on Friday to get ready for today’s 12:45 p.m. matchup at Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

The Packers, who went 11-3 last year, lost their opener 15-9 to Class AA Cook last Friday and would appear to be a big underdog to the program that has won eight state championships under four different coaches since 1993.

Colquitt County went 2-8 in 2007 and 4-6 in 2008, and could be mismatched against a team that is 15 points away from bringing a 121-game winning streak to Moultrie.

And Propst acknowledges as much.

“We’ll have to play as well as we can play to have a chance,” he said. “But we are not going to back down.

“We’ve got a lot of redeeming to do.”

Still bitterly disappointed in the upset at the hands of Cook, Propst said the game featured “the worst I’ve ever had a team play.

“We shot ourselves in the foot. We just didn’t get the job done.”

And there is still a ways to go.

“We’ve had a good week of practice,” Propst said. “But I don’t think we’ve got everything fixed.

“And we are still very young in places on the defensive side.”

The Packers defense took a hit when starting middle linebacker Stephen Moore injured an ankle early against Cook. He will not play today.

Sophomore John Gray will play in Moore’s spot between DaQuan Nelson and Rashawn Hunt.

The Packers got surprisingly good work from the defensive front against Cook. With starting end DeRhyan Arnold unable to play, Wayne Jackson got the start and came up with 14 tackles.

Arnold is back this week. Quan Daniels will start at the other end.

Brett Smith and Richard Kinsey will start at the tackles.

The cornerbacks will be Stacey Blackwell and Trey Scott. Payne Newsome will be th rover and Ronnie Caldwell will be the free safety.

South Panola threw the ball just nine times in the win over Petal, completing seven.

The Tigers prefer to rush the football and they have both the offensive line the backs to do it.

South Panola rushed for 431 yards last Saturday.

“Their line is big, extremely strong and very well-coached,” Propst said.

And they make it easy for an impressive group of runners, led by 215-pound Qwen Griffin, who ran for 206 yards and a 70-yard touchdown last week.

The Tigers will often pull quarterback Lee Self and run their “Wild Tiger,” snapping directly to Kendrick Market, who also plays wide receiver.

“They are a power football team,” Propst said. “They just come out and block you.

“And when they get in the direct snap, they run the speed sweep.”

When the Tigers do throw it, they have one of the state’s top receivers to look for.

Nick Brassell, a 6-foot, 175-pounder with 4.4 speed, is rated by Rivals.com as the No. 1 player in Mississippi and the No. 76 player nationally.

Propst said that the Tigers defense reminds him of those on old Valdosta High teams.

“They are extremely fast and physical,” he said. “And their defense knows where the goal line is. They just don’t let anybody in.”

The Packers were expected to be able to use their speed, experience and talented offensive line to run up a lot of points this season.

It didn’t happen last Friday, although the Packers had 436 yards of offense.

The offensive line includes center Bryce Giddens, guards Garrett Brewer and Trey Rhymes and tackles Xzavier Ward and Tommy Marshall.

The starting receivers are expected to be Octavius Little, Blake Stamps and Tommy Hudson.

The running backs will be Tevin King and D’Amonte Ridley.

King had his sixth career 100-yard rushing game against Cook, totaling 135 yards on 23 carries. Ridley added 68.

Quarterback Tyler Brown completed 16-of-27 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown.

But the Packers had three turnovers and 135 yards in penalizes against Cook. A similar performance will result in a death sentence today.

Propst said that although ESPN will not televise the game, the network will have a camera crew at the game to shoot game highlights.