MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County varsity boys basketball team went 13-11 in the 1993-1994 season, posting their first winning record in five years and earning Keith Hall the region Coach of the Year award.
On the Packers roster that year was senior Andy Harden, who is now in his second tour of duty as the head coach at his high school alma mater.
One of his teammates – and still one of his closest friends – was guard Marcus Moore.
This year’s Packers roster also boasts a Marcus Moore, son of the father of the same name and now playing for his dad’s former high school team.
The younger Moore has transferred from Grayson and according to Harden has solidified the Packers point guard position.
“He’ll be our floor general,” Harden said.
And he is not an unknown to the Packers coach.
Moore and Harden’s son Cason play AAU basketball together.
“They are good friends,” Andy Harden said.
But Moore, a junior, is not the only significant addition to the Colquitt County boys roster this season.
Kanilyn Jones, who averaged more than 17 points a game for Brooks County last season, has returned to Moultrie to join the Packers for his senior season.
“Those guys will definitely help us,” Harden said. “It’s been a couple years coming, but we’ve got a chance to be real deep.”
The Packers were 6-23 last season and have won just 10 games over the last two seasons.
But Harden, with the prospect of a strong starting five and help coming off the bench, is optimistic.
His son Cason, one of the top junior players in the state who has started the last two seasons, is back, as are seniors Jakari Byrd and Ja’Shar Kinsey.
Of course, the Packers will have to wait for several key players now with the Colquitt County football team.
Five of the basketball team’s key components are still wearing helmets.
Byrd, Zhi Alridge, Qua Kinsey, Alexis Barge and Jae Lamar could give the 2024-2025 team its most potent lineup in years.
The team is junior-rich. Cason Harden, Lamar, Alridge, Na’Ryan Sumlin and Barge are all 11th-graders.
And even without the football five, the Packers played well in a scrimmage at Mitchell County, despite falling by three in overtime.
“We’ve been working hard in the weight room, getting stronger and working hard in practice,” Andy Harden said.
Colquitt will open the season at 2 p.m. Monday against Leon High of Tallahassee in the two-day Thanksgiving Invitational at Lowndes.
The Packers also will play at 5 p.m. the next day against Rickards High of Tallahassee.
The Colquitt boys will play their first game at home on the William Bryant Court on Friday, Dec. 6, against Cairo.