Colquitt County 48, Valdosta 42: "These guys are confused"
How the Colquitt County Packers survived one of the best GHSA football games in 2021 against Valdosta.
Welcome to the Friday Night Lights section here at the SRM newsletter. This is a section of the newsletter where I cover high school football both back home in Georgia and here in East Tennessee. Covering high school football is a passion of mine, and I hope that passion shines through in my stories that you’ll read in this very newsletter. I do hope that you enjoy it and type in your email below so you never miss an issue. This newsletter is delivered to your inbox, not your doorstep, daily. Happy reading.
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The first time fans of “Cheers” see Sam Malone following his breakup with Diane Chambers in the Season 2 finale of the hit sitcom, they are greeted with immediate chaos. Malone has fallen off the wagon once again. He is partying, drinking, and doing all the things one might expect following a devastating breakup. Malone is all over the place in that opening episode. His life is as chaotic and as much of a mess as viewers had ever seen it. You heard stories about his previous chaotic days, but you never saw it. Watching it was like what folks can’t help but do when they pass a car wreck while driving down the road.
They stare.
Sometimes, that same thing happens for a high school football game. You just stare.
That’s kind of like what happened with Colquitt County vs. Valdosta on September 10, 2021. The Packers defeated the Wildcats, but, boy, was it a bender of a football game for Colquitt. The final tally in penalty yards for the Pack was over 150 yards. You knew, immediately, this game was going to remind you of Sam Malone at the beginning of Season 3 when Valdosta started things off with a pooch kick that they themselves recovered on the opening kickoff.
The rest of the game followed that same bizarre, unpredictable cadence that makes high school football, especially in the south, so completely perfect. I have watched a lot of high school football games in my life, but I’d be hardpressed to find a game that I got more lost in than this one right here in Valdosta, GA.
Goodness, what a game.
In the third quarter, the ‘Cats found themselves in deep trouble. The Packers put themselves in front 34-15 following yet another Charlie Pace touchdown run. Valdosta set this up for Colquitt as Joseph Gardner stared down his read and a Colquitt defender sat on it and waited for his opportunity to pounce for a big interception that gave the Packers the ball on the 30-yard line. Valdosta head coach Shelton Felton’s team could have surrendered there, but they did not. Instead, Valdosta realed off 20 consecutive points to lead early in the fourth quarter 35-34.
The drive that followed that Packer touchdown to put Valdosta in a 19-point hole jumped off the screen. The ‘Cats did not panic. After a deep hitch pattern to Jalen Whitehead to pick up a first down, Valdosta ran it six times in a row. Three carries for Kaleb Robinson, and three carries for Terrell Denson. There was a growing sense on the broadcast that the Packers’ defense might not have answer for the dynamic duo. The latter eventually put it in for the score after bouncing one outside the tackles on the left side for the score.
Then, Valdosta’ defense earned a stop, and returned a punt all the way down to Colquitt’s one-yard line. Chris Wolfe received the punt at the fifty and utilized his start-and-stop ability to follow his blocks down the right side to flip the momentum of this particular football game.
It was a classic “no, no, yes!” moment in sports.
But, man, the penalties for Colquitt in this one.
One moment stands out above the rest, after the Packers punted up 7-6 on Valdosta in the first quarter. There was a delay of game penalty called on Colquitt, and then chaos ensued. I lost track, along with the delightful broadcast team in the booth, how many times the officials walked the ball back and forth trying to figure out where to spot it, what down it was and who even had possession of the dang ball. It was something you don’t see a lot, where you don’t have a stinking clue as to what’s transpiring on the football field. “These guys are confused,” the Colquitt County play-by-play man said over the broadcast feed.
Right he was.
This was a game where whoever had the ball last was probably going to win. Give the Packers credit, they did not roll over after Valdosta got the ball on Colquitt’s own 25-yard line following another disastrous penalty. After a few Kaleb Robinson carries off RPOs, the Wildcats scored late in the ballgame to go up 42-41. Without missing a beat, though, Neko Fann dialed up a deep bomb on 2nd-and-short to put the Pack inside the five-yard line in a first-and-goal situation.
The Packers did not panic, like Valdosta, and found the explosive play they needed where Fann had to drop a bucket of a pass in between two Valdosta defenders as the latter had split safeties up top in a Cover 2 configuration. That pass and Fann taking advantage of Ontavious Carolina running a deep post that required No. 21 on Valdosta to get a late jump on the outside leave the outside receiver running a quick out to catch up to him and not getting the help up top by the safety to prevent the explosive play. A perfect call and a perfect play that won Colquitt the game.
What stood out most, though, was the play of both team’s running backs. Charlie Pace for Colquitt, popped off early when he bounced outside to the left and scored a touchdown to put Colquitt up 14-6 early. He waved at a trailing defender on the scamper, which led to one of many penalties called on Colquitt on the evening. The first half was all about Valdosta not keeping Pace inbetween the tackles. The second half, and the comeback all together, was all about Colquitt not being able to do the same, just with a two-headed attack in Robinson and Denson.
Ultimately, it was Colquitt who survived on the road in Valdosta, but, man this is one of those games I imagine the players, coaches and fans will remember for years to come.