MOULTRIE— The Valdosta Wildcats and Colquitt County Packers lit up the scoreboard at Mack Tharpe Stadium in Moultrie, and at the end of the night, Valdosta squeaked by with a 42-39 victory.

Valdosta (4-2, 1-2 Region 1-AAAAA) totaled 420 yards of offense, while the no-huddle, shotgun-running Packers (3-3, 0-3) put up a whopping 508.

It was a game that had the feel of whichever team had the ball last was going to win.

It looked like it was going to be the Packers who would get the last shot. They stopped Valdosta on third down with 2:17 left in the fourth quarter and called their last timeout to stop the clock.

When the teams came back onto the field on fourth-and-4 for Valdosta’s punt, the Packers had too many men on the field, and were penalized for an illegal substitution. The five-yard penalty was enough to give the ’Cats the first down and they iced the game three plays later on a run by VaShun Johnson.

“That can happen,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “In (Colquitt head coach Rush Propst’s) defense, that has happened to us before. If you have something special coming, then that’s an easy thing to have happen. I can’t blame them because we’ve done the same thing.”

The game was closely played through all four quarters. Valdosta’s biggest lead was 11 points and Colquitt’s biggest lead was eight. After a back-and-forth first half, the Packers held a 25-22 lead.

It looked like Valdosta was going to put the game away in the third quarter. Colquitt went three-and-out on its first two possessions, while the Wildcats put up two touchdowns. Sparked by a Phillip Moore 28-yard run, the ’Cats went on to punch the ball in for a touchdown on a 6-yard run later in the drive by Johnson.

The Wildcats scored another touchdown on the ground on their next possession when Desmond Smith ran in from 1 yard out. Valdosta led 36-25 with 2:23 left in the third quarter.

Colquitt wouldn’t give in, though. The Packers got their offense back in gear in their final possession of the third quarter. Harrison hit Eric Key on 44-yard touchdown strike with 48 seconds left in the third to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 36-32.

Valdosta answered on its next drive early in the fourth quarter when Chad Prain fell into the end zone from two yards out. Valdosta missed the extra point, but took a 10 point lead with 8:53 left in the game.

The Packers came right back down the field when Valdosta kicked it back though. Colquitt moved the ball to the Valdosta 28-yard line and then Harrison found Roberson Quinn on a screen pass and Quinn took it in for the score, making it 42-39 with 5:12 left. That would be the last time the Packers touched the football on offense.

The ’Cats looked sharp in all phases at the start of the game. After forcing a punt on defense, the offense took over at the Colquitt 48-yard line following a good punt return by Johnson. On the next play, Moore took a handoff and bounced to the outside for a 27 yard gain. Later in the drive, on fourth down, quarterback Kyle Rowe found Justin Williams on a bootleg pass and Williams took it into the end zone to give Valdosta a 7-0 lead.

The Packers responded by taking advantage of Wildcat miscues. Johnson fumbled a punt and the Packers recovered at the Valdosta 24-yard line. After having a touchdown run called back due to an illegal block in the back penalty, the Packers settled for a field goal and cut the deficit to 7-3.

The Packers took the lead 10-7 on its first possession of the second quarter when quarterback John Michael Harrison kept the ball on an option and ran it in for a touchdown from 13 yards out.