Colquitt shocks Lowndes 40-10, earns region title

Published 11:42 pm Friday, November 6, 2020

MOULTRIE – Not only did Colquitt County knock off nationally ranked Lowndes on Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium, the Packers smacked the Vikings into a running-clock fourth quarter and earned the Region 1-7A championship in the process.

The 40-10 victory over the previously unbeaten Vikings, ranked as high as No. 3 in one national poll, was remarkable.

A day before coach Justin Rogers’s birthday, Lowndes got a field goal on its first possession, then were helpless as the Packers ran off the next 33 points of the game.

With Colquitt up by 30 points, 33-3, after three quarters, the game was automatically played under a running clock in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings got their only touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter, but the thrashing had already been administered.

Colquitt, now 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the region, could lose at Tift County next Friday and still finish as the region’s top seed to the playoffs, which start on Nov. 27.

Tift County dropped its second region game on Friday, falling 35-14 at Camden County.

The Vikings, who defeated the Packers at Martin Stadium to win the region last year, had the tables turned on them on Friday

The Packers got a pair of touchdown passes from Xavier Williams to Baby D Wheeler, a 10-yard Williams touchdown run and a 70-yard touchdown gallop by Charlie Pace in the fourth quarter.

But it was all about the Packers defense on Friday.

The Packers intercepted three passes, including one that Jaheim Ward returned 70 yards for a touchdown that gave his team a 21-3 second-quarter lead.

TJ Spradley had the other two interceptions and also recovered a muffed Lowndes punt return that led to the first Packers touchdown.

Colquitt held heralded Lowndes quarterback Jacurri Brown, the region’s leading rusher, to 84 yards on the ground and the lone meaningless touchdown.

As a team, the Vikings managed just 109 rushing yards on 27 attempts.

Brown acompleted just 7-of-16 passes for 74 yards.

It was clear the Packers wanted to keep Brown in the pocket and not let him get loose to rip off big gains.

His longest run came on his first carry. It was 15 yards.

“It was not about schemes tonight,” Packers defensive coordinator Alan Rodemaker said. “It was all the kids playing hard, all 11 of them flying around.”

Rodemaker, the former Valdosta head coach now in his first season at Colquitt County, did concede that the win “sure was sweet.”

The Packers won the toss and deferred their decision until the second half and Lowndes elected to receive the opening kickoff.

Rodemaker said he had hoped for a three-and-out to give the Packers the confidence that they could play with the team that some considered the best in the state.

But a third-down face mask penalty on the Packers kept alive the first Lowndes drive, which resulted in a 37-yard Preston Hart field goal.

It was 32 minutes before the Vikings again put points on the board.

Colquitt had to punt away its first possession, but the ball hit a Lowndes player and Spradley, who has been outstanding on special teams all season, cradled the ball on the Vikings 9.

On the next play, Williams hit a slanting Wheeler in the end zone for the first of the Packers five touchdowns.

A third-down sack of Brown led to a punt on the Vikings next possession and Colquitt took the ball and drove to the Lowndes 10, where Williams took it in and Colquitt was up 14-3 two plays into the second quarter.

Lowndes then returned the kickoff 55 yards to the Colquitt 45, but four plays later Spradley made a gymnastic interception of a Brown pass at the Colquitt 3.

Colquitt was forced to punt and Lowndes took over on the Colquitt 39.

On the first play, Ward stepped in front of a Vikings receiver, intercepted the ball and took 70 yards to the end zone.

The Emmanuel Perez extra point put Colquitt up 21-3 with 6:35 left in the half.

A sack of Brown by Zy Brockington and Ontavious Carolina forced another Lowndes punt later in the quarter and the Packers took over at the Vikings 48.

A 19-yard run by Williams got the ball deeper into Lowndes territory, but the Packers settled for a 34-yard Perez field goal and a 24-3 half time lead.

Spradley’s second interception of the half snuffed out the final Vikings possession.

At halftime, Lowndes had 82 total yards. Williams himself had rushed for 82 yards for the Packers.

A 36-yard return of the second half kickoff by Lemeke Brockington started the Packers on a drive that led to the second Williams-to-Wheeler touchdown pass.

Williams threw it on the run and Wheeler made a leaping catch in the end zone and after Perez did his thing again, Colquitt led the shell-shocked Vikings 31-3 with 9:19 left in the quarter.

The Packers got their second safety of the season when they buried Brown in the end zone to extend their lead to 33-3 with 6:48 left in the quarter.

When that lead held up at the end of the quarter, the 30-point margin meant the final 12 minutes would be played under the running clock.

Brown finally got the Vikings a touchdown on the second play, but Pace trumped it with his 70-yard burst two plays later.

Williams finished with a game-high 108 yards rushing. He also completed 11-of-19 passes for 99 yards and the two scoring throws to Wheeler.

“Offensively, we stayed in rhythm and we stayed out of those third-and-longs,” Rogers said of his offense. “And I’m so proud of (Williams). He’s getting better every week. And he stays so calm.

“Plus, our offensive line played so well. Coach (Buck) Hansen is doing a great job with them.”