MOULTRIE – Friday’s Colquitt County football game against Richmond Hill could decide if the Packers will remain in the running for the Region 1-6A championship and if the Wildcats will qualify for the postseason.
Those questions could be answered rather quickly.
The Packers will win the title if they can defeat the Wildcats and Lowndes can beat Valdosta in Friday’s Winnersville Classic.
The Wildcats will qualify for the Class 6A playoffs if they can knock off the Packers.
Both teams have preferred to keep the ball on the ground this season and if that trend continues, it could make for a fast four quarters at The Hawg Pen.
Richmond Hill, 7-2 overall and 2-2 in the region, has thrown the fewest passes of any team in the region: just 63, completing 33 for 470 yards.
Wildcats starting quarterback Kirk Scott is 25-for-43 for 385 yards and five touchdowns.
The Packers, 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the region, have thrown the second-fewest passes, completing 79 of their 144 for 1,040 yards.
Freshman quarterback Cohen Lawson started the first seven games and was 65-of-116 for 820 yards and eight touchdowns.
Lawson has missed the last two games with an injury and his replacement, junior A’Zhiyen Alridge, is 11-for 24 for 111 yards.
Conversely, the Wildcats lead the region in rushing and the Packers are right behind.
Richmond Hill has the top rusher in the region in senior Joshua Troupe.
A 5-foot-11, 205-pounder, Troupe has rushed for 1,139 yards for the Wildcats.
He has gone over 200 yards in a game twice, carrying 31 times for 277 yards and four touchdowns in a 47-28 win over New Hampstead, and running up 221 yards on 29 carries against Buchholz. He scored three times in that game.
Troupe also had a big night in the 35-14 win over Valdosta, with 23 carries for 141 yards and three scores.
But he managed just 72 in 20 carries against the dug-in Lowndes defense in the Wildcats 28-7 loss at Martin Stadium last Friday.
Caleb Easterling has added 516 yards on the ground for Richmond Hill and quarterback Kirk has kept the ball for 473 yards.
The Packers have the second- and third-leading rushers in Day’Shawn Brown and Jae Lamar.
Clouds of dust are a thing of the past, but it’s likely both teams will try to grind it out on offense and hope to wear their opponent down.
When the Wildcats made the two-hour trip to Moultrie last year, Troupe was held to just 27 yards on six carries.
Kirk was the leading rusher, with 105 yards on 11 carries in the Packers 35-3 win.
The most productive back on the field that night last year was Brown, who carried the football just five times, but gained 127 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Brown has been the point man for the Packer this season and is coming off a 189-yard performance in last Friday’s 51-41 region win at Camden County.
He has rushed for 935 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He also has caught a touchdown pass and thrown one to Ramsey Dennis Jr. last week in Kingsland.
Brown is quietly carving out a fine career at Colquitt County.
He managed to rush for 298 yards and score five touchdowns playing behind Charlie Pace as a sophomore two years ago and last year ran for 976 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Brown and Ramsey Dennis gave the Packers a strong two-pronged rushing attack last year to complement the Neko Fann-Ny Carr-Landen Thomas-Zay Williams aerial circus.
Dennis fell just 18 yards short of 1,000 last season, but began this season as the starting nickel back as the Packers deployed a new defense.
But his offensive talents were on full display in Kingsland when he ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and caught the scoring pass from Brown that helped put the Packers up 14-7 in the first quarter.
In limited duty, he is averaging 8.6 yards on his 18 carries.
And junior Jae Lamar has come out of nowhere to wow coaches, fans and recruiters with his size, strength and speed.
With a number of offers, including one from Georgia, in hand, Lamar has rushed for 816 yards and has scored a team-leading 12 touchdowns.
His availability for the game against Richmond Hill could be in question after he went out with a foot injury with just over three minutes left in the third quarter last Friday.
The Packers running back posse gets a lift with Alridge taking snaps and a full-strength offensive line that includes tackles Kahlil Collins and Jakari Byrd, guards Casey Scott and Jamaal Jackson, center Matthew Dillon and tight end Alexis Barge.
The offensive coaching staff has continued to stress the importance of downfield blocking from the wide receivers.
Despite to being held to just a field goal in the losses to North Gwinnett and Lee County, the Packers are still averaging 34 points a game with inexperienced quarterbacks.
Richmond Hill, in just its third season in Region 1 in the state’s highest classification, won its first six games this season, including its region opener over Tift County.
The Wildcats lost to Camden County and then dealt Valdosta what has proved to be its only region loss.
Last Friday at Martin Stadium, Richmond Hill and Lowndes were tied 7-7 going into the final quarter, when the Vikings scored three touchdowns.
Richmond Hill’s leading tacklers are seniors Lee Johnson, who has 73, and Gabe Bauman, who has 72.
Johnson has 13 tackles for loss.
Senior defensive lineman Tad Christman leads the Wildcats with six sacks.
Easterling, who often plays both ways, and Cannon Kuryla, each have three interceptions.
Kuryla also is the kicker. He has converted 29-of-33 extra point attempts and two of three field goal attempts.
Richmond Hill has used three punters. Their average is 34.6 yards a kick.
Richmond Hill has been playing football since 1986 and has a 151-234-2 overall record.
Matt LeZotte is in his 10th season as the Wildcats coach and has a 58-48 record.
Richmond Hill has just two region championships to its credit and LeZotte led the Wildcats to one of them in 2019 in Region 2-6A.
LeZotte also coached at Class A Aquinas from 2009-2012, posting a 28-16 record.
He is 86-64 in his coaching career.
This is the second year in a row that Richmond Hill will have to make the 200-mile trek to play on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.
The Hawg Pen is not known for being hospitable to visiting football teams.
Since it opened in 1954, the Packers have a 315-111-3 record at The Mack.
Colquitt has been especially formidable at home in recent years.
Despite going 4-2 at home so far this season, the Packers are 102-13 since 2010 and 33-5 since 2020.