D'Amonte Ridley (23) hurdles two Mill Creek tackles and continues on a 45-yard touchdown run for the Packers.

Just about everything has gone Colquitt County’s way this postseason, so it’s hard to quibble about losing a coin toss.

But after defeating Mill Creek 27-14 on Friday to advance to the state semifinals for the second-straight year, Colquitt County lost a coin toss to the Rams and will travel to Grayson Community Stadium in Loganville to meet the Rams at 7:30 p.m. next Friday.

Grayson, like the Packers a No. 3 seed that has won three straight in the playoffs, shut out Valdosta 22-0 on Friday at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

Representatives of Colquitt County and Grayson met in Adel early Saturday morning to flip a coin to play host to the semifinal game and Grayson won it.

Tickets for the game will be $10 and are expected to go on sale at the main office at the high school on Tuesday.

The Colquitt County-Grayson winner will play the Bookwood-Collins Hill winner for the state championship at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Georgia Dome, leaving the victory over Mill Creek as the only playoff game the Packers will play at home this year.

“I’m OK with it,” Packers Coach Rush Propst said of having to travel to the Atlanta area again. “I’m very compassionate about the average fan. I wish we could be at home, but I hope everyone will go to Grayson.”

And Propst said he expects another battle with the 10-3 Rams.

“Any team that can shut out Valdosta at their home has got to be tough,” he said. “It will probably be the toughest game we’ve played all year.”

Grayson has lost three times: to Kell 13-10 in the season-opener at the Georgia Dome and to South Gwinnett 24-22 and Brookwood 10-0 in region games.

Brookwood also is in the state semifinals.

“They play a tough region schedule,” Propst said.

As did the Packers, who built on their 5-5 regular-season record and 2-2 region record to defeat Jenkins, M.L. King and Mill Creek in the playoffs.

And on Friday, they came up with their most impressive defensive performance of the year.

Against a team that was averaging 386 yards of offense a game, the Packers allowed just 251 yards and 11 first downs, picked off three passes, had four sacks and stopped a fake field goal attempt.

Colquitt met Mill Creek having given up an average of 364 yards a night and when Hawks quarterback completed a pass to Brandon Hayman for 67 yards to the Packers 15 on the first play of the game, some may have thought, “Oh, no.” Especially in light of the 522 yards M.L. King quarterback Jonquel Dawson had passed for the previous Friday night.

But it was the next three plays that set the tone for the game.

Tyler Cierski, the 260-pound fullback who went into the game with 745 yards and 11 touchdowns rushing, was stopped for no gain on first down.

The Hawks gave it to Cierski again on second down, but outside linebacker Payne Newsome came up with the first of a number big plays he made on the evening, cutting down the big fullback for a 2-yard loss.

On third down, Russ went back to pass, but sophomore linebacker John Gray busted through and sacked himfor a 9-yard loss back to the Packers 31.

The Hawks, whose kicking game had struggled all year, elected to punt rather than attempt a long field goal, and the Packers had escaped.

Mill Creek punted away its next two possessions as well, but after recovering a Packers fumble on the Colquitt 24 just a minute and a half into the second quarter, the Hawks had another chance to jump out to a lead.

But after a run and two pass incompletions netted just two yards, Mill Creek lined up to attempt a 39-yard field goal.

Instead, Russ, the holder, took the snap and attempted to run for the first done. The Packers were having nothing of it and stopped Russ at the line of scrimmage.

Colquitt forced another punt on the next Mill Creek possession after a series in which the Hawks appeared bent on self-destruction.

Packers defensive tackle Richard Kinsey knocked Cierski back into a 5-yard loss on first down and Russ misfired on a screen pass attempt on second down.

Then the wheels began coming off for the Hawks.

A long pass completion for an apparent first down was called back on an illegal shift penalty.

The Hawks appeared to have overcome that penalty with another apparent first-down pass, but that one, too, was called back on a penalty.

A false start followed and in three plays, the Hawks had gone from third-and-15 to third-and-30. Devonte Lewis then ripped off a 14-yard run, but the Hawks still had to punt and the Packers offense finally found some traction.

D’Amonte Ridley got the Packers first touchdown on a 45-yard run with 3:27 left in the half and Rashawn Hunt protected the 7-0 lead when he intercepted a Russ pass on the final play of the half.

“You get into the quarterfinals and you get an opportunity to come away with points, you’ve got to convert those in this round,” Mill Creek coach Shannon Jarvis told The Gwinnett Daily Post when asked about his teams missed opportunities.

“I’m not about to take anything away from Colquitt, though. They did a good job. They did some things defensively thaT we made adjustments to, but they played extremely hard on defense and put pressure on us.”

Colquitt mishandled the second-half kickoff and Mill Creek needed to go just four yards for their first touchdown. But the Hawks were unable to get a tie when Wayne Jackson blocked the extra point attempt. It was third block of a kick this season.

And that 1-point lead looked in danger when Mill Creek’s Evan Cavaliere intercepted a Tyler Brown pass moments later. It was the Packers fifth turnover of the game.

But Colquitt held again and forced another punt and with 1:59 left in the quarter, Brown threw to Tommy Hudson, who was able to get a foot in for his 12th touchdown catch of the season.

Trailing 14-6, Mill Creek was forced to punt away its next possession after a bad snap resulted in a 16-yard loss on a third-and-9.

Brown threw his second touchdown pass of the game and 23rd of the season on the next possession, hitting Octavius Little in the end zone.

The Hawks countered with their only drive of the game, going 78 yards in 10 plays to score on a 12-yard pass from Russ to Cierski.

Tanner White backed the Hawks up to their 12 with a 57-yard punt moments later and a pair of sophomore defensive linemen teamed up to put the game out of reach.

On a second-and-10 from the 12, Russ attempted a pass, but Travis Register got a hand on it and batted it to Octavius Jackson, who grabbed it and rolled in from 7 yards and the Packers led 27-14.

Trey Scott sealed it with an interception.

Russ suffered a rough night. After completing 62 percent of his passes for 2,062 yards in his first 12 games, he was just 9-for-21 for 170 yards.

Hayman, who had 53 catches going in, had just two receptions, and just one after getting one on the first play of the game.

The Packers appeared unimpressed with Cierski’s size and 745 yards rushing. He had just eight yards on eight carries, although he did catch four passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.

King ran for 120 yards, adding to his single-season rushing record. He now has 1,778 for the year.

Brown completed 11-of-22 for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Brown now has 2,762 yards this season and 5,601 in his career, both Packers records.

Hudson caught six passes for 65 yards and a score. He added to his single-season receiving record and now had 82 catches. He also set the Packers single-season receiving yardage record. He now has 1,086 yards.