MOULTRIE – Frustration, yes. Disappointment, certainly.

Now, the first priority for Rush Propst with his Colquitt County High football Packers is getting a collective mindset back to championship-game thinking. It was lost when the bad news came across so abruptly while in the snowy city of Atlanta Saturday morning.

To recap what was like a soap opera with plot twists coming at every blink of an eye, Colquitt County High spent all of last week preparing for a state championship showdown against North Gwinnett High on Saturday night inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. As early as Thursday, though, officials with the Georgia High School Association saw the potential for snowstorms on the two planned days to stage eight finals inside the new palace and posted that any games not played due to the severity of the weather would take place the following weekend at the home site of one of the finalists.

On Friday morning, the action did begin with Class A-Private’s trophy handed out, but as Calhoun defeated Peach County (in controversial fashion that won’t be outlined here) in Class AAA, word came out that the other two scheduled games for Friday would not be played. At that same time, the first game (Class A-Public) for Saturday was postponed. Even later on Friday, the decision came down that the first two contests set for Saturday would not be played, but the last two were on as scheduled.

One of those last two involved Colquitt County High.

There was still a long way to go to get to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, and as folks in South Georgia woke up and made their traveling plans … those plans changed by 10:30 a.m. All four games were called off. Stories are even out there of people who were actually on the road headed north but then had to find an exit and get back on I-75 south.

“We had already eaten breakfast and gone back to the room,” said Propst about what the Packers experienced Saturday. “We’d already done some of our blitz pickup stuff. We had already started our routine in meetings for the day. All of the sudden we get the call.

“For about an hour we’re trying to decide the logistics of getting back. When do we start? This is unparalleled, something that had never been done. This is my 11th state championship game and the first time I’ve ever had to redo something.”

The whole matter was one of conflicting feelings and an easy target for second-guessing.

“The GHSA had to make the right decision based on safety,” said Propst. “I get all that. They have to make (the decision); I have to respect that.

“You wouldn’t think of a snowstorm or snow and ice bothering you in Atlanta in an indoor facility. All comments coming (to me) over the state line is, ‘Y’all have a dome, and you get snowed out? Ha ha.’ Something like that from Alabama people.”

AL.com shows scenes of the Super 7 championship games taking place at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa during driving snow last weekend.

“I don’t hold (the GHSA) responsible,” said Propst. “The issue I got is having a plan of action down the road.”

This is the first school year for new GHSA executive director Robins Hines, and Propst said his job is tough and getting tougher. He believes it’s paramount to protect the sport of football for one, and the other is to have that contingency plan in case a situation like this arises again.

“These kids not having a chance to play in (Mercedes-Benz), most of these kids will never have another chance to play on this field,” said Propst, adding it could have been done anywhere from Tuesday to Thursday of this week in the same location. “Then facing our players and saying we’re going back to playing at a home site. That thing’s been in our locker all year long about The Benz. To me, you have to protect that interest. You have to protect high school football.”

So yes, now it’s Colquitt County going to North Gwinnett High on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. start. North Gwinnett is the host because it won its region while the Packers are a third-place qualifier.

Other postponed final games will start Friday at 7:30, but Class 7A is the only one that will be shown on GPB television and on gpb.org. Reports from AJC.com state there was consideration of getting another central location in the Atlanta area, but that did not work out.

“It’s a debacle, to me,” said Propst, his main point being missing out on the big new stadium. “If you have all the information in front of you and make a legitimate, educated move based on safety of our fans and our kids on any bus, you can’t argue that. Until they gave me the call, though, I never thought about not playing. I thought we would play the 4:30 and 8 o’clock games and have ours out of the way. It just didn’t dawn on me. Especially the 7A game.

“I’ve been in front of crowds of over 30,000 for a state championship game, over 20,000 a lot of times. All of a sudden, for us to go back to playing in front of 5,000, it’s a tough deal.”

So now what, start over? The scouting reports on North Gwinnett are not going to change, and Propst and his assistants have stated before the importance of not overdoing it in preparation.

“Two weeks of preparation will wear you out,” he said. “You have to stay sharp.”

North Gwinnett is a natural grass field, so Propst was looking for full grass fields for practice this week. One location is Pelham High School, and he expressed gratitude to them for allowing their use. It’s also finals week at Colquitt County High.

“We have to go to Atlanta for our sixth straight week,” said Propst. “Our seventh straight week on the road (the regular season ended at Lowndes). When we get on the bus Thursday morning headed for Atlanta, it will be our seventh straight trip on the road. Although we didn’t play (last week), we did everything else. It’s absolutely crazy.

“We went to Tallahassee last week (to practice indoors). We went to Athens to practice Friday. Right now, our biggest issue is practice space in the conditions we’re going to play in. We are going to play in tough conditions Friday in Suwanee. It’s going to be 33, 34 degrees at kickoff. We’re trying to simulate that the best we can. Without (Pelham) we’d be in a storm. But we’ll adapt, do whatever we can to win the game.”

And it is still a state championship game. The same trophy that was in Mercedes-Benz will be there at North Gwinnett for the winner to take.

It seems to be more than that, Propst said, for the youth on his team, because part of the whole season was getting to Dec. 9. That date has come and gone with nothing decided. Propst said, looking at the players, you would think it was June or July.

“For our kids to re–gear to the 15th, that’s a tough deal,” said Propst. “You get your mind on something, then all of the sudden it’s taken away, that’s a little difficult. Mentally, we’re not there (Monday). This is as far away as I’ve seen us from a championship thought process.”