Packers, Vikings to tangle with region title in the balance
Oct. 20—MOULTRIE — When asked the key to defeating Lowndes on Friday in what is, essentially, the Region 1-7A championship game, Colquitt County coach Justin Rogers said, "We've got to get him to the ground."
"Him," of course, is Jacurri Brown, the Vikings' All-State quarterback, who only seems as if he has been in crimson and silver forever.
Everyone within earshot knew who Rogers was referring to.
Getting the 6-foot-4, 210-pounder to the ground once hands have been laid on him will be difficult enough. Getting to him at all is a challenge in itself.
But if the Packers aren't able to accomplish both of those errands, it could be a long October evening at the Concrete Palace.
Colquitt will take a 7-1 record to what it is expected to be a loud and partisan Martin Stadium on Friday to take on the 6-2 Vikings in what will be one of the marquee high school games in the state.
The Packers, who have lost only to Westlake by a 31-24 margin in Game 2 and are coming off a 34-31 overtime victory at Camden County, are ranked No. 5 in the state.
Lowndes lost its opener to Walton 34-28 in overtime in the Corky Kell Classic and later fell by three at Lee County.
Walton is No. 6 in Class 7A; Lee County is No. 2 in Class 7A.
The Vikings are ranked just two spots below the Packers.
The senior-dominated Vikings will have the crowd and the Georgia Bridgemen in their corner.
The scrappy Pack, led by a group of talented and driven sophomores, will try to stick to the tasks at hand.
Parking spaces should be at a premium.
A victory would give Colquitt a second-straight region title and the home playoff games that are part and parcel with it.
A win also would even the series between the Packers and Vikings that started back in 1968 when Bud Willis was the coach of the Moultrie High football team.
The two programs have met 55 times. The Vikings hold a 28-27 advantage.
Colquitt and Lowndes have split the last two meetings.
The Vikings won 28-17 at home in 2019. Colquitt won handily 40-10 last year on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium to claim the region championship.
In both of those games, Brown was the focus of the Lowndes offense.
He ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns, but threw for just 64 yards in the 2019 home win.
Colquitt bottled him up pretty well last year. Brown managed just 54 yards on 20 carries on the ground and threw for only 67 yards.
He did score a touchdown on a 10-yard run last November. But the score came with 11:28 left in the game and the Packers were leading 33-3 at the time.
That is not to say he does not create some tense moments in defensive staff meetings prior to games against the Vikings.
It's not so much that Brown is a great passer or a great runner. But he is proficient enough at both. And that big frame that is so hard to wrap up and bring down makes him that much more of a threat.
"A lot of his yards come when he can't find anyone open and he just takes off," Rogers said.
Then again, Tift County was able to hem Brown up successfully last week, allowing him to run for just 50 yards.
In fact, the Blue Devils held the Vikings to just 96 yards on 37 rushing attempts.
So Brown just goes out and completes 14-of-19 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns and leads the Vikings to a 26-7 victory at Brodie Field.
Brown does have a pair of accomplished pass-catchers in Khris Thomas, who has 31 receptions for 457 yards and two scores, and Chase Belcher, who has 16 catches for 310 yards and eight touchdowns.
Belcher, a 6-foot-1, 218-pounder, scored twice against the Blue Devils.
Like Brown, Belcher and Thomas are seniors and have played in some big games over the last two plus seasons during which the Vikings have gone 30-5.
Defensively, Lowndes likes to blitz and keep pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
That also can lead to open receivers sprinting through the secondary and the Packers have proved capable of taking advantage of such opportunities in their first eight games.
If sophomores such as Neko Fann, Ny Carr, Landen Thomas and others have been awed by the moment, it hasn't often been apparent.
Fann, who is still growing into his role as the Packers quarterback, has nonetheless completed 90-of-145 passes for 1,521 yards and 22 touchdowns. He has thrown four interceptions, two of which came at Camden County last Friday.
Carr has already established himself as one of the state's top receivers. Of his 25 pass receptions, 11 have been worth six points each.
And he makes opposing defensive backs nervous. He already has touchdown pass catches of 90, 74, 52, 47 and 35 yards.
Thomas offers an inviting target and Fann is glad to oblige. The big tight end has 24 catches and six scores.
And the trio is complemented by junior running back Charlie Pace, who leads Region 1-7a with 864 yards on the ground. He has rushed for nine touchdowns and caught passes for two others.
Oh, and Pace scored a touchdown against Lowndes last year on a 70-yard gallop.
And the Packers have been turning more in recent weeks to the tall and gifted Ontavious Carolina, who has become an additional weapon catching the ball and running with it.
The offensive line has protected Fann well and enabled Pace to do his thing.
Both defenses have been vulnerable at times. The Packers have given up 21.6 points a game; the Vikings, 23.7.
Big plays could be the difference.
Camden County (4-4) will travel to Tift County (5-3) on Friday, with one team sure to even its region record.
Camden leads the region in points surrendered with 217, including 77 to Warner Robins and 34 against the Packers.
Tift leads in the fewest given up, with 116.
The Wildcats have the more formidable offense with Jamie Felix-led wing-T capable of gulping up yardage and scoring touchdowns.
With Felix rushing for 130 yards and a somewhat surprising passing game providing big plays, Camden County rolled up 436 yards against the Packers.
Camden has scored 117 more points than Tift County so far this season.
Looking ahead to the following Friday, the final night of the regular season, Tift County will travel to Moultrie and Lowndes will go to Camden County.
