By Matthew Brown

matthew.brown@gaflnews.com

As complete a performance of high school football as anyone could hope to see, Colquitt County High made Mercedes-Benz Stadium their new home away from home Saturday.

Though head coach Rush Propst is sure to find a flaw somewhere, his Packers started his 30th season in charge of a team making quick work of an annihilation of the McEachern High Indians of Powder Springs 41-7. It was the first time in a real game since the shocking end of the 2017 season in the state finals, but Colquitt finally made it to the new home of the Atlanta Falcons. They do want to go back in December, and they took several steps in that direction at the 2018 Corky Kell Classic.

Junior running back Daijun Edwards was a workhorse, which has been said before, with 25 carries of the football, 162 yards and a 56-yard touchdown jaunt in the first half. The Packers had rushing scores from Ty Leggett and Montavious Ponder, and the ground game’s total net was 211 yards.

Marvion McDonald gets credit for the first touchdown pass of 2018 when, on the only time he put the ball in the air during a handful of snaps, he went up top to young Lemeke Brockington for 31 yards in the fourth period. Jaycee Harden made his first varsity start as the quarterback and went 6-for-10 for 68 yards.

The Packer with the clutch catches was senior tight end/H-back Josh Hadley, two for 54 yards.

On defense, McEachern netted 192 yards and seriously hurt itself with turnovers. The Indians never recovered from seeing it’s opening drive send in just three plays. Though that last play was a slant catch with the receiver getting close to midfield, cornerback Jay Ward jarred the football loose. Nyquan Washington recoverd. Ward was a force hitting receivers and breaking up passes.

Also give Akeem McKiever two pass interceptions.

Ryan Fitzgerald made two field goals of more than 50 yards last season … and already this season with just one game in the books. He set a Colquitt County record making a field goal the conventional way – with snap and hold by new people Kaleb Spradley and Tucker Pitts – nailing a 53-yarder after that big Indian lost fumble. The senior was also good from 51 yards in the third period as he continues to climb towards the Packer career record in makes for 3.

He also got off a 53-yard punt after all those PATs, kickoffs in the end zone and of course the FGs.

That Packer defense was also adept at sacking McEachern sophomore quarterback Carlos Delrio-Wilson. Linebacker Kendrick Neloms did it twice, and end Kree Herring got to him once.

When Washington got that fumble on the Indian 49-yard-line, the offense advanced to the 36. Fitzgerald put his first field goal through at 9:24.

Delrio-Wilson had success completing slant throws, but the running game was lacking. Sophomore end Zy Brockington, in his first taste of varsity play, set the tone ending the next series with a tackle-for-loss.

The Packers then went 62 yards in six plays, the biggest executed by Harden. He turned opposite of his roll and hit Hadley five yards behind the line. Hadley raced to the McEachern 10 for 41 yards. Conner Gay pulled to create the space for Leggett’s touchdown run of four yards at 5:56 of the first quarter.

Up 10-0, Ward broke up a deep first-down Indian try, and then the blitz was on Delrio-Wilson. Linebacker Rashad Revels, the record-holder for tackles in one season year ago, was on the screen receiver for a 4-yard loss.

Colquitt got possession on its 22 and ran out the quarter with a pull block by Jerick Davis for Edwards to gain 15 yards. That was a third-down conversion, as was Edwards’ ‘wild-hawg’ eight-yard pick-up to end the period.

But McEachern held this time and cut the lead down to three, 10-7. Javon Baker and Nicoy Morris caught passes and ran with them from their 27 to the CC 10. Neloms and Brockington made it hard, but Jordan Simmons did stretch the ball and break the plane, a 2-yard touchdown, at 8:05 until halftime.

Colquitt drove 83-yards to respond, and there was a late-hit called on the Indians spotting the Pack on the MHS 44. Edwards burst through the hole up the middle to score at 6:55.

It was Leggett who took that late hit, and he only carried one more time the rest of the game.

With about every drive beginning on the 20, McEachern was bound to have problems, and Revels and Neloms caused them with hits in the backfield. Punting from the end zone, the Indians dropped the ball, and D’Keyvien Hamilton recovered for a touchdown at 5:51.

Neloms recorded his second sack before the break after Derio-Wilson had to fall on a high snap. The Indians, thanks to deflecting a punt, hit a 23-yard slant to Morris on the CC 9. The sack set them back to the 26, and they were short on a field-goal try.

So the Packers were up 17 at the half and had first possession of the third quarter. Edwards would get 13 of his rushes in the second half, and his team was on the move to start out until a lost fumble ended it on the CC 37.

This was another time, though, McEachern could not take advantage as the pressure was on Delrio-Wilson. They went for it on fourth down, and Herring got the sack on the 41.

Edwards bounced off a middle crowd and sped to his left immediately for 13 yards to the MH 43. Fitzgerald cleaned up this eight-play drive with his 51-yard field goal, 27-7 CC, at 4:18 of the third.

McKiever’s first interception was in Packer ground, but it went back to the Indians on a fumble after a 15-yard return. New life still wasn’t enough to deter the defense, Ward breaking up another up-top throw and the linebackers all converging at the line to bring out fourth down on the 35.

The Packers took over, and to start the fourth Edwards had six carries to get the football to the MH 38. On 3rd-and-8, McDonald took the snap and fired the strike to L Brockington, who overcame good coverage in the right near pylon. There was 6:51 remaining with the score 34-7.

Fitzgerald’s punt, downed on the 4, only meant more scoring chances, and McKiever picked off a third-down pass at the 35 and got back to the 2. Ponder scored for the first time on varsity at 1:30.