MOULTRIE — While Colquitt County was jumping out to a 21-0 first quarter lead en route to 45-28 victory over Utah’s West High at home last Friday, the Packers second-week opponent was 25 miles down the road playing its first game of the season.

Like West, Monroe had its first-quarter woes.

Only worse.

The Tornadoes were down 31-0 after the first quarter against defending Class 6A state champion Thomas County Central in the Jackets Nest.

The Yellow Jackets, now 28-1 over the last two-plus seasons under Justin Rogers, went on to a 54-7 victory.

The Tornadoes will be making a similar trip on Friday, busing over from Albany to Moultrie to take on the Packers.

After losing 26 seniors — including eight starters on each side of the football — Monroe is trying to rebuild while playing Thomas County Central and Colquitt County on the road in its first two games.

Lacey Herring is in his fourth year as head coach at Monroe and each of his last two teams improved from the year before.

Monroe was 6-4 overall and 3-2 in Region 1-AAA last season, losing in the first round of the playoffs at Morgan County.

The Tornadoes had been 5-5 in 2022 and 3-7 in 2021.

Monroe does feature a pair of top senior athletes who have Division I offers.

Jordan Washington played wide receiver the last two seasons before moving to quarterback this year.

He rushed for 138 yards and threw for 120 more against the Yellow Jackets.

Ka’Ron Noird is a physical free safety/wide receiver.

Friday’s meeting will be 19th between Monroe and the Packers.

Moultrie High went 7-1 against the Tornadoes.

The only Monroe win came in 1974 and was the result of Packer forfeit because of an age rule violation. Virgil Seay rushed for 156 yards in the game played at Hugh Mills Stadium.

Between 1978 and 1987 Colquitt County and Monroe met 10 times with the Tornadoes winning only in 1979 and 1982.

The last meeting between the two schools came in 1987 when the Packers won 21-6 in Albany.

Tony Wilson rushed for three touchdowns in the game, the defense held the Tornadoes to one net yard of offense and the Packers had seven sacks.

The extra points after all three touchdowns were kicked by Chad Fitzgerald, father of current Packers kicker Brett Fitzgerald and his brother Ryan Fitzgerald, who kicks for Florida State

Like Monroe, the 2024 Colquitt County football team also is dealing with the loss of a strong senior class. The Packers are without 17 starters from the team that went 12-1 a year ago.

But the Packers were able to overcome their lack of experience against West, which had some difficulty with the south Georgia heat and humidity.

Colquitt’s Jah’Boris Fuller returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and the Packers got another score four minutes later after stopping a West fake punt at the Panthers 14.

The Packers led 24-0 on a 48-yard Brett Fitzgerald field goal on the first play of the second quarter and extended the advantage to 31-6 at the half.

According to the West High MaxPreps page, the Panthers ran up 536 yards of offense. But 178 of them came after the Packers had taken a 45-14 lead with 3:02 left in the third quarter.

The Packers also had an interception and a stop at their own 1-yard line right before the half in addition to taking advantage of the short field in the first quarter.

West brought an outstanding 6-foot-4, 217-pound sophomore quarterback in Kamden Lopati, who threw for 296 yards and ran for 116 more.

“He is a heck of a football player,” Packers coach Sean Calhoun said. “A pure passer. That was good for us to see.”

Calhoun was pleased with his team’s performance in its opener.

Colquitt was able to overcome a pair of special teams miscues, but Calhoun was most concerned with the 11 penalties for 117 yards.

Five of the penalties were 15-yarders.

“That was glaring,” he said of the penalties. “Those 15-yarders especially. They extend drives and make us play more plays than we should.”

Three other future Colquitt County non-region opponents won last weekend, including North Gwinnett, which will come to Moultrie on August 30.

The Bulldogs, led by three-year starting quarterback Ryan Hall, took a 39-17 victory over McEachern on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic.

Hall threw for 127 yards and three touchdowns against the Indians.

Lee County, scheduled to play at the Hawg Pen on Friday, September 13, opened with a 45-28 victory over Warner Robins.

Senior quarterback Weston Bryan, who has committed to Georgia Southern, scored two touchdowns and All-State running back Ousmane Kromah rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Trojans.

Lee led just 10-7 at the half.

Rickards High of Tallahassee, which will be the Packers final non-region opponent when it comes to Moultrie on September 20, opened with a 42-13 win over Leon.