MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County flag football team defended its end zone perfectly on Thursday, shutting out Kell and Mill Creek in the first two rounds of the state playoffs.
The Lady Packers will advance to a quarterfinal game against Area 4 champion Grayson on Monday in Loganville.
The Lady Rams defeated Marietta 21-0 and South Forsyth 14-7 on Thursday to raise their record to 20-5.
Colquitt, the Area 1 champion, blanked Kell 26-0 and Mill Creek 14-0 on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium and raised their record to 18-6.
The Lady Packers have won eight of their last nine games.
After Colquitt eliminated Kell, Mill Creek defeated Central of Carrollton in the the second game of the evening and then immediately had to face the Lady Packers.
The Lady Packers scored on a 54-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mashayla Davis to Amareyia Knighton to provide all the points they would need to eliminate the Lady Hawks in the evening’s final game.
A Davis-to-Knighton pass added the extra point and Colquitt led 7-0 with 4:40 left in the half.
The Lady Packers added an insurance touchdown in the third quarter.
The evening got off to somewhat of a slow start when Kell did not arrive in Moultrie for the 4:30 p.m. kickoff until just after 5 p.m. after its bus broke down on its trip down from Marietta.
And once they arrived, the Lady Longhorns’ stay was shortened after the game was stopped with two minutes remaining because of the GHSA mercy rule.
The defense scored the Lady Packers first touchdown when Caylnn Singletary intercepted a pass and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown with 3:33 left in the the first quarter.
Ta’Meria Williams scored on a 27-yard run in the second quarter on a double-handoff play lifted from an old single-wing formation playbook.
Singletary scored her second touchdown with 37 seconds left in the half when she gathered in a perfectly thrown deep pass from Davis that covered 55 yards.
That score was set up by a Williams interception.
Up 19-0 at the half, Colquitt put the game out of reach when Knighton threw a 24-yard touchdown to Singletary on the second play of the fourth quarter.
Lady Packers coach Kirk Woodall said his team appeared hesitant and uncomfortable in the early going against Kell.
“But those two interceptions were big,” he said.