Edwards scores first touchdown in Georgia win

Published 9:01 pm Sunday, December 13, 2020

MOULTRIE – Colquitt County’s Daijun Edwards got his first collegiate touchdown on Saturday in Georgia’s 49-14 victory at Missouri.

Edwards, a freshman who is the Packers all-time leading rusher, has received more playing time the last two weeks and is putting up impressive numbers.

In the win over South Carolina, Edwards carried 14 times for 77 yards.

On Saturday, he had 11 carries for 103 yards and a 6-yard scoring run.

Edwards has 37 carries for 218 yards for the Bulldogs.

Now 7-2, Georgia will complete its regular season next Saturday at home against Vanderbilt.

• Jay Ward, Edwards’s former Colquitt County teammate now playing cornerback for defending national champion LSU, made a remarkable interception in the Tigers 37-34 upset of Florida.

Ward was actually out of bounds when the ball bounced off a teammate’s face mask and headed toward him.

He got his feet inbounds just in time to make the catch, then fell back out of bounds.

The interception was the first for Ward, who has played in seven games for LSU, making 10 solo and five assisted tackles.

• John Samuel Shenker started at tight end for Auburn in its 24-10 win over Mississippi State last Saturday.

But the win was not enough to save the job of head coach Gus Malzahn, who was fired on Sunday.

Shenker has six pass receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown for Auburn this season.

• Appalachian State finished its 2020 regular season with an 8-3 record after defeating Georgia Southern 34-26 in Statesboro on Saturday.

Former Packer Kaleb Dawson, a sophomore, has played in all 11 games for the Mountaineers this season.

Appalachian State and North Texas will play in the first Myrtle Beach Bowl on Dec. 21.

The Mountaineers and the Mean Green will play at the campus of Coastal Carolina in the first NCAA-sanctioned bowl game in the state of South Carolina.

• Freshman tight end Carter Boatwright got some playing time in Florida State’s 56-35 victory over Duke on Saturday.

The 3-6 Seminoles will play at Wake Forest next Saturday.

• Former Lady Packer Za’Nautica Downs scored 32 points for UNC-Wilmington in the Seahawks’ recent 69-56 victory over South Carolina State.

Downs is in her first season at UNC-Wilmington after playing the last two years at Florida Southwestern State. She was the Suncoast Conference Player of the Year last season.

• Diamond Hall, a former teammate of Downs’s at Colquitt County, has scored nine and eight points for Alcorn State in its two most-recent games.

• Troy freshman Janiah Ellis scored 15 points in a 131-57 victory over LaGrange. The former Lady Packer has played in all four games for Troy.

• Former Colquitt County head football coach Rush Propst has his first Valdosta team heading to the Class 6A state semifinals next Friday.

With last week’s 36-15 win at Carrollton, the Wildcats will have to make another long trip, though, to meet Buford.

In his 11 seasons in Moultrie, Propst took Colquitt County to the semifinals nine times, missing out only in 2008, his first season, and in 2016, when the Packers lost in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Grayson.

Valdosta went into the playoffs as the No. 2 team from Region 1-6A after losing to Lee County 41-7 in the final game of the regular season.

Also among the 7-4 Wildcats four losses were a 24-10 defeat at Colquitt County, a 33-21 defeat at the hands of Lowndes in the Winnersville Classic and the forfeit of a season-opening win over Warner Robins for using an ineligible player, quarterback Jake Garcia.

But in the playoffs, Valdosta has defeated Lovejoy 52-14, Evans 44-7 and Carrollton.

The quarterfinal win over the Trojans also featured Propst winning over Carrollton coach Sean Calhoun, who served as his offensive coordinator when Colquitt County won 30 straight games in 2014-2015.

• Thomasville High, under Zach Grage, another former Propst assistant, was eliminated in the Class AA quarterfinals last Friday, losing to Callaway 34-21.

The Bulldogs finish 8-5.

• Lowndes, the Region 1-7A runner-up, will travel to play at Collins Hill in one Class 7A semifinal on Friday.

The Vikings are 10-1 with their only loss coming on Nov. 6 at Colquitt County.

In the playoffs, Lowndes has defeated Newton 42-0, North Cobb 21-13 and Milton 23-13.

Collins Hill, the Region 8 champions, advanced with a 21-14 win over Parkview last Friday.

Top-ranked Grayson will travel to face Norcross in the other 7A semifinal.