By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Now that we are at the halfway point of the regular season (some slightly passed the halfway point, it’s time that we get a progress report on the Bulloch County football teams for the 2025 season.

Southeast Bulloch (3-3; 3-2 Region 3-3A) | Grade: B-

This grade would have been very different this time last week. The Southeast Bulloch offense took a step back this past Friday after falling to Liberty County 10-7 on the road in Hinesville.

The Yellow Jackets defense held their own as they have all season long. However, the Jackets offense struggled to get anything going. Southeast Bulloch is hoping the offensive woes (including two fumbles) were an anomaly, because the Jacket offense has been good this year at times.

Led by Colby Smith and Jayden Murphy at running back, Southeast Bulloch has used the ground game to dominate wins over Islands, Windsor Forest, and Johnson.

The only blemish in region play entering the Liberty County contest was a fantastic high school football game but ended in a Calvary win 28-24.

The Jackets opened the year falling to cross-county rival, Statesboro, but has grown exponentially since that weather-altered matchup.

While the defense has been knocking on the door of the “A” territory, the offensive struggles against Liberty County knock the grade down slightly, but the potential for this team is unmistakably there in Brooklet.

Statesboro (3-2; 2-1 Region 1-5A) | Grade: B+

Statesboro has been a little of Jekyll and Hyde this season with most of the time seeing vast improvements under third year head coach Matt Dobson.

Sophomore quarterback Beckham Jarrard has dazzled through four games played including a performance against Greenbrier that saw the young signal-caller throw for 156 yards and a score while also leading the team with 134 yards rushing as well.

The Blue Devils were thrown a curveball when Jarrard missed the Statesboro matchup with Bradwell Institute with injury.

The offense picked up the slack with Keon Childers (leads the team with nearly 600 rushing yards (587) and 10 touchdowns who converted from wide receiver to running back this offseason.

The Devils hope to get Beckham Jarrard back in the next few weeks after a coincidentally well-timed bye week this past weekend and the next match-up coming against a winless Lakeside team next week.

After tough losses to Veterans in week 2 and against Glynn Academy, Statesboro responded nicely with the win over Bradwell leading into the bye week and has momentum going down the back stretch.

Bulloch Academy (5-1; 0-0 Region) | Grade: A

Bulloch Academy…ahem…pardon me, that’s “2024 State Champion” Bulloch Academy has picked up where they left off in a championship claiming 2024 season.

Even through their first loss in two years, BA bounced back with convincing wins on the road against Strong Rock last week then at Tattnall Square Academy 52-13 in the most recent victory.

Danye Garvin (RB) and Sam Hubbard (QB) have led this team to a 5-1 record. There have been a couple of blemishes with some penalty issues, but playmakers have overcome that with names like Braylon Cone anchoring the D-Line with at 6’2” 294lbs. Look for BA to make some noise when postseason play rolls around.

Portal (2-4; 1-3) | Grade: C-

It’s been a tough go of it for the Portal Panthers this year but look to have some momentum after a big overtime win this week against Savannah 21-14 to cap off homecoming.

The Panthers, however, have had some impactful players emerge with three running backs with at least 250 yards rushing and combining for 12 touchdowns on the season as Zeke Percell leads the way with over 350 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns along with Jason Crawford and KJ Hunter adding quality depth.

The Panthers now head into a bye week and look to build off the homecoming win to make a playoff push in the final four contests.

While there have been some speedbumps for all four teams, there is also a real possibility that all four Bulloch County teams head into the postseason and keep the trend on the upward trajectory for all four programs.