VALDOSTA — Valdosta and Colquitt County renew the oldest high school football rivalry in South Georgia tonight.
The Packers head to Valdosta tonight to face the Wildcats at 8 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
This will be the 93rd time the Wildcats have played the Packers. Valdosta High and Moultrie High each started football in 1913, and their inaugural game was against each other. It ended in a 6-6 tie.
Nobody has lost more games to Valdosta than the Packers, who have been the victim of 65 Wildcat victories. But they’ve also beaten Valdosta 23 times, more than any other school.
“It’s a 93-year old rivalry,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “When you think about South Georgia football, the schools you think about most are Valdosta and Colquitt. Great tradition in this rivalry, with great coaching, great players and great teams. They’ve had some classic games in their history.”
The two teams enter tonight’s game in much different situations than they were in when they played a year ago. In 2006, the Packers were 4-0 and No. 3 in the state, while Valdosta was 1-3. Now Valdosta is 3-1, while Colquitt is struggling at 1-3 after graduating nearly its entire 2006 starting lineup.
“They’ve got a lot of new starters this year, and they’ve played some good teams,” Tomberlin said. “They lost to Thomas County Central (42-9), which is a real good team, they lost to Cook (14-0), they beat Lee County (34-31 in double overtime) and then they lost a close one to Bainbridge (23-22). Those are all pretty good teams. Colquitt’s not bad.”
The teams’ records meant little in 2006 — the Packers barely escaped with a 17-15 win — and they might not mean much tonight, either. It’s still the Wildcats battling the Packers.
“It’s Valdosta vs. Colquitt. We’ll get up for them, and they’ll get up for us,” Tomberlin said.
Colquitt dominated the region’s passing statistics in 2005 and 2006. But this year, the Packers switched from a spread offense to the I formation, and have been more of a running team. They’ve got just 235 yards passing, and 663 yards rushing.
“Coach (Tim) Cokely is known as a guy that throws the ball, but he’s mainly running it this year,” Tomberlin said.
Eric Key leads the Packers’ offense. Key, who will line up at running back and receiver, has 317 yards rushing and four touchdowns, seven catches for 46 yards, and has also thrown Colquitt’s only touchdown pass. Junior quarterback John Michael Harrison has completed 16-of-49 passes for 203 yards.
“They play offense a lot like we do,” Tomberlin said. “They want to run the football, they want to give you a lot of formations. They run some misdirection, they’ve got some key plays. They want to throw it when they want to, not when they have to.”
Defensively, Colquitt uses primarily a 3-5 defense, and loves to put pressure on the quarterback. Tomberlin was impressed with the linebackers, especially Eric Roberts, who also plays some defensive end.
“Defensively, they’ll come after you,” Tomberlin said. “They run that 3-5 primarily. They’re stunting and bringing somebody every play. They really bring it. We’ve got to be ready for the kind of pressure they’ll bring.”
While Valdosta is primarily a running team, it would love to have the success throwing the ball that Bainbridge had last week against Colquitt. Bainbridge quarterback James Hudson went 17-for-24 for 209 yards, with three touchdown passes.
This will be the region opener for both schools, and Tomberlin says this is an important game.
“It’s our first region game, and it’s one that really counts,” he said. “The others were important, but we played them out of pride. This one has playoff implications. This is one where we need to win.
“It’s probably more important to win this one than any other game. The winner of this game is kind of in the driver’s seat, while the loser is a little behind the eight-ball.”
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