MOULTRIE – Collins Hill scored two third-quarter touchdowns to break a 14-14 halftime tie and went on to defeat Colquitt County 28-14 on Friday in a Class 6A second-round playoff game at The Hawg Pen.
The Region 8 runner-up Eagles, now 11-1, advance to a state quarterfinal game at Grayson next Friday.
The Rams moved on with a 34-24 win over Norcross.
The Region 1 champion Packers, who won their playoff opener 48-20 over Wheeler, finish the season 8-4.
Three of Colquitt County’s losses came to teams who are still alive in state playoffs: North Gwinnett, Lee County and Collins Hill.
The Packers other loss was to Valdosta, which fell to Carrollton 49-13 on Friday.
The Packers scored both of their touchdowns in a span of 26 seconds late in the first half, but were frustrated by the Eagles defense before and after those scores.
Collins Hill did not allow the Packers a first down in the third quarter while scoring twice on fourth-down plays.
And the Eagles held the Packers scoreless over the final 24 minutes.
Collins Hill sophomore quarterback Makyree Cross completed 11-of-20 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns.
The Eagles also rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns and survived a pair of blocked kicks.
“We had our chances,” a disappointed Packers head coach Sean Calhoun said. “We can’t do some of the things we did against a good football team and Collins Hill is a good football team.
“The defense and special teams did some really good things and the offense did some good things at times. But I’ve got to prepare the team better.”
The Packers took the opening kickoff and drove to the Collins Hill 29, but a 46-yard field goal attempt by Brett Fitzgerald sailed wide right.
It was just the second miss of the season for the Packers record-setting senior kicker.
The Eagles answered by driving 80 yards in 12 plays to score on an 11-yard pass from Cross to a leaping Atticus Joseph in the end zone with 1:14 left in the first quarter.
After the Packers were forced to turn the ball over on downs midway through the second quarter, Cross hit CJ Hector with a 33-yard pass to the Packers 30.
Three plays later big Deuce Geralds took a direct snap and bolted 24 yards to help put the Eagles up 14-0 with 6:33 left in the half.
The Packers offense finally broke loose on a 40-yard pass from quarterback Cohen Lawson to Na’Ryan Sumlin that resulted in a first down on the Eagles 6.
On second down, running back Day’Shawn Brown took a direct snap, but instead of heading to the end zone, he lofted a pass to Amari Wilson, a defensive lineman inserted to provide blocking, for a 5-yard touchdown pass.
Fitzgerald’s conversion cut the Collins Hill lead in half with 1:09 left in the half.
Moments later, the Eagles were forced into punt formation from their own 27 and Colquitt’s Ry’Sheed Fuller broke through to block Phillip Bonacci’s kick.
Bonacci finally covered the ball at the Collins Hill 3 and Brown scored on the next play for the Packers second touchdown in 26 seconds.
Fitzgerald’s extra point knotted the score at 14.
But Collins Hill turned up the defensive heat in the second half and Packers hurt themselves with a crucial penalty and an interception.
Collins Hill’s first possession of the second half reached the Packers 5, where the Eagles stalled and sent out Damien Suarez to attempt a 22-yard field goal.
But the Packers were flagged for simulating the snap count and after the ball was moved to the Colquitt 2, Collins Hill sent its offense back on to the field.
Cam Jones scored on a 2-yard run and Bonacci’s extra point put the Eagles up 21-14 with 7:24 left in the third quarter.
Colquitt put itself in position to tie the game again when Jah’Boris Fuller returned a punt 39 yards to the Collins Hill 25 with 4:06 left in the quarter.
But Cam Bass picked off Lawson’s first-down pass and returned it 54 yards to the the Colquitt 33.
The Packers appeared again to have held the Eagles, but on a fourth-and-10, Cross rolled to his right and spied a wide-open Jacari Thomas across the field.
Thomas gathered in the throw and scored untouched to put the Eagles up by two touchdowns.
And the Collins Hill defense, led by Geralds and Katrell Webb, lived up to its reputation and shut out the Packers the rest of the way.
“I think we squeezed the lemon as much as we could,” Calhoun said. “Our kids played hard and they played hard for each other and for the community.
“We did a lot of really, really good things. I’m so proud of this team, so proud of their fight. We just have to play better in the playoffs.”