MOULTRIE – Colquitt County’s Ramsey Dennis ran the opening kickoff back 71 yards for a touchdown and the Packers never trailed thereafter in a 48-20 Class 6A first-round playoff victory over Wheeler on Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.
The Packers, the Region 1-6A champion and ranked No. 8 in Class 6A, will advance and play host to Collins Hill next Friday in the Hawg Pen in a second-round matchup.
Collins Hill, the Region 8 runner-up, eliminated Westlake 35-14 on Friday. The Eagles are now 10-1 and ranked No. 5 in Class 6A.
“It’s going to be a war next week,” Packers coach Sean Calhoun said. “But we’ve earned the right to be in final 16 in the state and that’s hard to do on Georgia.”
Wheeler’s pooch kick to start the game was gathered in by Dennis on the run at the 28 and he never slowed until the reached the end zone 12 seconds later.
The Wildcats matched Ramsey’s score with 2:48 left in the first quarter on a 33-yard touchdown run by quarterback Patrick McCullough.
But the extra point attempt was wide and the Packers maintained their lead at 7-6.
Colquitt County then scored five straight touchdowns, including four in the second quarter, and led 41-6 at the half.
The second half was played under a running clock by agreement of the two coaches.
Colquitt added another a touchdown in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Trey Edmonds.
Wheeler scored twice in the fourth quarter against the Packers reserves, who got plenty of snaps over the final 24 minutes.
A 23-yard touchdown pass from McCullough to Joshua Rodriguez and an extra point by Eliezer Lara pulled the Wildcats to within 35 points with 5:48 left in the game.
A 2-yard touchdown run by Greg Kendrick and Lara’s second conversion with 52 seconds remaining closed out the scoring.
Senior Day’Shawn Brown rushed for three first-half touchdowns for the Packers, who are now 8-3.
Jae Lamar added a touchdown run and tight end Ethan Ruffin caught a 49-yard scoring pass from Colquitt County freshman starting quarterback Cohen Lawson.
“He had a great two weeks of practice,” Calhoun said of Lawson, whose scoring pass to Ruffin put the Packers up 21-6 just 10 seconds into the second quarter.
“And it showed. He really made some good decisions. I was proud of him tonight.”
Lawson completed five of his seven passes for 100 yards
And it was a Lawson-to-Dennis pass completion of 44 yards that helped the Packers quickly negate McCullough’s touchdown run.
The pass-and-run took the ball to the Wheeler 4 and Brown scored his first touchdown on the next play and the Packers went up 14-6 with 1:29 left in the first quarter.
Colquitt dominated the second quarter, starting with the Lawson-to-Ruffin touchdown pass.
After the Packers forced another of the Wildcats five punts, they drove 43 yards to Lamar’s 3-yard touchdown that put them up 27-6 with 9:01 still left before halftime.
Wheeler punted away its next possession and three plays later Brown scored on a 24-yard run and the Packers lead stretched to 34-6 with 6:48 left in the half.
Brown closed out the first-half scoring with his final touchdown, coming from 2 yards out with 23 seconds left in the half.
His three touchdowns give Brown 35 for his career.
He ranks ninth all-time for the Packers, just one touchdown behind the 36 scored by Ty Leggett between 2016 and 2018.
Josiah Allen carried 18 times for 104 yards for the Wildcats.
McCullough completed 8-of-16 passes for 113 yards and one touchdown.
Wheeler finishes 2-9.
The Packers will take a 40-8 all-time home playoff record into next Friday’s game against Collins Hill.
Two other Region 1 teams also won on Friday to advance to the second round.
Region runner-up Lowndes defeated North Paulding at Martin Stadium 35-17 and will have to travel to play No. 2 Buford on Friday.
Valdosta beat Region 5 runner-up Walton 35-27 and will play at No. 1 Carrollton next Friday.
Camden County was the only Region 1 team to fall in the opening round, losing to Region 5 champion North Cobb 28-7.