MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County football team’s overhauled secondary will get what might be its biggest challenge of the season in its first game.

When the Packers travel to Marietta on Friday for the 2021 season-opener, they will face a Blue Devils offense that Colquitt County coach Justin Rogers says will throw the ball 80 percent of the time.

“The quarterback is returning and he’s got two really good receivers,” Rogers said. “Down and distance don’t bother them.”

The Packers will have four new starters in the secondary replace four players who are now preparing for their first year of playing collegiate football.

Expected starters Tylan Brice and Ny Edwards at the corners and Hunter Strickland and Lyric Thomas at the safety position will be the focus of Marietta’s 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior quarterback Tyler Hughes, who threw for 2,703 yards and 28 touchdowns last year.

He was intercepted just eight times.

Daniel Martin, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior, caught 51 of those passes, turning eight into touchdowns.

Zuri Johnson, 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, caught 35 passes, also for eight scores, as a junior last year.

The Blue Devils won’t pretend to establish a running game, Rogers said.

Hughes was the team’s leading rusher last year with 535 yards.

Colquitt County was to have traveled to Marietta to open the 2020 season, but COVID had other ideas and the game was never played.

When the 2021 schedule was made, it was decided that the Packers would still make the long trip to Cobb County for the season opener.

Colquitt will have its hands full in the program’s first trip to Northcutt Stadium since defeating the Blue Devils 21-17 in the 1991 semifinal.

The Packers won the Region 1-7A championship and advanced to the Elite Eight last season.

Marietta won the Class 7A state championship in 2019 with a roster studded with college prospects, but graduation and COVID took its toll last year.

The Blue Devils went 3-8, but 20 of the starters off that team return this year.

The Georgia High School Football Daily staff is impressed enough with the Blue Devils to rank them No. 8 in its Class 7A preseason poll.

Rogers doesn’t dispute Marietta’s ranking.

“They got 20 returning starters,” Rogers said of Richard Morgan’s sixth Marietta team. “The entire defense is returning. They are a good football team, an experienced football team. They’ve got a lot of long, athletic kids.

“And their program expects to win. They are going to play with confidence and expect to do well.”

The Marietta with an experienced quarterback and two large receivers is the Packers big concern.

“We have got to limit the explosive plays,” he said. “And we have got to be able to tackle in space.”

Colquitt will try to pressure Hughes with a defensive front that includes ends Julian Harper and Alexander Florence and tackles Quan Gammage and Marcus Ponder.

Ontavious Carolina, at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, proved last year to be an effective pass rusher and the Packers are likely to turn him loose on Friday to do just that.

Milton Barfield, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior lineman, also could help keep pressure on Hughes.

Pershaun Fann and Daveon Hunt will start at the outside linebacker positions. Fann, too, has a record of harassing opposing quarterbacks.

Senior Rickie Yates, all 5-foot-10, 175 pounds of him, will start at middle linebacker.

In the secondary, the Packers also will use corners Qway McCoy and Carlos Moore and safeties Kamal Bonner and Dextra Polite Jr.

On offense, the Packers are expected to give sophomore Neko Fann his first varsity start at quarterback.

Running back Charlie Pace will try to take as much of the pressure off his young quarterback as possible.

Pace averaged more than eight yards a carry last year.

Colquitt is expected to start two more sophomores at wide receiver: 6-foot-1 175-pound Ny Carr and 5-foot-10, 170-pound Za Williams.

Tight end Landen Thomas and halfback Jaden Fowler, both sophomores, also will be out in pass patterns.

Cole Holmes is likely to start at center, flanked by guards Isaiah Palmore and Jon Vaughn.

The tackles are Keshaun Palmore and Turk Daniels.

Isaiah Palmore is a senior; Holmes, Vaughn and Keshaun Palmore are juniors; and Daniels, who started 10 games as a freshman last season, is a sophomore.

While Rogers said the Marietta defense is an active one, he is not sure exactly which alignment his team will face.

The Blue Devils previously ran a conventional 3-4, but are likely to use a 3-3-5, with a safety added in place of a defensive end.

“That’s one of the joys of an early game,” Rogers said. “Sometimes you’re not sure what they are going to run.”

Three stalwarts on the Blue Devil defense – Martin, Carlos Cervantes and Ellis Reed – are back after combining for 202 tackles last season.

Martin, a two-way player, has started every game since his freshman season and has offers from Georgia, Clemson and LSU.

“We have got to establish the run,” Rogers said. “We want to get a that first first down and them establish tempo. I think tempo will really help us.”

Rogers is turning over the place-kicking duties to freshman Brett Fitzgerald this season. He is the brother of former outstanding Colquitt County kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, now at Florida State.

Also on the roster is Jason Gallardo, who was the Packers primary kicker in 2019.

Will Tapscott will be the long snapper; Eli Meads will be the holder; and Pershaun Fann will be the punter.

Carr will be back on punts and Williams and Pace will return kickoffs.

As the Packers prepare for the opener while battling injuries and illness, Rogers is counting more heavily than usual on his veteran coaching staff, which includes six former head coaches.

And he believes the Packers will be ready.

“We know the kids we’ve got are going to play hard,” he said.

PACKERS NOTES: Morgan has a 18-56 overall head coaching record. He previously coached at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, Va., where he won state championships in 2008 and 2011. He took teams to the semifinals five other times. He is 24-37 at Marietta. …

Rogers, who is 6-1 in his previous seven openers as a head coach, has an overall record of 63-19. He was 45-15 at Jones County and is 18-4 at Colquitt County. …

Colquitt County is ranked No. 5 in the GHSF Daily Class 7A poll.

Colquitt County and Marietta have met twice. The Packers won both times in the state semifinals, in 1991 and 1994.

Colquitt County will face five preseason top-10 this year: Lowndes, No. 6 in Class 7A; Marietta, No 8 in Class 7A; Westlake, No. 4 in Class 6A; Valdosta, No. 7 in Class 6A; and Cedar Grove, No. 1 in Class 3A. …

As the Packers head into the 2021 season, Colquitt County has won 342 games since 1978.

The Moultrie High football teams also won 342 games from 1913- 1977. …

Colquitt County football fans who attend the Packers season-opener on Friday, August 20, at Marietta High School’s Northcutt Stadium have several parking options.

The stadium is located at 121 Winn Street NW in Marietta.

Marietta City Schools will offer complementary shuttle service (park and ride) from Marietta High School, which is located at 1171 Whitlock Avenue in Marietta.

Polk Street will be utilized for vehicles with handicap permits. Anyone with limited mobility can be dropped off at the corner of Polk and Winn streets.

The Family Friendly Parking Lot provides the closest parking for families with small children, expectant mothers, the elderly and others with temporary physical needs. Anyone who needs support but does not have a handicapped tag or license can be dropped off at the corner of Winn and Polk streets.

Parking is also available at First United Methodist Church, located at the corner of Polk Street and North Marietta Parkway. The church lot is a five-minute walk to the stadium.

Also, fans are advised that no cash will be accepted for tickets purchased at the stadium gate. Only cards will be accepted.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at https://gofan.co/app/school/GA13721.

Gofan.co is the official ticketing provider for the GHSA.

Concession stands will take cash or cards.