Colquitt County's Landon Griffin reaches for a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Neko Fann in the second quarter of the Packers 41-13 victory over Tift County on Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County set up what will likely be one of the more anticipated games in the state next week by knocking off Tift County 41-13 on Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

The victory will send the Packers on the road next Friday with a 3-0 record to meet Lee County, also unbeaten after three games and ranked No. 2 in Class 6A.

After one-sided victories over Deerfield Beach, Fla. (37-0), Stockbridge (29-0) and now Tift County, the Packers will face a Lee County team that counts among its victims two-time Class 5A state champion Warner Robins.

On Friday, the Trojans knocked off Lithia Springs 41-7 in a game called at the half because of inclement weather.

But the Packers appear to have improved in each game.

“We are going to enjoy this,” Packers coach Sean Calhoun said of the win over the Blue Devils. “Winning is hard. I don’t think a lot of people realize how hard it is. Tift County has a good team with good players and they play hard.

“But we just need to keep getting better. We are really harping on our kids that how you practice is how you play. We need a good week of practice.”

Colquitt jumped out to a 35-7 halftime lead and tacked on Brett Fitzgerald field goals of 44 and 36 yards in the final two quarters.

If there was a negative, it was the Packers were again bedeviled by penalties, to the tune of 90 yards on eight infractions.

“We’ve got to clean up those penalties,” Calhoun said. “They took two touchdowns off the board tonight.

“We just can’t do that and win the games we need to win.”

The first Tift County touchdown, the first the Packers have allowed this season, came after Za’Morian Brown intercepted a Neko Fann pass and took it 50 yards to the Colquitt County 8.

Tift quarterback Carlton Brannon competed a touchdown pass to Tyler Parker on a fourth-and-goal from the Colquitt 7 and Antonio Gomez tied the game 7-7 with the extra point with 4:01 left in the first quarter.

Colquitt then ran off the next 34 points before Tift scored on a 4-yard Damien Moate run with 50 seconds left in the game.

Despite the interception, Fann had another productive night.

He scored the first two touchdowns of his career on runs of 7 and 1 yards and threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to Jaden Fowler, 20 yards to Landon Griffin and 16 yards to Landen Thomas.

Fann now has thrown seven touchdown passes in the Packers three games and 36 in his 14 career starts.

“He’s an awesome kid and really good quarterback,” Calhoun said. “You can see him getting more and more comfortable each week.

“He’s competing at a high level. And when you get good quarterback play, you’ve got a chance every night.”

Colquitt took the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 10 plays to Fann’s first touchdown run just three minutes into the game.

Tift notched a pair of first downs on its first possession but failed on a fourth-and-5 at Packers 33, turning the ball over.

But Brown picked off Fann on the first play and his return gave the Blue Devils a first down on the Packers 8.

The Tift touchdown was just its third this season.

The Packers countered it quickly.

Jack Luttrell returned the kickoff 58 yards to put Colquitt in business at the Tift County 37.

Six plays later, on a third-and-6 from the Tift 8, Fann hit a crossing Fowler in the end zone for the touchdown.

Fitzgerald added the second of his five extra points and the Packers were back up by seven at 14-7.

The next time the Packers got the ball, Fann dropped a perfect 40-yard pass into the hands of Ny Carr at the Tift 1 and Fann himself took the ball to the end zone on the next play giving Colquitt a 21-7 lead with 10:34 left in the first half.

Fann finished off the next Packers drive by connecting with Landen Griffin in the end zone from 20 yards out.

Fitzgerald’s conversion put Colquitt up 28-7 with 6:56 left in the half.

Colquitt needed its only punt of the game the next time it had the ball, but Tift County fumbled the ball two plays later and Raheim McBride recovered it on the Tift 25.

Fann hit Carr for 9 yards to the 16 and then found Thomas in the end zone for the Packers final touchdown.

Unofficially, the Packers rolled up 426 yards of offense.

Fann was 15-for-24 for 192 yards and three touchdowns.

Colquitt rushed for 234 yards, including 89 on 12 carries by Charlie Pace.

Chad White added 59, including 51 on one third-quarter jaunt.

Ramsey Dennis ran for 40 yards and backup quarterback I’marius Bussie took off three times for 22 yards.

“Anytime you can keep those guys fresh, it’s a plus,” Calhoun said. “And they all bring something unique.”

The Packers allowed 130 yards on the ground, including 93 on 23 carries by Moate.

But 52 of those yards came in the final quarter when the Packers defense was staffed mostly by second-teamers.

Brannon completed 6-of-11 passes for 58 yards.

Also in Region 1-7A on Friday, Camden County defeated Glynn Academy 37-7; Richmond Hill took down Jenkins 38-10; Valdosta won over Banneker 42-2; and Lowndes won over North Miami Beach (Fla.) 43-18.