MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County varsity soccer teams opened their 2025 campaigns by going on the road on Tuesday to sweep a pair of games at Bainbridge.
The Packers, coming off a 16-2-1 season in which they reached the Elite Eight for the first time in school history, found themselves up against a team that also went three rounds deep into the 2024 playoffs.
The Region 1-4A Bearcats were 15-3 last year.
The game was scoreless at the half, before the Packers erupted for five goals and a 5-2 victory over the Bearcats.
Alan Guerrero got the Packers first goal of the season.
Also scoring were Bryan Ortiz, Cason Haskin, Adrian Gallardo and Christian Nunez.
Ortiz and Alex Aviles were credited with assists.
The defense played well, allowing for quality attacks, Simpson said.
Colquitt’s girls also had their work cut out for them against a Lady Cats program that went 14-1-1 last season.
The Lady Packers were coming off a 7-0 scrimmage victory at Dodge County.
“Bainbridge is always a tough team and you aren’t going to beat them by being lucky,” Lady Packers coach Carlos Bautista said. “They’re going to make you work for every goal and they have some very good individuals that can score even if their team doesn’t have very many opportunities.”
Colquitt scored first on a goal by Chelsea Moreno, but the Lady Cats tied the match 1-1 and then went up 2-1 on their home field.
Colquitt’s Judith Moctezuma then scored to tie the game at 2-2.
Just before the half, Jaida Gachuz scored to put the Lady Packers up 3-2.
The overall message at halftime was, “We’re going to have to fight 40 more minutes to survive and leave here with a win,” Bautista said.
The second half was a constant battle and only two more goals were scored.
Moctezuma scored her second of the night and it was the difference as the “Golden Girls” came up with a 4-3 victory.
“We played a tough Bainbridge team, but this young Lady Packers team refused to lose, they refused to stop fighting and they refused to stop working.”
Bautista acknowledges that the team has a tough road ahead, “But this young team has nothing to lose and everything to win.
“You can tell they have a chip on their shoulder because everyone always mentions how small they are or how young they are, but they have shown they won’t be a walk in the park.”
The Lady Packers and Packers will play their home-openers on Friday when Thomas County Central visits Packer Park.
The girls match will start at 5:30 p.m.
The games will be the season-openers for the Yellow Jackets and Lady Jackets.