MOULTRIE — North Gwinnett drove 93 yards on its first possession to score a touchdown and all the points it would need in a 14-3 victory over Colquitt County on Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.
The No. 7-ranked Bulldogs added a second-quarter touchdown after the No. 4 Packers threw an interception on their own 18 and the two Class 6A powers fought to a standoff the rest of the way.
North Gwinnett is now 2-0 and the Packers fall to 2-1.
The game was the first in which Colquitt County failed to score a touchdown since defeating Archer 12-7 on three Ryan Fitzgerald field goals and a free kick in the 2017 quarterfinals.
It also was the Packers first regular-season home loss since August 27, 2021, when Westlake won 24-21 in the Hawg Pen.
Colquitt had two golden opportunities to score touchdowns, but misfired on both.
On a third-and-five from the Bulldogs 6 on the first play of the second quarter, the Packers were flagged for a false start.
Colquitt threw an incomplete pass and then had to settle for a 25-yard Brett Fitzgerald field goal that cut the North Gwinnett lead to 7-3.
In the fourth quarter, trailing by 10, the Packers got a 25-yard completion from freshman quarterback Cohen Lawson to Day’Shawn Brown to the North Gwinnett 6.
But Jae Lamar fumbled on the next play and North Gwinnett’s C.J. Hollinquest recovered with 6:13 left.
While the offense struggled, the Packers held North Gwinnett scoreless over the final 27 minutes of the game.
Colquitt County coach Sean Calhoun was pleased with his team’s effort.
“We fought and we fought,” he said. “We went toe to toe and we never stopped fighting. and we’ll learn from it.
“This is why we scheduled this game. Not to get beat. But if we did … North Gwinnett is a quarterfinal, semifinal, championship level team. We’ve got to execute better. But I loved the effort.”
The Bulldogs, who had opened the season with a 39-17 win over McEachern in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Kickoff Classic, rolled up 309 yards of offense and 15 first downs, but did not score in the second half.
But the North Gwinnett defense came up with the crucial interception and fumble recovery to hold off the Packers.
Colquitt threw for 115 yards, but 62 came on a halfback pass from Day’Shawn Brown to Malik Walker in the first quarter that led to the Fitzgerald field goal.
Between that pass and the fourth-quarter throw from Lawson to Brown, the Packers had just five other completions.
Colquitt managed just 119 hard-earned yards on the ground.
The Bulldogs won the toss and deferred and the Packers punted away their first possession.
The punt, a 59-yarder by Sam Miller, put the Bulldogs back at their own 7 to start their first series.
North Gwinnett then used 14 plays to drive 93 yards to the touchdown that came on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Hall to a crossing Nick Bookman.
Constantine Dallis, who later missed a pair of field goal attempts, added the extra point and North Gwinnett was up 7-0 with 5:29 left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs got a big fourth-down conversion completion from Hall to Erick Running to the Colquitt 27 to keep the drive alive.
Colquitt took over on its own 20 after the first missed Dallas field goal attempt midway through the second quarter.
But Coxwell picked off a Lawson pass on the Packers first play and the Bulldogs had a first down at the Colquitt 18.
It took them eight plays to score. Kalil Mazone finally wedged in on a fourth-and-1 with 3:02 left in the half.
Dallas’s conversion for the 14-3 lead was the final point of the game.
North Gwinnett punted away its first two possessions of the second half and the third resulted in Dallis’s second errant field goal attempt.
Colquitt kept its first fourth-quarter drive alive when it converted a fake punt for a first down at the Bulldogs 39.
But the fumble seven plays later made the chances of a Colquitt County rally remote.
Hall was an unofficial 13-for-20 for 153 yards and the scoring strike to Bookman.
The senior quarterback, who started as a sophom*ore when the Bulldogs fell to the Packers 52-17 in the 2022 quarterfinals, also ran for 60 yards on 10 carries.
Mazone carried 21 times for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Brown rushed for 49 yards and Lamar 54 for the Packers.
Lawson completed 7-of-14 passes for 53 yards and an interception.
Colquitt County will be off next Friday before returning to the Hawg Pen to face Lee County on Friday, September 13.
North Gwinnett will travel to face Mill Creek next week.
Also in Region 1-6A on Friday, Camden County defeated West Broward (Fla.) 52-29; Lee County won over Tift County 55-7; Lowndes downed Central Gwinnett 46-13; Valdosta shut out Dougherty 43-0; and Richmond Hill won over Everglades (Fla.) 45-0.
