Colquitt County hands Cedar Grove a 39-17 defeat

Sep. 24—MOULTRIE — Cedar Grove scored a touchdown on an untimed down on the final play of the first half to pull to within five points of Colquitt County on Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

But the Saints were unable to build on that successful rare play and never scored again against a resilient and opportunistic Packers defense and fell 39-17.

The victory raises Colquitt County's record to 5-0 as it prepares to meet Lincoln High of Tallahassee next Friday in its annual Homecoming game.

The Packers held off a stubborn band of Saints who threw for 273 yards, but were stymied over the final 24 minutes.

Cedar Grove, ranked No. 1 in Class AAA, has won four of the last six Class AAA state championships and this year's model features a number of outstanding athletes on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

But for the second game in a row, the Packers clearly won the second half and, as they did against Lee County, knocked off highly ranked team.

The Packers played well in fits and starts, but came up with several big second-half sacks to cool outstanding sophomore quarterback in EJ Colson and several sure-handed receivers.

The game was the fourth in a row for Cedar Grove against a Class 7A opponent.

But after knocking off Westlake and Collins Hill, the Saints have now been handled by Mill Creek and Colquitt County in successive weeks.

Cedar Grove fell to Mill Creek 52-36 and is now 3-2.

"We talked all week about making big plays and finding a way to make more big plays than they would and we did," coach Sean Calhoun said. "We had an onside kick, we had some big sacks and Qway McCoy's interception was unbelievable.

"And (Cedar Grove) is a team that will win the state championship, in my opinion. They are really good."

The Saints took the opening kickoff, but quickly punted after a three-and-out.

The Packers then drove to the Saints 19-yard line, only to turn the ball over when quarterback Neko Fann was picked off in the end zone.

Starting on its own 20, Cedar Grove drove to the Packers 16, where the Saints stalled and settled for a 33-yard field goal by Amari Forte.

In the second quarter, the Packers took over at midfield following a Cedar Grove punt and scored eight plays later on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Fann to Charlie Pace.

The two also hooked up on the 2-point conversion pass to give the Packers an 8-3 lead.

Colquitt then shocked the Saints by flawlessly executing an onside kick that George Ramirez recovered on the Cedar Grove 49.

On the first play, Pace broke loose on a 46-yard run to the Cedar Grove 3 and Landen Thomas busted in from there on the next play.

Brett Fitzgerald's extra point put the Packers up 15-3 with 6:27 left in the half.

The two teams combined to score three more times before they headed to their locker rooms.

Cedar Grove answered the two Colquitt County touchdowns by scoring on a 27-yard pass from Colson to Devin Carter.

Forte's conversion cut the Packers lead to 15-10.

Colquitt was forced into a quick three-and-out, but the Saints fumbled ball back to the Packers on the punt return.

A 33-yard completion from Fann to Ny Carr put the ball on the Cedar Grove 10.

Fann scored two plays later from two yards out and Fitzgerald's conversion put the Packers up 22-10 with 26 seconds left.

But the Saints were not finished.

After the Packers were penalized for a face mask infraction on the kickoff, Colson and receiver Barry Jackson hooked up on a 51-yard pass play to the Colquitt 9 as time expired in the half.

But the Packers were called for a face mask infraction on the play.

Since the half or the game cannot end on a defensive penalty, Cedar Grove had a free play — the untimed down — and took advantage with a touchdown pass from Colson to Miami Artis Jones.

After Forte's extra point, the Packers were up by just five points as they left the field, rather than by 12.

Cedar Grove appeared to get no momentum from the first half's late turnaround, however.

The Saints' first punt of the third quarter went just 19 yards and the Packers needed to go just 33 yards — aided by holding and personal foul calls — to score on Thomas's second short touchdown run.

After its 19-yard punt, Cedar Grove could not even get its next punt off and Pace broke through to block it and the Packers took over on the Saints's 13.

Colquitt stalled and had to settle for a 28-yard Fitzgerald field goal that put the Packers up 32-17 with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

Cedar Grove then got the ball with 1:39 left in third quarter and held it until 8:19 was left in the game, but had nothing to show for it, turning the ball over on downs after snapping the ball 16 times.

Nick Pace had two sacks during the Saints possession, the second of which put Cedar Grove into a fourth-and-30 at the Colquitt 33.

Colson threw an incompletion on his next pass and Colquitt took over.

The Packers had a special teams miscue when its punt with 6:39 left in the game went just 4 yards, setting the Saints up on the Colquitt County 41.

But two plays later, senior linebacker Qway McCoy intercepted a Colson pass and returned it 60 yards to the Saints 25.

Colquitt ran nearly four minutes off the clock before Charlie Pace scored the final Packers touchdown.

Unofficially, Fann completed 11-of-18 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown.

Charlie Pace carried 16 times for 106 yards.

Colson completed 16-of-29 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns while taking some punishment from Nick Pace, Kamal Bonner, Tyshon Reed Jr., Daveon Hunt and others.

"He is really good," Calhoun said of Colson. "And No. 14 (receiver Barry Jackson) in unbelievable."

Calhoun called with win a big one.

"Our effort was outstanding," Calhoun said. "But we still need to execute better. We've got to be more consistent."