MOULTRIE – Call it a quirk from scheduling, or compare it to the ping pong balls bouncing randomly before a lottery drawing.

Rematches from the high school football regular season to the playoffs are not uncommon. To find history repeating itself, rematches between the same two schools two years in a row for a grand total of four football games … well, the stars do need to align themselves just right.

On Friday, it’s Episode 2 … or maybe technically Episode 4 … of the recent series between the Colquitt County High Packers and the Brookwood High Broncos. The teams agreed to a two-year home at-home deal prior to the 2016 season, and in the second year the game was played at Brookwood’s Stadium in Snellville. Behind running back Dante Black’s five rushing touchdowns – three coming in the first quarter – the Broncos rolled to a 42-25 win on Sept. 15. This was the Packers’ first loss of the season after four straight victories, and it was also just the beginning of a big 11-game winning streak for Brookwood that continues to this very day.

In one of this Friday’s GHSA Class 7A semifinals, the Broncos will play host again as Region 7-7A champions. That should mean, then, that everything – including those same stars in the night skies above – is lining up in Colquitt County’s favor. The Packers want revenge so bad, it’s hard to beat the same team two times in the same year, and Rush Propst’s troops spent the previous two weekends feasting on unbeaten region champions on their home field.

Point No. 1 is hard to argue, for it’s all in the heart of the Packers’ players. They knew, should they be successful on Black Friday at Archer High, that a rematch of some kind was in the cards. On that same night, Brookwood hosted a Colquitt County Region 1-7A rival. Tift County High went to Snellville as its region’s No. 2 seed, a distinction the Blue Devils earned by beating Colquitt in Moultrie on a last three-seconds field goal 38-35.

The second point, though, is not always a guarantee. As stated at the beginning, this is the fourth meeting in two years between Colquitt and Brookwood. During the 2016 season, the Packers were on a four-game losing streak when Brookwood visited Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium. Up to that point, the Broncos were dominant in the all-time series with Colquitt, including 2010’s Class 6A championship game.

The Packers, however, did the dominating 52-14 to get their first win. As Region 1-7A champions, they hosted the Broncos again. If there was any ‘revenge’ on Brookwood’s mind, it hardly bothered the home team. The Broncos may have more than doubled their scoring total, but Colquitt also showed some improvement from the first time winning 66-35.

What these clubs have in common is a theme of survive and advance. Feasting may not be the right word to describe the last two Packer playoff wins. At Walton High in the second round, Colquitt scored a quick touchdown following the Raiders’ costly fumble on their own 23 yard line late in the first half. That broke a 14-14 tie, and the Packers played even with Walton in the second half to escape Marietta 28-21 winners.

On a cold night in the Lawrenceville area last Friday, junior kicker Ryan Fitzgerald kicked four field goals for Colquitt County. That’s it. No touchdowns. No chip shots either, the shortest being 29 yards and the longest a record 60 in a free kick setup. But with plenty of ball control to get Fitzgerald in good position to make his kicks, that was all needed as the Packer defense smothered the Archer Tiger offense for a 12-7 quarterfinal victory.

The record books show the last Colquitt County football win without a touchdown goes back to 1982, and there were no field goals either. It was a 2-0 final against Dougherty.

On Brookwood’s side, there were some tangles since Sept. 15. There’s no rivalry bigger in the Atlanta area than Brookwood-Parkview. Parkview, dismantled by 1-7A’s Lowndes and Tift early in the season, made a big charge in the second half. That included a 30-27 loss to the Broncos that determined 7-7A’s champion.

Brookwood’s last two playoff wins were 28-23 against Milton and 35-28 over Tift County.

The Blue Devils led the game 21-14 at halftime, but the Broncos shifted everything in the second half when Matthew Hill ran the opening kickoff 97 yards to the end zone and Kendall Williams picked off a pass for a 28-yard TD return.

This is Brookwood’s first semifinal since winning the 2010 championship. Colquitt County’s always been at least this far since 2009 with the exception of the 2016 season.

THE SCOUTING REPORT

Offensive coordinator Jeff Hammond said they always start over from scratch every week, rematch from earlier in the season or not. “We act like we’ve never seen them before,” he said.

Defensive coordinator Mo Dixon knows both the Packers and Brookwood are different – certainly better – teams than from Sept. 15. Plus, every team goes into every round with the same record: 0-0.

“It was probably the one game we played … it’s like a rock in your shoe,” said Dixon about Sept. 15. “We didn’t play well at all. That wasn’t a good weekend. But it’s in the past.

“We’re glad to be playing, that’s for sure. We’re both different teams. Playoffs are always about durability. Who’s got their best players, and are their best players on the field.”

If Black has another game like in September, he will go over 2,000 yards rushing for the season. Hill is also close to 2,000 in all-purpose yards taking in running, receiving and returns of both kicks and interceptions.

“He might be one of the top three or four players in the state,” said Dixon of Hill. “He plays everywhere. He reminds you of (Walton’s Dominick) Blaylock. He’s explosive. The running back is outstanding. The thing about them is the o-line. Watching them on film, they are on a different level as far as blocking. They take a lot of pride in being physical.”

Going into the playoffs, Colquitt’s defense was struggling against the run in back-to-back region losses. But in the playoffs, Archer only had 50 yards on the ground and Walton 107.

“Walton and Brookwood are sort of in the same family,” said Dixon. “Their coaching trees are a lot alike. Tripp Allen is one of their co-coordinators (and was at Walton 1999-2014). Tripp’s a really good offensive coordinator. They will run the ball at you all day. We’ll have plenty of chances to see how we do against the run.

“When they got Tripp over there, you could see the difference. They run a handful of plays a lot of different ways. Their explosive play count is crazy. We made a cut-up of plays 10 yards or more … it was insane.”

From the Packer side, two other players’ games are rising high in the postseason. At cornerback, Nyquan Washington has four interceptions in the last three games, and Jay Ward made two in the Walton game and one that’s not going to count as such at Archer.

“He had an outstanding interception they ruled out of bounds,” said Dixon. “That was an unbelievable play he made.

“We’ve been playing four strong (at corner) all year. Those two are just playing. Jarvis (Christopher) has had a nagging injury that’s opened the door. One thing about us and Brookwood, when we practice, the offense we’re going against is pretty good. Some of these guys have gotten better with the reps, and the talent’s starting come out.”

Dixon also brought up a point made by Propst just this week about not getting caught up in over scheming. It was during the third quarter of the Walton game that Dixon decided, “We’re playing straight base.” Five interceptions followed, including the Archer trip.

But with the way Brookwood runs the ball physically, interceptions may not be the defensive key. In that running game, Dixon said the Broncos are not turning the ball over and are chewing up the clock.

Hammond echoed everything about the Broncos’ offensive abilities, pointing out their quarterback as a great game manager.

“Defensively, they are very athletic,” he said. “They gave us issues early in the year. We are going to have to go out there and really execute and be physical in the box, throw-and-catch to have a chance.”

The developing story of the Packer offense is the production of running back Ty Leggett. Against Camden County, the junior set himself as the best in Region 1-7A for certain, and he ended the season as its leading rusher. Leggett is at 1,164 yards, but he hasn’t had a triple-digit rushing game since Camden (a high of 79 yards vs. Lowndes) and only eight double-figure runs out of 56 rushes.

“We need both our running backs going,” said Hammond. “Hopefully both will have a big night. Those caliber of kids need to be playing at a high level.

“Ty has been banged up, fighting through nagging injuries. Sometimes it’s bad play calling, sometimes it’s bad blocking, sometimes it’s bad reading by him. He needs to play better, which he’s capable of. Edwards is starting to play really well, and he was slumping early in the year. If we get those guys on the same page, we have a chance.”

When Edwards had 116 yards rushing vs. Walton, it was his third game in triple figures this season. He is at 805 going into Friday. The team averages 193 yards on the ground and Steven Krajewski averages 164 passing.

THE LOOK BACK

How in the world does Colquitt County High football under Propst win a game without a touchdown, especially an offensive TD?

“When defense is playing like that, and we’re able to run the football well and control the clock, and you have a good kicker and points are at a premium, you don’t need to chance a turnover and make sure you come out of the red zone with points,” said Hammond. “It is what it is. I’m happy we won.”

Colquitt’s deepest penetration on Archer all game ended on a fumble at the Tiger 10-yard-line. That’s seven more potential points, Hammond noted.

While it wasn’t a great stat game for the quarterback Krajewski, the senior shook off seven sacks, completed his last three passes on the same drive (that ended in the fumble) but then turned things over to Daijun Edwards and the running game. He contributed 43 yards himself on the ground down the stretch while Edwards picked up 70 in the second half.

“He really persevered,” said Hammond. “He took some sacks. Some of them were on the OL. Some were on him not getting the ball out of his hands. He never got frustrated with the pressure. He extended plays with his legs and made key first down runs. It was very physical and expiring.”

Hammond said there’s good things to say about every team’s defense the Packers faced. Archer held Colquitt to its lowest point total of 2017 with a good defensive line and a safety stopping big plays. These are players recruited by SEC and ACC schools playing at a high level, he said.

“Our tempo was outstanding,” said Hammond. “Being able to get lined up and get plays snapped. Third-down conversions were great … being able to keep drives alive and stay on the field. Some games it’s going to be where we are able to throw the football and can’t run much. There are weeks we can do both. However we can get first downs and score points is the best way to do it.”