MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County sixth-grade Ffotball team kicked off the 2021 season with a home  16-12 victory over Valdosta Middle School on Wednesday.

The Wildcats struck first, scoring early in the second quarter to go up 6-0.  Monterrius Haynes and Jonathan Littleton combined on a big stop to prevent the extra point. 

The Packer offense responded with a nice drive, assisted by a 24-yard kickoff return by Markell Davis. The drive stalled when it looked like quarterback Landon Beverly ran for a first down, but the officials marked him short and Valdosta took over on downs near the Wildcat 40. 

The young Cats stormed down the field and put up another score, with just 15 seconds left until halftime, but again failed to convert the points after as Littleton made another big stop.

As time expired in the half, Beverly looked to throw, but was forced to run. He evaded two would-be tacklers, and outraced the rest of the Valdosta defense down the sideline, covering 69 yards to score with no time left on the clock.  Beverly ran in the conversion, and Colquitt trailed 12-8 at the half.

Neither team managed to score in the third period.  Valdosta had a chance to ice the game with a long drive in the final period, but the young Packer defense stood up. 

Bradley Bryan forced a fumble, which the Valdosta running back was fortunate to recover. Davis made a tackle for loss, Beverly made an open-field tackle on third down and Haynes made a tackle in the backfield on fourth down to give the Packer offense another possession.

Travis Moore made it count. Beverly hit Moore on a quick out route, and Moore did the rest – breaking one tackle, cutting back across the grain in front of a nice downfield block by Prince Blakely, and pulling away from two more defenders on a dazzling 64-yard catch-and-run to give Colquitt County its first lead. 

Beverly ran in the conversion to create the final margin, 16-12. 

Davis notched another tackle-for-loss on the final possession for the Wildcats, and defensive back Michael Waldee defended nicely on two long pass attempts to end Valdosta’s last chance at a comeback.

The Packer offense looked like it found paydirt one more time, as Moore ran for 42 yards up the middle, down the 5-yard line, and Beverly ran it in a couple plays later.  A holding penalty negated the score, but the Packer offense possessed the ball and ran out the clock, deep in Wildcat territory. 

“I’m proud of these kids,” head coach Matt Key said. “As little practice time as we’ve had, with weather delays and everything we’ve faced … we did a lot right today. 

“We’ve talked a lot about how important 2-point conversions and stops are, and they were the difference in the score today. And now we’ve got two weeks to fix the mistakes for our next game.”

The sixth-grade Packers travel to Pine Grove September 8. 

The seventh-grade Packers will travel to Lowndes Middle School Thursday to open its season. 

The eighth-grade team will plays its opener next Thursday at North Lowndes.