One of the oldest rivalries in high school football rekindles tonight when the No. 8 Valdosta Wildcats (8-1, 2-1 Region 1-7A) host the No. 2 Colquitt County Packers (8-0, 2-0 Region).

Last week, the ‘Cats suffered their first loss of the season, falling 17-14 at Camden while the Packers throttled the Lowndes Vikings 42-14.

The winner of tonight’s game is likely to win Region 1-7A.

Let’s get into this week’s edition of Extra Points…

1) A brutal loss

Last week’s loss at Camden was brutal for a couple of different reasons.

Firstly, the ‘Cats just didn’t play well enough against a very solid Camden team. Camden put up 290 total yards with 197 of those coming on the ground.

The 290 total yards, 197 yards rushing and 17 points allowed were all season-highs allowed by the Valdosta defense, which was a bit of a letdown coming off of impressive defensive games against Lowndes and Richmond Hill to start region play.

“Camden played hard and I’m not trying to take that from them,” Valdosta head coach Shelton Felton said. “When you drop touchdowns, when you don’t play the wing-T like we were supposed to, when you get desperate and start having to make plays, it bogged us down to the point where we had to execute. We didn’t execute. We lost a bunch of good players tonight and people have got to step up and make plays.”

Offensively, last week’s game wasn’t particularly good for the ‘Cats despite leading 14-7 at halftime. Sophomore quarterback Todd Robinson was just 3 for 10 for 38 yards and a touchdown, but a bigger concern is where the ‘Cats go from here with several of their top playmakers limited or out due to injury.

In a sad scene, the ‘Cats lost senior wide receiver Jalen Whitehead to a broken ankle with 3:30 left in the third quarter. The injury comes at such an inopportune time for both Whitehead and the Valdosta offense.

Whitehead was coming off of his best game of the season against Richmond Hill which saw him make four catches for a season-high 120 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown. He was off to a great start against Camden with two catches for 50 yards and a touchdown before going down with the injury.

“When a guy like that goes down, one of your leaders, it took the wind out of us,” Felton said of Whitehead’s injury. “We had an opportunity on another play and just missed on it. We had opportunities, but Valdosta shot itself in the foot. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities, but losing Whitehead, man that hurts. Just a freak accident.”

The ‘Cats also lost running back Jordan Gatlin to a concussion in the first half against Camden.

Gatlin was knocked out of the game after three carries for 19 yards. The junior broke out in the team’s win over Richmond Hill two weeks ago as he started in place of seniors Charles Williams and Ahmad Denson and had 18 carries for 177 yards in the 20-0 victory.

Speaking of Williams, the team’s starting running back has been hobbled by a knee injury that kept him out against Richmond Hill and limited him to just two carries for 5 yards last week against Camden.

Fullback Jontavious McGriff also left the game in the second quarter with an ankle sprain.

Without Whitehead, the ‘Cats lose their top deep threat and mismatch target in the red zone. If Gatlin or Williams can’t go tonight, the team’s running back depth that has been a strength most of the season will be a question mark against Colquitt.

2) Denson’s return

After missing Valdosta’s win over Richmond Hill with a shoulder injury, Ahmad Denson returned to the lineup against Camden – notching a game-high 142 yards rushing and one touchdown on 19 carries.

Denson is Valdosta’s most explosive offensive weapon from the backfield and he proved that against Camden with a 47-yard scamper to the house to tie the game at 7 late in the first quarter.

3) Who are the Packers?

Prior to the injuries to Whitehead and Gatlin and the loss at Camden, tonight’s matchup shaped up to be a straight-up collision course for the Region 1-7A championship.

After all, Valdosta nearly tied its best start to a season since 2001 while Colquitt has been near the top of Class 7A all season long.

Valdosta has the best defense in Class 7A at just 5.8 points allowed per game this season.

Colquitt comes into tonight’s game averaging the fourth-highest scoring offense in 7A at 39.4 points per game, having put up at least 29 points in each of its first eight games.

The Packers boast the most balanced attack in the region and one of the best in 7A. Junior quarterback Neko Fann has thrown for 1,440 yards and 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. Fann’s top targets – junior Ny Carr and Landen Thomas – have already committed to the University of Georgia. Carr has 28 catches for 461 yards and four touchdowns while Thomas has 26 catches for 465 yards and a team-leading five touchdowns this season.

Georgia State commit running back Charlie Pace has rushed for 877 yards and a team-best 11 touchdowns on 97 carries.

Defensively, the Packers are no slouch either. They allow just 12.3 points per game, led by junior Nicholas Pace’s 11.5 tackles per game. Sophomore Amari Wilson leads the team with four sacks and 10 tackles for loss while junior Tyshon Reed Jr. has two sacks, a team-best 12 hurries and nine tackles for loss this season.

“It’s a tough one,” Felton said of the matchup. “No matter what, the goal is to win the region. For us to win the region, we’ve got to beat Colquitt. We put ourselves behind the 8-ball a little bit. We didn’t play to our standard, and hey, we’ve got to regroup. Guys that are not injured, we’ve got to get them healthy and we’ve just got to come play. We’re going to show up and we’re going to play.”

4) Can Valdosta pull the upset?

Colquitt is shooting for its sixth region title and fifth undefeated regular season in the last nine years.

With a win, the Packers lock up the region championship. However, if Valdosta pulls out a win, they’ll need to win a three-way tie with Colquitt and Camden County. According to Georgia High School Football Daily, the ‘Cats currently hold a big edge in the tiebreaker, which is points allowed in games against the top four region finishers.

Colquitt has won eight of the past nine in the series, with Valdosta winning 50-49 in a shootout back in 2019.

Last season, the Packers edged the ‘Cats 48-42.

“I do, I think we’ve got a great chance,” Felton said when asked if last year’s loss gives him confidence heading into the season finale. “I know they’re an explosive offense, but at the same time, we’re a great defense so we’ll match up well. Offensively, we’ve got to get together and get our playmakers the ball and we’ve got to score points. Every game is a playoff game and you’ve got to score points and we didn’t do that (against Camden). We’ll get together and watch the film and we’ll have a great game plan for Colquitt.”

Kickoff for tonight’s game is scheduled for 8 p.m.