Making the sweet sixteen is always sweet, especially when you get to play at home, like the Starr’s Mill Panthers do tonight. In fact, a win will give them another home game next week against the winner of Brookwood and Marietta. Before they can think about that game though, the Panthers must focus on Colquitt County.

While Starr’s Mill (9-2) has been putting up a lot of points, especially recently with the Panthers scoring over 40 points in each of their their last two wins, they have also played good defense for much of the season. In fact, Starr’s Mill has only given up over 20 points in a game twice this season. That is very good, especially when they will face a tough defensive team tonight in the Colquitt County Packers (6-5).

The Packers have won three of their last four games. Last week, they defeated Tri-Cities 7-3. In comparison, Starr’s Mill defeated Tri-Cities 35-34 on Sept. 9. Colquitt County is averaging over 24 points per game in their six wins, while allowing an average of just over six points a game. Their defense is one of the things that concerns Starr’s Mill coach Mike Earwood, who knows that the Packers have played all of their opponents close this year, including such tough opponents as Parkview, Lowndes and Valdosta. Defensive players to look for are Bart Sims, Josh Brown and Derek Illian.

“It’s important that we’re not misled by their record,” said Earwood. “This is a good team.”

The Panthers are a good team too and they may be peaking at the right time. Their offense has been especially balanced in recent efforts with several running backs gaining a good amount of yardage each game and quarterback Robby Davis finding open receivers when necessary and keeping defenses honest. The Starr’s Mill defense gave up a few big plays last week in their win over Brunswick but stayed strong and kept the Pirates out of the endzone.

Starr’s Mill has lost in the second round of the state playoffs three of the last four times they have made it this far. If they are going to pick up a win, the defense will need to force some turnovers and the offense will need to find a way to score on a very stingy Packer defense.

East Coweta (7-4) got a 25-20 win over Groves last week. The Indians had built a sizable lead, 25-7, and then watched Groves come storming back towards the end. East Coweta got two touchdowns from Stanford Philpot, one from Antonio Gates and a field goal from Ryan Gates to account for their points. They gained over 300 yards rushing on the night. The Indians made two crucial turnovers in the second half that led to points for Groves and they will need to eliminate all turnovers to survive tonight against Stephenson.

The Stephenson Jaguars (10-1) have won 10 games in a row after a 42-21 loss to Brookwood to start the season. To say Stephenson has a tough defense is an understatement. The Jaguars have posted four shutouts this season and have only allowed a total of 41 points. The highest amount that any team has scored on them during their 10 game winning streak was 13 points, which were scored by the Riverdale Raiders.

Among the players to look for on the Stephenson defense are senior linebackers Marcus Ball, Kelechi Ordu and Perry Riley, as well as defensive ends Jermaine Cunningham and Kelvin Sheppard.

The winner of this game will play at the winner of the Roswell and Parkview game next Friday.

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