MOULTRIE — On the first day of practice before the current season, the Colquitt County boys basketball team made a list of goals.

One might expect those goals to be modest.

Over the previous six seasons, the Packers had not won more than eight games.

They had managed to qualify for the state tournament twice with losing records, only to fall in the first round.

Last season, Colquitt traveled to North Cobb after being Region 1-AAAAAA’s No. 3 seed to the state tournament and the Packers were eliminated in the first round on a basket in the closing seconds.

Coach Andy Harden said he felt the program took a step forward last season despite the 7-16 overall record.

The Packers did not win a region championship this season, but they did win 20 games for just the second time in Colquitt County boys basketball history.

And another of those goals set back in November is still in play: to play a state tournament game in Moultrie.

The team will scratch that off its list if it can get by Lowndes tonight in the Region 1-7A tournament that is being held at Lowndes.

The Packers and Vikings split their regular-season meetings, each winning by 12 on its home court.

The Packers’ win over the Vikings came on Jan. 31 and is part of a streak in which they have  won six of their last seven games. Tuesday’s 50-38 win over Camden in their region tournament opener set up the rubber game against the Vikings.

The Colquitt County-Lowndes winner will face top-seeded Tift County for the tournament championship at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Harden, now in his fourth season as the head coach of his alma mater, said he thinks his team is ready.

“We are fixing to go to Lowndes on a mission,” he said on Wednesday. “There is only one thing on our mind and that is to win.

“The kids are pumped up. There is no pressure on us. We are going to put it all on the line.”

The significance of this team’s accomplishments are hard to overlook.

Since the consolidation that merged Moultrie, Doerun and Norman Park high schools in 1978, only one other Packers boys team has won more than 20 games.

And that was the 1982-1983 team coached by Bob Bray. That team won the region championship in a thriller over Westover in Albany, but then fell to Laney High of Augusta in a first-round state tournament game in Augusta and finished 22-6.

Since that hallmark season, the most wins before this year was 17 by Keith Hall’s 2000-2001 team.

This year’s team passed that mark with the win over the Vikings 10 days ago.

Colquitt has knocked off Lee County and Camden since then and will take a 20-5 record to Lowndes tonight.

Harden will send out a starting lineup that includes Cameron Singletary at point guard, Jy Andrews at the No. 2 guard and Tyrese King at the shooting guard. DaNas Andrews and Quen Dopson will play in the front court.

King and DaNas Andrews are the only two seniors. They will try to play together again next season after signing with Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas.

The other three starters are juniors, as is sixth man Jarvis Christopher, who has earned kudos for his play from his coach this season.

Christopher started every game for the Packers last year, but joined the team late this season after playing with the Colquitt County football team.

By the time he arrived, the basketball Pack had a set starting five, was playing well and had great chemistry, Harden said.

Christopher said he did not want to cause friction and told Harden he would be happy coming off the bench.

“That just tells you what kind of kid he is,” Harden said. “And he is probably playing as well as anybody we have right now.”

Harden said he obviously would rather be playing in front of the home crowd tonight, but is just pleased to be playing for the chance to perform one more time on the William Bryant Court.

“We’ve got some goals within our reach,” Harden said. “We are dialed in and I expect us to go out and play our tails off.

“We are playing with a lot of confidence and it’s exciting to see how good we can be and how far we can go.”