Colquitt County High receiver Sheronsky Sloan (7) has made his comeback from a knee injury.

MOULTRIE, Ga. – So far, everyone who had a shot at revenge on the Colquitt County High football Packers for any playoff setbacks got their satisfaction.

After Friday night, the regular season everyone pined for over a long stretch of weeks will be halfway over. It’s been – again so far – Colquitt County vs. metropolitan areas with the metros a perfect 4-for-4. One trend on Friday will continue, that being another the Packers taking on a foe from a big city area. For the first time ever, Brookwood out of Snellville in Gwinnett County travels south to visit Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium, and for the first time since the 2010 state finals the Broncos take on Colquitt County High, a school they have never lost to in three previous tries.

The trend everyone in the black and gold wants to see end quickly, the four-game losing skid that hasn’t been a part of Packer football since 2008. Looking over this schedule in the spring and summer, an 0-4 start was a distinct possibility. In mid-September, it is reality. The streak in 2008 was actually five losses in a row, and a Colquitt football team has never sported an 0-5 mark.

Brookwood does not put an ease on the strength of schedule, ranked No. 10 in Class 7A by the Georgia Sportswriter’s Association at 2-1. The Broncos are coming off a bye week after losing to neighboring South Gwinnett and seeing their starting running back injured early.

Colquitt County head coach Rush Propst said he saw a slew of Brookwood coaches on the Roswell sideline last Friday when the Hornets were handling the Packers 34-3.

“When you’re on top like we have been, people team up against you,” said Propst. “They make it the biggest game on their schedule, and rightfully so.”

Going back again, Roswell, Mill Creek and American Heritage of Florida were all nationally-ranked at the time they played Colquitt County.

“We’ve played very young at times, and made some very young mistakes,” said Propst. “And you are playing teams that are very, very good. They have a lot of incentive to beat you because you’ve beaten them.”

The pattern has followed that Colquitt went from being unable to get over the semifinal hump through 2013 to back-to-back perfect seasons where it kept the likes of Mill Creek and Roswell from celebrating championships. Those seven years in a row of at least reaching the semifinals made, Propst said, the Packers the state’s measuring stick for success.

“People tend to forget … those five years we didn’t win the state championship, one play here or there we could probably have four state championships in a seven-year run,” said Propst. “(2011 and 2013) are two we let get away. When you throw all that in there, people set us as the standard that we are the elite program to beat.”

Through these four games, some wins are again getting away from the Packers, like the 21-20 loss at home two weeks ago to Tucker. It’s the only time in four games Colquitt led at halftime.

“We did not handle the second half very well,” said Propst. “American Heritage is a game we could have stolen (lost 17-14). We missed three field goals. I thought we played well enough to win but had red zone problems.

“Are we better than American Heritage? Probably not. You compare talent for talent, we don’t have what they have. But we could have won the game. We were in scoring opportunities seven times and scored twice. They were only in scoring opportunities four times and scored three.

“The Tucker game hurts. If we are sitting here 2-2, I think it’s a whole different mindset.”

The coach does concede that Mill Creek and Roswell are the better teams now. He said on the Hornet roster alone are 17 players with Division I offers, most coming from the Power 5 conferences.

“We don’t have a Power 5 kid offered in our senior class,” said Propst. “The good thing is you don’t have to play them 10 times. We had a shot, and they beat us pretty good. We had opportunities in that game. But we had to play a perfect game. They at times didn’t play perfect, didn’t execute some things I felt like if they had, we really would have been beaten pretty good.”

As wide as the final margin at Roswell was, Colquitt had the chances to put the game in its favor at halftime. But on 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard-line late in the first quarter, and only down 6-0, not only was there a fumble but one where the football shoots 35 yards the other way.

Roswell also lost two fumbles in the second quarter, but that only yielded the lone three points for the visitors. It was a night where the best stat line came from John Samuel Shenker as the punter, 10 times with five going more than 40 yards and two others at 39 each.

So what happens when the team returns to Moultrie and gets started on the path to another game? How about a record-setting showing in the weight room.

“We set 185 new records (maxes) in the weight room,” said Propst. Each player has four different lifts, so multiply four by the number on the roster and that shows how many maxes there are to set. “What I read into that is that this football team has not quit. This football team still believes it can get this thing turned around, that they can win games. If this team didn’t think that, they wouldn’t bust their tail in the weight room.

“I think we’ve had three really consistent days of practice. I thought execution wise offensively it was one of our best Wednesdays. From that perspective, there’s still something left in the tank. They don’t want this to continue.”

So for the coach, he sees not just Brookwood but the following Friday at red-hot Valdosta High as crucial for what direction the Packers will go heading into the three-game Region 1-7A stretch. Every day there needs to be urgency, passion and desire.

“I don’t like to call anything must-win, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming in here Sunday after being 0-5 and getting ready to play Valdosta in Valdosta.”

“It’s not that (Brookwood) doesn’t have athletes,” said Propst, looking again at Friday’s matchups. “I don’t think they have the abundance of athletes of teams we’ve played. They can win. Bronco pride is very important there. That’s what you have to worry about.

“On defense, they have a linebacker (No. 35) who is the heart and soul. Their strengths are they are multiple in what they do. There is so much information they give you that you can’t go out and try to do too much. You are going to get confused. They move around a lot, disguise a lot. In football, you have to identify what they’re in before you snap the football.

“Going against their offense, we don’t know about the running back. We are going to prepare like he’s going to play.”

For Colquitt, it will again come down to limiting big plays, something Propst can’t remember seeing so much of before this season.

“We shouldn’t be giving up those big plays,” he said. “I like our plan. I like our kids’ attitude. Will that translate into a win? I hope so.”

Fans will also hope to see if JJ Peterson can build on his performance in Roswell, sacking the quarterback three times and running down Sheldon Evans on what could have been a 66-yard touchdown. Instead it was a stop on the 19.

“I think he’s turning his game around,” said Propst about the five-star prospect in his junior season. But the Packers won’t have Allen Key for the second game in a row after the concussion he suffered against Tucker.

“Right now, we can’t find a linebacker who looks like a linebacker,” said Propst. “2013-15 we had seven linebackers who were D-1.”

Peterson does have a touchdown catch this season, but could not gain yards Friday taking the ‘Wild Hawg’ snap two times. He can be a factor on offense, but Propst said there are things to consider like an injury he had early plus hot weather making it hard to use a player both ways. The coach said he is getting more practice time on offense this week, and there are other tweaks on that side coming up.

“We’ve revamped some things offensively,” said Propst. What Colquitt needs in its passing game is explosiveness. The longest reception last week was 21 yards by the tight end Shenker, and when Jay Saunders completed his first 15 passes vs. Tucker, the longest gain was 16 yards.

Like with the linebackers, Propst could recall a handful of recent names who could “go house” with every touch. With the Packers doing the pitch-and-catch and tunnel screens, he said there is a lack of playmakers now who can turn short catches into big gains.