MOULTRIE —- The 2024 Collins Hill defense has a well-deserved reputation for being difficult to score on.
And the latest to test the Eagles resolve will be Colquitt County, which will play host to the 10-1 Region 8 runner-up at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Hawg Pen in a second-round Class 6A game.
Collins Hill is coming off a 35-14 first-round victory over Westlake last Friday in which the Lions were unable to score in the second half.
And the 14 points Westlake managed was actually more than the 13.7 points that Collins Hill averages giving up per game this season.
The Eagles have held eight of their opponents to 14 points or fewer and have a pair of shutouts.
Only Region 8 champion — and No. 2-ranked — Buford has been able to solve the Collins Hill defense, beating the Eagles 34-7 back on Oct. 4.
The Packers, who advanced last Friday with a 48-20 victory over Wheeler, have an offense built around a ground attack that features Day’Shawn Brown, who has rushed for 1,224 yards this season; Jae Lamar, 854 yards; and Ramsey Dennis, 230 yards.
The trio have combined to rush for 29 touchdowns.
But they will be running into the teeth of one of the strongest defensive lines in the state.
“That’s what their defense is built around,” Packers coach Sean Calhoun said. “They disrupt things and get a lot of tackles for loss.”
In fact, defensive linemen Deuce Geralds and Katrell Webb, both Division I prospects, have combined for 49 tackles for loss, including 23 sacks, this season.
And both are juniors.
Webb, who is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end, has 55 total tackles this season, including 23 for losses.
But it is Geralds, a 6-foot-2, 260-pounder who will garner much of the Packers offensive attention.
Among his team-leading 84 tackles are 26 that came in opponents’ backfields.
“He’s the problem,” Calhoun said. “He is a major issue.”
Collins Hill had three sacks, four other tackles for loss and held Westlake to 24 rushing yards last Friday.
And Geralds impact is not limited to his play on defense.
He is reminiscent of former Grayson defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, who terrorized the Packers in the 2011 playoffs.
Like Nkemdiche, who went on to play at Ole Miss and, briefly, in the NFL, Geralds also will spend some time of the Eagles offensive backfield, where he has rushed for 166 yards and scored seven touchdowns.
He scored a touchdown on a 19-yard run in the win over Westlake.
If the Packers can penetrate the Eagles forward wall, they will be met by a group of smallish linebackers.
“They are not big, but they are fast and they have a nose for the football,” Calhoun said.
Collins Hill has intercepted eight passes, including one by Webb and another that Jeremiah Proctor took 93 yards for a touchdown in the final 50 seconds against Westlake.
And Calhoun noted that the Eagles have mostly used the same players all season.
“That tells me that they are tough and durable kids,” he said.
The Eagles will have to account for Brown, who has rushed for 478 yards in the last three games.
Brown ranks No. 9 all-time for the Packers in both career touchdowns, with 35, and single-season rushing yards, with 1,224.
Since suffering a foot injury against Camden County, Lamar has carried the football just six times in the last two games.
He could be slated for a bigger role on Friday.
Dennis is having a strong finish to his senior season and has rushed for 203 yards and scored three touchdowns in the last three games.
Collins Hill will not bring a dominant offensive back like the 8-3 Packers have seen in recent weeks in games against Wheeler, Richmond Hill and Camden County.
Sophomore Maddox Henderson leads the Eagles with 439 yards. Senior Jacari Thomas has rushed for 437.
But senior Cam Jones led the Eagles against Westlake, carrying 12 times for 142 yards and a touchdown,
Sophomore quarterback Makyree Cross has thrown for 1,433 yards and 12 touchdowns.
He was 13-for-25 for 165 yards and one touchdown against Westlake.
Collins Hill’s leading receiver Alijah Patillo had seven catches for 68 yards against the Lions. For the season, Patillo has 44 receptions for 655 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Eagles are playing their second season under head coach Drew Swick, a Collins Hill alum.
He had been an assistant at Collins Hill since 2015 when he was named last year to follow Lenny Gregory, who led the Eagles to a state championship in 2021.