MOULTRIE — Fans who stick around after Colquitt County plays Deerfield Beach, Fla., in the first game of the Georgia-Florida Classic on Saturday at Martin Stadium can watch former Packers assistant Zach Grage make his debut as the Lowndes head coach.

The Vikings will open their season against American Heritage High of Plantation, Fla., in that game, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

The two games at Lowndes will finish the first weekend of contests featuring Region 1-7A teams.

Grage, a former Packers assistant who left Moultrie for his first head coach job at Gilmer County in 2015, spent the last six seasons at Thomasville.

He led the Bulldogs to the Class AA state championship game last December, but when Jamey DuBose, who was 20-5 in two seasons, left Lowndes, Grage took over a Vikings program that went 10-3 last year.

Lowndes advanced to the quarterfinals last year before being ousted by eventual state champion Collins Hill.

But the Vikings go into 2022 without four-year starting quarterback Jacurri Brown and top receiver Chase Belcher.

The Vikings dropped their recent fall scrimmage to Tift County 8-7.

American Heritage is traditionally one of the top high school programs in Florida, having won state championships in 2016, 2017 and 2020.

The Patriots were 6-4 last season and were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs under coach Patrick Surtain.

Long-time assistant Mike Smith has taken over as head coach this season after Surtain, who was 65-10 at American Heritage, took a job with the Miami Dolphins.

The three other Region 1-7A teams will open on Friday:

• Camden County, which was 4-7 last year in Jeff Herron’s return to Kingsland, will play host to DeKalb County’s Columbia High in its opener.

The Eagles, who play in Region 6-AA, were 8-4 last year, including a season-opening 31-0 loss to Camden County.

Herron, who won three state championships at Camden County during his first tour with the Wildcats, had been gone for eight years before returning to Kingland last season.

He has a 150-25 record at Camden and is 316-16 overall in his coaching career, which includes five state titles.

• Richmond Hill, a new addition to Region 1-7A, will open its first season in the state’s highest classification by playing host to Effingham County.

One of three programs known as Wildcats now in the region, Richmond Hill was 4-6 last year, but was 9-3 in 2020 and 9-4 in 2019 in Class 6A.

Head coach Matt Lezotte has been at Richmond Hill for eight seasons and has posted  a 43-33 record and won a region title in 2019.

He also coached at Aquinas for four seasons and went 28-16.

Effingham County was 6-4 last year in head coach John Ford’s first season.

Ford previously coached at Roswell, where he was 40-12 and won two state titles, and at Buford, where he was 21-5 in two seasons and won two more region crowns.

Ford was the head coach at Roswell when the Hornets lost to Colquitt County 30-13 in the 2015 Class AAAAAA state championship game.

He also took Roswell to the championship game the following year, falling to Grayson.

• Valdosta is returning to Region 1 in the state’s highest classification for the first time since 2015.

The Wildcats are playing for the second year under head coach Shelton Felton, a former Colquitt County assistant.

Valdosta was 4-6 last season after being sanctioned by the Georgia High School Association and was not eligible to play in the postseason.

In 2020, Valdosta was forced to forfeit all its victories by the GHSA because of recruiting violations and finished 0-12.

Valdosta last won a state championship in 2016 under coach Alan Rodemaker.

Valdosta will open at home on Friday against North Miami Beach (Fla.).

The Chargers were 4-6 last year and 4-4 in 2020.

Of this and that:

• According to UGA Football Live, Bulldogs running backs coach Dell McGee had this to say about former Packer Daijun Edwards: “He is going to be a competitor and he is having a great camp thus far and had a great spring too, so we expect great things out of Daijun. He  has graduated to a level where he is, where he is going to get snaps.”

According to the Georgia High School Football Daily three 2022 Colquitt County opponents are ranked in the preseason top 10 in their classifications: Lowndes, No. 8 in 7A; Lee County, No. 2 in 6A; and Cedar Grove, No. 1 in 3A.

• The Packers will run across six pre-season All-State players this season, including three defensive standouts from defending Class AAA state champion Cedar Grove.

Defensive lineman Adonijah Green, linebacker Everett Rousseau and defensive back Kayin Lee represent the Saints on the Class AAA All-State team.

Cedar Grove lost 28-13 when it visited Moultrie last September.

Colquitt also will face All-State players Shelton Lewis, a Stockbridge defensive back; Osmane Kromah, Lee County running back; and Eric Brantley, a Valdosta defensive lineman.

• Of the 412 GHSA teams that will play football this season, 129 are in new classifications.

• Valdosta and Lowndes will be back in the same region for the first time since 2015.