MOULTRIE – If the Etowah football team doesn’t yet know what it is facing in its first-round state playoff game against Colquitt County that will commence at 7:30 p.m. next Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium, it soon will.

And it won’t be reassuring.

The Eagles, the No. 4 team from Region 4, are 4-6 and are slouching into the playoffs coming off a 34-10 loss to Roswell last Friday.

Etowah has been playing football since 1977 and has an overall record of 193-238-1. The school’s best season was in 2014 when the Eagles went 11-3, losing to Archer 52-7 in the semifinals.

Archer, as even a casual Colquitt County football fan will remember, lost in the state championship game the week after dispatching Etowah, falling to Colquitt County in what was the Packers 15th win of the season. Colquitt also went 15-0 the next season.

Since 2014, Etowah has gone 8-3, 5-6, 5-6 and 4-6. A third straight 5-6 record could be in the offing.

Colquitt County is 10-0 now after a somewhat surprisingly easy 40-6 win over Lowndes at home on Friday and is the Region 1 champion.

The Packers have gone 14-1 since Lowndes beat them 51-45 in the final regular-season game last year.

In their last 18 quarters of football, after trailing 14-10 at the half at Grayson, the Packers have scored 195 points and given up just 22. And of that 22, only six have come on an offensive touchdown.

But those chapters are just part of a story that Etowah probably doesn’t want to get too familiar with.

Since Packers coach Rush Propst got his Colquitt County football program to his liking in 2009, the Packers have not lost a first-round playoff game, having won nine in a row.

Only the first, a 10-0 win at Westlake in 2009, and the fourth, a 30-28 squeaker at McEachern in 2012, have been close.

The other seven have listed heavily in the Packers direction, to say the least: 50-21 over Jenkins, 31-10 over East Coweta, 41-10 over Newnan, 62-12 over Rockdale County, 48-16 and 49-7 over North Paulding and, last year, 49-7 at Pebblebrook.

And to make it doubly unlikely that Etowah could pull off what would be a remarkable upset, Colquitt County defends the Mack valiantly.

In 12 playoff games in front of their fans, the Packers have lost just once, and that was to the state champion-bound Grayson all-stars two years ago.

It might not be mission impossible for Etowah, but darn close.

If the Packers can get by the Eagles, they will be home again the following Friday to play host to the winner of the McEachern-Newnan game.

Colquitt defeated McEachern 41-7 in the Corky Kell Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to open the season. The Indians are the No. 3 team from Region 3.

Also looming in the Packers’ quadrant of the bracket is Region 6 champion North Gwinnett, with which the Packers have some recent history.

The Bulldogs, of course, dealt the Packers their most recent loss, a 19-17 decision in last year’s state champion game that was decided on an untimed-down field goal after regulation had expired.

The Packers might look at the opportunity to meet North Gwinnett as a shot at settling a not-so-old score.

Also in Region 1, via the tiebreaker, Lowndes (7-3, 1-2) will be the No. 2 seed from Region 1 and will play host to Cherokee, the No. 3 team from Region 1. Cherokee defeated Lassiter 26-23 in overtime on Friday.

Camden County (7-3, 1-2) upset Tift County 28-24 on Friday and will be Region 1’s No. 3 team. The Wildcats will travel to play Region 4 runner-up Walton on Friday. Walton won over Woodstock 30-7 to close out the regular season.

Tift County (6-4, 1-2) finished fourth and will travel to play Region 4 champion Roswell, which eased into postseason with the aforementioned win over Etowah.

Other Colquitt County opponents and how they fared last week are:

• Trinity Catholic has won nine straight games and will take a 9-2 record into its third-round Missouri state playoff game against St. Charles West next Friday. The Titans have won their two playoff games by 88-0 and 71-10 scores.

• Thomasville closed out the regular season with a 56-3 win over Early County to finish 6-4. The Bulldogs are the No 3 team from Region 1-AA and will travel to Hephzibah on Friday.

• Valdosta was off last week. The 6-4 Wildcats are the Region 1-AAAAAA runners-up and will play host to Lovejoy on Friday.

• Warner Robins had to forfeit one of its wins after using an ineligible player, but still finished 8-2 after blanking Veterans 28-0 last Friday. The region champion Demons will play host to Locust Grove in the first round.

• Grayson defeated South Gwinnett 35-7 last Friday to finish the regular season with an 8-2 record and a 5-0 mark in Region 8-7A. The Rams will play host to South Forsyth in their opener.

• Alcovy, 2-2 when it traveled to Moultrie to absorb a 56-0 loss in which it did not manage a first down, lost its final six games in a row since then and did not make the playoffs.