MOULTRIE – After the Rockdale County, Fulton County, DeKalb County and Newton County school systems postponed all of its sports competitions because of COVID-19 concerns, the Colquitt County football team now finds it has four holes in its schedule.

Rockdale County’s decision to postpone football meant Heritage High would not be coming to Moultrie to play on Oct. 2.

The Fulton County decision to postpone all sports until Sept. 14, means Westlake, scheduled to play on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium in the Packers’ home-opener on Sept. 11, also will not be coming to Colquitt County.

When DeKalb County decided to suspend sports until Oct. 1, it postponed or perhaps canceled the Packers meeting with defending state Class AAA champion Cedar Grove, set for Sept. 18.

And Newton County’s announcement on Friday that it would postpone football indefinitely has cost the Packers their Oct. 23, Homecoming opponent, Alcovy.

“I’ve got a bunch of calls in to coaches,” Colquitt County head coach Justin Rogers said Saturday morning. “We’re working on it. But scheduling at Colquitt County has never been an easy thing.

“We just don’t have a lot of teams down here.”

And now there are fewer in the Atlanta area to try to schedule, although there could be some Gwinnett County schools looking for games.

“We’d really like to find something in Middle Georgia on down,” Rogers said.

The Georgia High School Association last Wednesday stuck to its decision to start the high school football season on Sept. 4, but with many school postponing or shutting down their seasons, there likely will be new plans.

Schools that have decided not to play this fall are Heritage, Rockdale County, Salem, Riverside Military, Calhoun County, Stewart County, Twiggs County, Our Lady of Mercy and Pinecrest Academy.

Dougherty County’s three schools – Dougherty, Monroe and Westover – will not play until Oct. 1.

Clayton County has suspended sports through Aug. 21.

Fulton County’s decision affects 16 GHSA schools. DeKalb County has 19 GHSA members.

Also, on Thursday, Bibb County Schools in Macon suspended sports indefinitely. Affected are Central, Howard, Northeast, Rutland, Southwest and Westside.

The Savannah-Chatham County schools announced it will hold only intra-district sports competitions this fall and football will start no sooner than Oct. 1. Ten football-playing schools are affected.

Florida fall high school sports teams can begin playing games on Sept. 4, the Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted on Friday and Georgia schools needing games might be able to find opponents in the Sunshine State.

“Hey, I’ll go anywhere,” Rogers said.

So far, the Sept. 4, opener against defending Class 7A state champion Marietta is still on, but if Cobb County schools delay the start or cancel their football season, that game could be in jeopardy as well.

The Packers continue to work as if the game at Marietta will be played.

“We had a scrimmage last Friday and the kids really got after it,” Rogers said. “But then they go home and find out we’ve lost three more games.

“It’s a tough time for the kids. But they’ve been resilient. And we are going to get this thing figured out.”