MOULTRIE — A week ago, the Colquitt County football team was preparing for a game that, if it won, would ensure a Region 1-7A championship and the opportunity to play its first two playoff games at home.

After a disappointing defensive effort and the inability to make offensive plays at crucial moments led to a 52-31 loss at Lowndes, the Packers now face the prospect of perhaps opening the playoffs on the road.

Friday’s game against Tift County, which will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium, will determine the No. 2 seed from Region 1.

Lowndes, with wins over both Tift and Colquitt County, has clinched the region title.

The winner of the game between the Blue Devils and Packers, each 1-1 in region games, will be the No. 2 team from the region and will play at home when the playoffs open on Nov. 12.

The loser will be No. 3 and will have to travel to play the runner-up from an especially strong Region 3.

The Packers will be glad to be back at home after needing overtime to win at Camden County and then stumbling at the Concrete Palace.

They may need the home-field advantage against an improving crop of Blue Devils that turned a 7-0 halftime deficit against Camden County last Friday at Brodie Field into a 21-14 victory that evened their region record.

While the Packers were giving up seven touchdowns and 453 yards of offense to Lowndes, the Blue Devils were holding Camden to just 176 total yards on just 32 offensive snaps.

Camden’s Jamie Felix, who ran for 130 yards against Colquitt County the week before, was held to just 85 yards and he got 62 of those on one touchdown carry.

Part of Tift County’s success was its ability to control the football — the Blue Devils had 11 minutes of possession in the third quarter — and then put the clamps on the Wildcats.

Another time-consuming offense and belligerent defense could spell a long evening for the Packers.

Packers coach Justin Rogers is especially wary of the Blue Devils defense under first-year head coach Noel Dean.

“They are really good defensively,” Rogers said. “If you are going to run it at them, it’s going to be tough sledding.

“They play good ol’ eight-man front football and they’ve got a real good defensive line. That defensive line is by far their strength.”

The line is led by University of Georgia-bound defensive tackle Tyre West, who, although he plays a different position, Rogers compares to Lowndes quarterback Jacurri Brown.

“When’s he going to graduate?” Rogers asked about the multiple-year starter and havoc-creator. “He is a special, special kid.”

And West has a strong supporting cast.

“They are going to make us drive little bit by little bit,” Rogers said. “They will  try to make us earn every yard.”

The Blue Devils, now 6-3 overall, have surrended the fewest points among the four region teams, just 130, an average of fewer than 14.5 a game.

Colquitt will have to try to discourage the Blue Devils with some big plays, which the Packers are more than capable of producing, and a steady dose of Charlie Pace.

“We’ll have to be balanced,” Rogers said. “But we’ve got to be able to run the football. And we’ve been able to run on everyone we’ve played.”

Pace rushed for 180 yards against Lowndes and now has 1,044 for the season and is averaging 6.0 yards a carry.

He also has a knack for finding the end zone, rushing for 11 touchdowns and catching passes for three others.

Pace scored three times and Ny Carr caught his 12th touchdown pass of the season against Lowndes, but the Packers often appeared out of sync.

Quarterback Neko Fan hit just 11-of-23 passes for just 101 yards.

His lone interception was returned 76 yards and led to a touchdown that put the Vikings up 28-14 in the second quarter.

Two other passes that appeared destined for long gains were dropped.

Although Rogers praised Landen Thomas for his role in helping lead Pace’s assault on the Lowndes defense, the sophomore tight end caught just two passes for nine yards.

The Packers are likely to start Cam Strange at center, Isaiah Palmore and Jonathan Vaughn at the guards and Keshaun Palmore and Turk Daniels at the tackles.

Ontavious Carolina has taken a larger role as a receiver in recent weeks, although he was held to just one catch last Friday at Lowndes. He limped off against the Vikings, but Rogers said he expects the big two-way player to be on the field against Tift County.

Carolina could get some snaps on defense as the Packers try to deflate the Blue Devils.

“They are definitely getting better offensively,” Rogers said.

Tift has settled on Jackson Strickland at quarterback and he helped guide the ball-hogging victory over Camden County.

The Blue Devils also count on running back Zach Carter to chew up yardage and time on the clock.

Strickland and Carter combined to run for 259 yards in the win over Camden County.

Carter had 130, including a 42-yarder, and Strickland 129 and two touchdowns.

Mike Taylor caught three Strickland passes, including one for a touchdown.

The victory over Camden was an emotional one for the Blue Devils, who had not earned a region victory since an Oct. 19, 2018, upset of Lowndes.

Tift has not won two straight region games since knocking off Colquitt County and Camden County back-to-back in 2017.

Colquitt has had Tift’s number in recent years.

From 2009-2020 the Packers won 11 of its 12 meetings with the Blue Devils.

The only Tift County victory in that span was in the 2017 regular-season finale, which came on a late field goal, 38-35. Since 2010, Colquitt County is averaging 44.4 points per game against the Blue Devils, twice scoring more than 60.