MOULTRIE — A largely inexperienced Colquitt County football team took its first tentative competitive steps toward the 2024 season on Tuesday against a defending state champion in its end-of-spring scrimmage.

And it was probably what many expected from a program that won 25 games over the previous two seasons, but lost 17 starters from a team that went 12-1 last year.

There was no clock and no score posted on the scoreboard on the practice field at the high school in a largely controlled scrimmage with defending Class 5A state champion Coffee High, which went 15-0 last season.

The scrimmage had been scheduled to be played on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium, but the threat of more storms forced it to be moved to the high school, where the indoor Ray Goff-Virgil Seay Facility was close by if needed.

As it turned out, the weather was near-perfect and a modest contingent of fans turned out to watch the newest Golden Herd.

Sean Calhoun, starting his third season as the Packers head coach, said he was pleased with the effort while acknowledging that the many wearing the black jerseys were getting their first extensive playing time against an opponent in another color jersey.

There were officials present for the event, which closed out the 10 days of GHSA-mandated spring practice.

But the ball was usually returned to a pre-determined line of scrimmage after each play during the event, which lasted just over 2 1/2 hours.

“The reason we had a controlled scrimmage with a couple of legit game drives in there is that we wanted our kids to get a lot of reps,” Calhoun said.

“And we did that. We got a lot of reps with the 1s, the 2s and the 3s. We’ve got a ton of film to watch. I thought it was good.”

Coffee provided strong competition.

“You could tell they were coming off a championship season, just by the way they handled theirselves,” Calhoun said. “They were good.”

The Packers scored 1,136 points over the last two seasons, but only three starters are returning on offense and only two of them played on Tuesday.

Offensive lineman Khalil Collins is back, but the others who got the majority of the snaps on Tuesday, have little to no Friday night game time.

Among those in coach Bryce Giddens’s group who were on the field against the Trojans were Cole Holder, Damien Suarez, Matthew Dillon, Casey Scott and Theron Allen.

The Colquitt County wide receiver contingent was one of the best in the state last year, but the top five pass-catchers have graduated, all heading to play at the college level.

Running routes on Tuesday, were Alexis Barge, Ny’Shawn Osby, freshman Gavin Henderson, Zylon Hawkins, Sam Miller, NaRyan Sumlin and others.

“They are young,” Calhoun said. “But they are showing glimpses of what they can do.”

Returning starter Day’Shawn Brown joined Jamari Stokes, Ty’Jaevian Lamar and Rylan Merritt in getting most of the rushing attempts.

The contest to replace record-setting quarterback Neko Fann, now at Mercer University, is between rising junior A’Zhiyen Alridge and rising freshman Cohen Lawson.

Both had their moments against the Coffee secondary.

“I thought they both did really well,” Calhoun said. “But there are things we’ve got to work on.

“Obviously, it’s going to come with time and reps.”

Defensive linemen Jartavius Flounoy and Amari Wilson and corner Jah’Boris Fuller are back on the defensive side of the football, but the others have varying degrees of inexperience.

Also playing in the trenches on Tuesday were Kamdon Gay, Stacey Lambright III, Ja’Corey Anderson and Kaden Calhoun.

Among those getting plenty of snaps at linebacker were Bryce Toomer, Ra’Quan Kinsey and Chance Sims.

Seeing time in the secondary were Dyi James, Ry’Sheed Fuller, Alfonso McNeil and Roddreick Carter.

There was no special teams play in the scrimmage, but veteran Packers place-kicker Brett Fitzgerald displayed his strength and accuracy in several non-competitive attempts.

“A lot of the fans don’t even know who some of these kids are,” Calhoun said. “But, at one point, they didn’t know who Chase Parrish was or Jay Ward. It’s going to be fun watching some of these kids make names for themselves.

“Obviously, we are a ways away from that. But we’ve got a good coaching staff and a group of kids who like each other and work hard. When you have that, good things can happen.”

The first of the two Georgia High School Association-mandated “dead weeks” is May 27-June 2 and preparation for next season will continue in earnest after that.

The Packers will compete in 7-on-7 tournaments at Florida State on June 5 and at the University of Florida on June 12.

Colquitt will take part in a padded camp at Cairo on June 25 and June 27 and will play host to camp on July 10-11.

The other dead week will be July 1-7.

The preseason scrimmage will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 2, against Bainbridge in The Hawg Pen.