MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County seventh-grade football team is off to a 2-0 start after defeating North Lowndes 14-6 at home and then winning at Tift County 30-16 last Thursday.

In the first week of the middle school season, North Lowndes — a combined team of students from Hahira and Pine Grove Middle Schools — visited Mack Tharpe Stadium and left with a split.

The North Lowndes eighth-grade team lost 14-6, while the seventh-graders scored late to take a 12-6 victory.

The seventh-grade Packers took an early 6-0 lead on a short run by Lavorice Blyther to finish off a long drive that included three pass completions and a bruising 17-yard run by quarterback Cohen Lawson. 

Lawson hit Kendall Jordan for nine yards, Quinahri Thornton for five and then Jonathan Armstrong on a high-lofted strike for 33 yards, that resulted in a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. 

Blyther plunged in from there behind a powerful push from the offensive line.

The young offense put together another good drive late in the half, highlighted by a 15-yard run by Lawson, a 9-yard run by Jason Stephenson and a 28-yard catch-and-run to Jordan.

The Viking defense held firm, though, and the Packers held just a 6-0 advantage going into halftime.

On the first possession of the third quarter, Lawson broke free for an apparent 58-yard touchdown scamper, but a holding penalty negated the play. 

North Lowndes put together a long drive that started near the middle of the third quarter and lasted well into the fourth, and scored their only points of the day.

Their touchdown knotted the score at six, but the Packer defense held on the conversion try, as Thornton batted away a pass in the end zone.

With 4:09 remaining in the game and the score tied, the Packer offense went to work on its side of midfield.  Lawson completed a pass for 10 yards to Tristan Walker, ran 18 yards himself, completed an 8-yarder to Stephenson and finished off the drive with a nifty 15-yard jaunt down the sideline for the final points of the day with 1:25 showing on the clock.

The defense held the Vikings to seal the victory.

“I liked our fight,” head coach Andy Chapura said. “We made a few costly mistakes — not surprising, for our first game; but we kept fighting, we responded well to adversity, and we made the plays when it counted.” 

Defensive standouts up front for the Packers were Daiyunn Walker and Kordae Myers, who recorded multiple quarterback pressures and each notched a tackle for loss.

On the back end, Gavin Henderson broke up two passes, Jabori Hill broke up a pass and Monterrius Haynes intercepted a pass that set up the first points of the game.

Game two of the seventh-grade season started explosively for the young Packers. 

On the first possession of the game, Lawson hit Armstrong for 31 yards to the Blue Devil 1 and Blyther finished off the drive on the next play to build a 6-0 lead. 

Then, Henderson intercepted a Tift pass near midfield, and returned it to the 7-yard line. 

Lawson needed just one flick of the wrist to hit Thornton on a 7-yard touchdown pass.  Stephenson converted the extra points and the lead was 14-0.

On the ensuing Blue Devil possession — still in the first quarter — Blyther recovered a fumble on the plus side of the field and Lawson quickly hit Armstong again on an over-the-shoulder touchdown toss.

Stephenson ran in the conversion and the lead was 22-0 at the end of the opening period. 

The game slowed considerably after that, but the Pack held a 22-8 halftime advantage.

Tift came out of the locker room and moved the ball, eventually putting another score on the board and narrowing the Colquitt lead to 22-16. 

Lawson and company mounted one more big drive, though and the young passer found Armstrong again, this time in traffic near the goal line. 

Armstrong battled for position among two Blue Devil defensive backs and somehow came down with an acrobatic and highly contested reception and even managed to find pay dirt in the process.

Lawson ran in the conversion for the final 30-16 margin.