MOULTRIE – For the second year in a row, the Colquitt County football team will face one of the top programs in the state in its spring game.
Last year, the Packers played host to then-Class 5A defending state champion Coffee High in the Hawg Pen.
On Thursday, Colquitt will make the trip to Jardine Stadium in Douglas to face the Trojans again.
The gates will open at 6 p.m. and the contest will begin at 7 p.m.
Admission is $5 and tickets can be purchased at GoFan or at the gate. Only cash will be accepted at the gate.
The stadium has a clear bag policy.
Coach Mike Coe’s team is expected to provide a challenge.
The Trojans are a combined 36-3 in the three seasons since Coe took over the program.
Coffee was 11-3 in Class 5A last year after going 15-0 and winning a state championship in 2023.
The Trojans were 10-3 in 2022 in Coe’s first season.
Coe had previously been at Madison County, Fla., for 12 years, going 133-30-1 and winning state titles in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
“We know they will be physical and will be well-coached,” Packers coach Sean Calhoun said. “They do things right over there.”
The meeting between two of south Georgia’s top programs will be the culmination of the 10 days of Georgia High School Association approved practices.
There will be officials on the field during the contest, although it will be more of a controlled scrimmage than a traditional game.
“But we will do some game-like drives with the chains,” said Calhoun, whose Packers went 8-4 and won a third-straight region championship last season.
“We want to make sure we get our kids plenty of reps and we want to see them in as many game-like situations as we can.”
Calhoun said the spring game’s goals remain much the same year-to-year.
“Offensively, we want to see if we can block and if we can throw and catch with someone on us.
“And defensively, we want to be sure we can tackle when it matters.”
The 2025 defense will be led by veteran coach Stan Luttrell, who takes over as the group’s coordinator following Jeremy Rowell’s move to Veterans High in Warner Robins.
Luttrell has begun putting his fingerprints on the defense.
“We’re throwing a lot at the kids,” Calhoun said. “We want to see how much of it sticks.”
The Packers will be without several projected starters, including rising sophomore quarterback Cohen Lawson, Calhoun said.
A’zhiyen Alridge, last year’s backup, Arbashaun Curry and rising ninth-grader M.J. Fowler will take most of the snaps on Thursday.
All of the injured Packers are expected to return to action soon.
Calhoun said that in addition to the 87 rising sophomores, juniors and seniors, the Packers will take their rising ninth-graders to Douglas.
The Packers summer work will include three 7-on-7 competitions: June 11 at Florida State, June 18 at the University of Florida and June 23 at Florida A&M.
The Packers will send a group of players to a padded camp at Cairo on June 24 and June 26 and will play host to its own camp at the high school on July 14-15.
Colquitt will travel to Bainbridge for its preseason scrimmage at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7.
The 2025 season will open on Friday, Aug. 15, when the Packers play host to Savannah’s Benedictine Cadets.