Advertisement

Late rally comes up short as Pack falls to Westlake 31-24

wayne grandy, the moultrie observer, ga.
·4 min read

Aug. 28—MOULTRIE — Colquitt County's fourth turnover of the game ended a furious fourth-quarter rally as Packers lost at home on Friday for the first time in 24 games, falling to Westlake 31-24 on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

The visiting Lions had scored on a 9-yard touchdown run by quarterback RJ Johnson and an extra point by Grant Roundtree to break a 24-24 tie with 4:11 left in the game.

The Packers drove to a fourth-and-7 at Westlake 25 when sophomore quarterback Neko Fann connected with fellow 10th-grader Ny Carr for first down at the Westlake 3 with 80 seconds left in the game.

But with the Packers in its "wild hawg" formation, Charlie Pace could not handle the snap and Westlake fell on the ball and ran out the clock.

Colquitt lost at home for the first time since Oct. 20, 2017, when Tift County kicked a late field goal to win 38-35.

The Packers fall to 1-1 and Westlake, which defeated Archer 29-14 last week, raises its record to 2-0.

Colquitt also lost fumbles in the first and second quarters and with 52 seconds in the third quarter, Westlake's Christian Peterson snatched the ball from a Colquitt County receiver and raced 39 yards for a touchdown that put the Lions up 24-21.

"We can't win playing like that," Packers coach Justin Rogers said. "We sure did enough things to lose it.

"But we'll regroup."

The Packers fumbled away their first possession of the game and later in the quarter missed a 35-yard field goal attempt.

The game remained scoreless until 2:59 remained in the half when the Lions finished off a 72-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run by Jai'Den Thomas to help take a 7-0 lead.

Colquitt fumbled again on the first play of its next drive and Westlake cashed that turnover into a 22-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the half.

To its credit, Colquitt then drove 62 yards on seven plays over the next 55 seconds to score on 6-yard pass from Fann to Carr to cut the Westlake lead to 10-7 at the half.

The Packers scored on their first two possession after intermission to grab a 21-10 lead.

Fann finished off the first drive with a 9-yard scoring toss to Pace to give Colquitt its first lead at 14-10.

Then, after taking over on the Westlake 27 following a 26-yard punt, Fann ran a keeper 26 yards to the Lions 1 and Pace scored on the next play.

Brett Fitzgerald's third conversion put Colquitt up 21-10 with 7:56 left in the quarter.

But Westlake was far from finished.

The Lions marched 82 yards in 16 time-consuming plays to scored on a 3-yard run by Josh Taylor to cut the Packers lead to 21-17.

Just moments later, Fann completed a pass to the Packers 39, when Peterson came up with the ball and hustled down the sideline to the end zone to enable the Lions to regain the lead at 24-21.

The Packers tied the game when Fitzgerald lined a 37-yard field goal through the uprights with 8:56 remaining.

Again Westlake answered, going 75 yards on eight plays to score on a 9-yard quarterback draw by Johnson.

Round tree's conversion gave the Lions a seven-point lead at 31-24 with 4:11 left.

Qway McCoy took the ensuing kickoff back to the Packer 49.

A Fann keeper gave the Packers a first down at the Westlake 40, but Colquitt soon faced a four-and-10 at the Lions 40.

Fann completed a 12-yard pass to Carr to keep the drive alive, but three plays later, Colquitt faced another fourth down, this one with just 1:44 left.

Again, the two sophomores connected to Westlake three.

But the Packers expectations were dashed on the next play.

Fann completed 12-of-21 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

Pace carried 20 times for 163 yards and a touchdown and had the third-quarter touchdown reception.

Carr caught five passes for 43 yards.

Johnson completed 17-of-24 passes for 186 yards for Westlake. He did not throw a touchdown pass.

Thomas led the Lions on the ground with 105 yards on 19 carries.

The Packers will be back at home next Friday to take on Cedar Grove, ranked No. 1 in Class AAA.

The Saints opened their season on Friday with a 52-10 win over Tucker.

"It won't get any easier," Rogers said of the prospect of facing a third ranked team in a row to start the season. "It will be a physical game. But iron sharpens iron."

Also on Friday, Camden County pounded Glynn Academy 46-24 to raise its record to 2-0; Tift County also is 2-0 after defeating Dutchtown 23-7; and Lowndes got its first victory, outscoring Griffin 44-34.