MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County seventh-grade Packers defeated Lowndes Middle School 20-6 on Thursday in a weather-shortened game that the first one played on the brand new turf of Tom White Field in Mack Tharpe Stadium. 

The game was called at halftime because of lightning in the area.

Brysun Hunt scored the first two touchdowns of the season for the young Packers, and then Rysheed Fuller scored the third and also caught a pass for a successful 2-point conversion.

“I was glad to get the win,” head coach Andy Chapura said, “but I’m disappointed that we missed out on 16 minutes of playing time. There were a lot of kids that have been out here working hard, and today was the reward for that. 

“Our coaches are disappointed that we didn’t get more kids into the game, like we would have, but I liked the two quarters of play that we got.”

Zach Palmore returned the opening kickoff almost to midfield. 

A’zhiyen Alridge directed a five play drive, completing a pass to Jamari Stokes and handing off to Hunt from 24 yards out.  Hunt ran left, broke a tackle, and went the distance for the first score of the day.

The Vikings responded with a methodical and time-consuming drive for a score to knot the game at six early in the second quarter.  The Packer defense rose up and stopped the Viking conversion attempt, as Stacey Lambright got penetration and Brayden Ruis met the ball-carrier and kept him out of the end zone.  

The Colquitt offense went back to work, covering 58 yards in only four plays.  Alridge completed a 20-yard pass to Fuller, and Hunt scored again – going right this time – from 20 yards out.  

Alridge and tight end Carlton Keaton couldn’t quite connect on a pass at the goal line for the conversion attempt, and the score was 12-6.

When the Packer defense took the field for a second time, it had a whole different look.  

“We made some adjustments after watching that first series,” defensive line coach Glenn Jackson said.  “The ‘hit squad’ went to work.”  

Ruis registered a tackle for loss, and then on third down, Chance Sims did the same thing, forcing the Viking offense into fourth and long.  When the punter bobbled the snap, Palmore forced him to tuck it and run. Then the young linebacker took him down, setting up the Packer offense inside the 20-yard line.

Fuller needed just one play.  Taking a handoff moving left, the young back followed the outstanding blocks of Byrece Huckaby and Miguel Contreras around the left end, shed a couple of would-be tacklers, and went 18 yards to pay dirt, and the Packer lead was 18-6.  Alridge found Fuller on a short pass for the conversion and what would end up being the final margin.  

When halftime came, so did a lightning delay. The game administrator sent the teams to the locker rooms and the fans under cover, but after a 40-minute delay with near-constant rolling thunder – and with no end in sight – the coaches and officials came together and agreed that calling the game was necessary.  

Because the game went to halftime, it officially goes into the books as a victory for the Packers.

Next week the seventh grade Packers will host North Lowndes – a team composed of Hahira and Pine Grove middle schools – on Thursday evening.  The game time is uncertain.