MOULTRIE – With the atmosphere of a World Cup – complete with high-volume crowd noise and reactions – there was also a finish fitting of such a setting Friday at Packer Park.

With Jose Moreno working the ball at one corner, his pass inside the penalty box went to Carlos Landa. Landa, in turn, passed off to Raymon Garcia. With the urgency of a rapidly shrinking clock, Garcia punched in the game-winning goal for Colquitt County High against Region 1-7A rival Tift County High.

Why the urgency? Because the match was in the final minute of the second overtime half, and up to that point nobody from the Packers to the visiting Blue Devils came close to crossing the soccer ball over the goal line.

But now that the score was 1-0 in favor of Colquitt, there were still 31.5 seconds left to concentrate and keep Tift from leveling things again and potentially bringing about the penalty-kick shootout. The Blue Devils packed the midfield line on the kickoff, but Colquitt County took possession of the ball, sent it towards its attacking zone and even drew a red-card foul, Abrahm Sanchez taking the contact.

It should also be noted that the Packers, for all of overtime and a good bit of the second half, played with only 10 boys on the field due to their own red card. With the win, Jimbo Jarvis’ club got on the victory side for the first time in 1-7A; they had lost the first region match of the 2018 season at Camden County.

As regulation play ended 0-0, the ensuing procedure was to do two five-minute halves to their completion, and a PK shootout would only occur if the score remained tied. For the first five minutes, Colquitt had some good defense out of Sergio Jimenez, and then a shot – the result of a lot of passing – from Juan Pascual saved at the two-minute mark. The best chance – before Garcia notched the winner – in the second OT for the Packers was a chip saved off Sanchez’ foot created by Ruben Gonzalez and Pascual (3:10).

For 80 minutes of regulation soccer, the rival teams went all out creating loud responses from the large group of spectators representing both sides well. The edge in possession time and opportunities to score was on the Colquitt side, but Tift County was ready to disrupt passing combinations and prevented the clean looks the Packers had in tallying nine goals the Friday before on Houston County at home.

Right away, almost three minutes after the kickoff, Moreno and Sanchez worked the ball back and forth for a shot saved by Tift’s goalkeeper. About three minutes later, Pascual had the ball outside the box, passed it in to Moreno, but his shot sailed high. The Packers also had their free kick opportunities over the next five minutes miss their marks.

Jarvis puts some size in his backline in front of goalkeeper Blayton Duncan, and it was a solid first half for Wes Smith and Emmanuel and Penuel Rodriguez sending the ball back over to the Packer offense.

More Colquitt free kicks were there, Moreno drawing the foul with under 23 minutes to play. Josh Aviles, a sophomore substitute, took the 24-yarder but missed the goal high. At 20:32, Moreno passed to Gonzalez for a shot saved. Two minutes later Eric Leon moved up from the back line, crossed the ball in but saw it caught. Duncan immediately followed with his first big play on the ball for the match.

Even with a foul drawn by Aviles, defensive stands and corner kicks, Colquitt’s bid to score were only met by frustration. Violations were going against the Blue Devils, and the first of numerous yellow cards was issued to the visitors at 5:55. Despite it all, the Packers only found themselves tied 0-0 at the half.

The second-half stared with some intense action two minutes in as Colquitt went from a free kick to a corner kick. No shots on goal would result though, but Tift put together its first serious rush to its attacking end. Duncan was there to break up the break one-on-one about 10 yards away.

Around eight minutes in, Landa, Gonzalez and Garcia were working the ball back in the Blue Devil penalty box. From a throw-in close to the corner, Landa found a head shot, but so did Tift’s keeper.

As time continued to melt away – under 27 minutes still to play – Tift County was earning its free kick chances on the Colquitt side. Duncan caught the first one taken with no problem. This would lead to a 50-50 ball claimed by Leon, who got the ball to Landa. This created a shot on the other end for Gonzalez that was saved, and at 24:53 Landa himself had another shot stopped.

Moreno was especially stunned when, at 23:30, he lined a 25-yard free kick (Gonzalez drawing the foul on the run) off the mark.

The red card against Colquitt came at 12:39 when Tift did an onside rush. The Packers received another yellow at 12:15. Tift, however, had no serious threats to take the lead with the Colquitt defense holding up; George Barber checked in during the new half and added his work to the back-line effort.

In the final 10 minutes, Aviles hit a shot saved (9:50), Pascual and Landa each had charges well defended and Garcia, the eventual hero of the day, was denied in the last 10 seconds.

TIFT GIRLS WIN 6-3

Colquitt County High’s girls soccer team dropped its second Region 1-7A decision as Tift County’s Lady Devils were the only squad to put together consecutive goals Friday at Packer Park. The visitors did that twice, countering the two scores by Chloe Gould in a 6-3 final.

Tift attacked early with two stops coming from Lady Packer keeper Julia Warnock in the first three minutes. Though there were steals out of Joy Del Angel and defense put on by Lexi McDaniel and Ragan Harden, Tift came up with the steal and charge that led to the match’s first point. With a pass off to the right and shot on goal, it was 1-0 at 34:52.

Gould sprinted to the ball off the kickoff only to be met by the opposing goalkeeper. The Lady Packers maintained possession, and Jami Kling’s onside lead from the backline went right to Gould. She tied the match 1-1 at 33:26.

Colquitt was put right back on the defensive, and Warnock played a throw-in and McDaniel cleared away a loose ball. Tift sped down the left side for an angled shot off Warnock’s hands. The Lady Packers received a yellow card taking on a fast-break at 25:43, but Warnock saved the free kick.

However, at 23:05, the Lady Devils dribbled and scored to go back on top by one.

Exactly six minutes later Colquitt was awarded a free kick shot about 40 yards away. Harden put her foot into it, giving it the perfect arc to level the match again 2-2.

At 14:10, the visitors found an open net to claim their third one-goal lead of the night. The match would stay 3-2 for the remainder of the first half as Warnock recorded a save at 13:40 and Harden created an easy save chance at 12:31. The ball went the wrong way for Colquitt on a header, but Warnock saved the ensuing shot at 4:25.

Just four minutes into the second half, Tift’s developed a cushion of two goals on the board when a corner kick sailed to the back of the net. But that margin didn’t last long, for Gould made her second goal charging and pulling the keeper out of position at 35:25.

Daliza Gachuz backed up her keeper in a big way when Tift was on the run, and Del Angel was good for more steals. However, Colquitt could not maintain a hold on the ball. The Lady Devils, at 18:04, put a high shot in from the left corner of the box (5-3). Warnock had a save at 16:57, but Tift reclaimed the ball and blasted it from 20 yards away in for the 6-3 final.

Colquitt County High soccer will host a non-region doubleheader at Packer Park vs. Ware County High beginning at 5 p.m.