High School Football
Pirates Sink South Effingham
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Something unexpected happened to the Brunswick High Pirates last night at Glynn County Stadium a Friday night kick-off. The 2017 All Weather Pirates played on a beautiful Friday night and routed the South Effingham Mustangs 44-13.
The Pirates jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back.
Pirate Report Card:
Special Teams: B+. Dalton Thrift gets better every week. His 34-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer is something that BHS may need come playoff time.
Kick coverage has been solid all year. Only thing that kept this grade from being an A was a botched extra point attempt in the 3rd quarter. This area is much improved from 2016 where the kick-off coverage was terrible. Brunswick need this unit in a big game down the road.
Defense: A. This unit was solid all night long.
Jaylen King had a nice game. George Mincey continued his all-region play. Sean Ward and Kam Futch flew around all night long.
The coaching staff worked on some new blitz packages and caused a lot of issues for the Mustangs.
This unit is fast and causes problems for opposing teams with speed. BHS played some reserves in second half and gave up a few yards with a running clock in 4th quarter. It was the second straight game where this unit did not give up a first half point.
Offense: B+. Other than the pick 6 on a screen pass deep in Pirate territory, this unit did pretty much what they wanted to do all night long. The offensive line of Ty Hinson, TJ Kirkland, Brett Hall, John Cano, and Warren McClendon blew holes in the Mustang corral all night long.
It was also the Jamarius Stevens show on offense. The senior QB was 15-for-23, throwing for 244 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The senior also led the Pirates in rushing, rushing the rock 10 times for 118 yards and 3 touchdowns. Alonzo Brown had another 100-yard receiving day; his 4th in a row.
This unit worked on game plan type plays and did not take a real deep shot in passing game all night long.
Coaching: A. The game plan was solid with future games in mind and worked on consistently driving the football down field without going for quick strikes. No let down from the drought ending Camden win.
Overall: A-. Nice solid win over a team that you should beat 10 out of 10 times you play. The Pirates came out and took care of business.
Brunswick will have a bye week next week, then the undefeated Bradwell Tigers roll between the bricks on October 6th for region opener. The Pirates stand at 3-1 on the season.
Pirates Sail Past Camden
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After a 16 day lay off due to Hurricane Irma the Brunswick High Pirates got back into action on a hot steamy afternoon at Chris Gilman Stadium in Kingsland and beat the Camden County Wildcats 43-27.
The game was therapeutic for the Pirate nation and Glynn County as playing football again meant a return to normalcy regardless of the outcome of the football game.
Pirates Blast Cook
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The All Weather Brunswick High Pirates playing their second game in five days drilled the Cook County Hornets 53-7 in a strange game. The 2017 season so far has been marked by weather delays. Bad weather caused two delays in Thursday night’s contest.
The Pirates rolled up 415 yards of total offense in only 27 minutes of action. With a running clock in second half after being up 47-7 at the half the Pirates immediately scored to make it 53-7 and Cook threw the towel in with 9:42 left in the third quarter.
Pirate Report Card:
Offense: A+: How could it have been better? The Pirates had 20 points in 4 offensive plays in the first three minutes of the game and 156 yards.
Jamarius Stevens had the game of his life as a Brunswick High Pirate. Stevens played the first half only and was 11-13 for 310 yards and 6 TD’s. He also had a 4-yard rushing TD.
Jaylen Jackson had three TD’s in his first game playing just offense including a great 75-yard TD catch off his shoe top and just ran away from Cook defenders.
The OL blew holes in the Cook defensive line and just mauled them for 27 minutes until Cook threw in the white towel.
Shaq Robinson had another good night running the football. DJ Whitfield and Alonzo Brown had long TD receptions. This WR group is talented and fast and when the entire group is clicking then opposing defenses have to man up and cover each one on one and that is what the air raid offense is all about.
Defense: A: This unit caused Cook problems all night long with the speed at LB. Sharrod Frazier and Kam Futch flew around all night long.
The game plan was solid and the run defense was dominant. Cook had one 36-yard TD drive after a long kickoff return. Defensive lineman George Mincey ran down a Cook punter on a fake punt and prevented a first down on a great hustle play when the game was well in hand.
The Pirates packed 9 men in the box to stop the Cook single wing offense and completely smothered the Cook rushing attack.
The speed on this defense will cause problems for teams later on the schedule. This unit will continue to get better.
Special Teams: B: The weather was not good. The ball was wet and the unit had a high snap on an extra point, which BHS did not convert. The unit gave up a long kickoff return but Sean Ward made a highlight reel body slam hit on a Cook player on one kickoff return.
Dalton Thrift kicked the ball deep to around the 10 yard line on kickoffs. His leg may be sore today as BHS kicked off seven times in the contest. It was a big turnaround from the Coffee game.
Coaching: A+: This team was ready to play and the game plan went right at Cook and the Hornets folded early.
The passing game was phenomenal, which opened up running lanes. The defense was striking hard, and the effort was there by the players in a short week due to the game time being moved up 24 hours. Sean Pender said the biggest improvement would be from game one to game two and he was correct.
On a wet night, no turnovers meant that ball security issues from the Coffee game were addressed and coached up in practice. Great plan and execution by players and that reflects solid coaching.
Overall: A: Total team effort to come out and dominate a team that is used to making the playoffs in their classification. BHS made a team quit and go home. Enough said.
The Cook radio broadcast team told me post game that the Brunswick team is by far the best team they have seen this year. This is a team that has played Lee County, Brooks County, and Tift County all highly thought of teams around the State.
Up Next: Wayne County in Jesup. That game is going to be tough. Wayne County beat Valdosta in Bazemore-Hyder Thursday night 23-13.
Brunswick Ship Off To Slow Start
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The BHS season opener against Coffee County got delayed by 24 hours because of a terrible lightning storm that rolled through Douglas on Friday night, the kickoff was moved back to Saturday evening and when it was all said and done the Pirates fell to the Coffee Trojans 30-13.
The Pirates did some good things and some not so good things in the game. Here is you’re the first Pirate report card for the 2017 season:
Defense B-: Coffee is very good football team, let me just say that.
They had a 230-pound running back that ran down hill like a grown man. In the first half, the Pirates struggled on run defense as the Trojans ran right at the middle of this defense.
Three long drives in the first half were given up mostly on the ground. Nice adjustments were made at the half and the defense bailed out the team early in the third quarter when the offense turned the ball over on two straight possessions inside their own 35-yard line and did not allow a point off those turnovers.
Sean Ward played well in the middle. Kam Futch had a huge sack in the first half and Sharrod Frazier was all over the field. George Mincey had a couple of nice plays on the DL, but Brunswick needs more folks to step up on the DL.
This group played as well as could be expected in the second half against a ranked team. The offense turned it over 5 times and this unit stayed on the field too much and gave up some points in the 4th quarter. This unit will get better as it just played the best team it will see during the regular season.
Offense C-: This grade may seem harsh because this group moved the football against a quality defense up and down the field all night long, but you just can’t beat quality teams when you turn the ball over 5 times.
The offense was in the red zone 5 times and only came away with 13 points. This really must be eating at Coach Pender this morning, but these are things that can get fixed. The positive is that we saw the potential of this offense.
Jamaruis Stevens did some good things and some not so good things. The arm talent is there but he forced the ball into a couple of windows and got picked twice, one of which was in the end zone.
He will be a solid QB in this offense. Shaq Robinson ran the ball well. Alonzo Brown is a beast at WR and we must get him the ball more. The OL did a pretty good job against a good defensive line.
This unit will improve and the Air Raid offense will be a force to be dealt with in 2017.
Special Teams D: Kickoff coverage was fine. A missed XP and 27-yard field goal cost BHS 4 points. The turning point in the game, in my opinion, was being down 10-7 in second quarter and forcing Coffee to punt on 4th and 3 around mid-field the Pirates lined up offsides on a punt and gave Coffee a first down and they go in and make it 17-7.
Coaching B: The plan was in place to beat Coffee. It was a pretty good game plan developed by Pender and his staff, but five turnovers will kill any game plan.
Overall C: Typical opening type game with mistakes. This is a good football team that will get better each game. Don’t be surprised if Coffee and Brunswick meet again in 2017.
Up Next: Cook County in the home opener at Glynn County Stadium on September 1st.
Frederica Academy Knights Destroys Bethesda
By: Alex Mathis
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Frederica Knights traveled to Savannah to take on Bethesda Day School and brought a lot of the rain they had on St. Simons this week with them.
Frederica got off the bus and only had the pleasure of staying dry for about 10 minutes. The rest of the night they would be saturated with water.
The Knights started off very fast. The first play of the game saw Jaylin Simpson sprinting up the sideline on a quarterback zone read.
The next play was not as positive. Jaylin Simpson tried connected with Santana Clark in the end zone for a long pass but was intercepted by the Bethesda defender. The ensuing defensive play the Knights registered a safety by defensive tackle Cole Hinson. This would be the last play for 45 minutes due to a lighting delay.
When play resumed the Knights’ offense dominated. The Knights scored quickly out of the break with Jaylin Simpson connecting with Santana Clark on a screen pass. The rain did not seem to slow the Knights down on the night.
Jaylin Simpson scored on an 80-yard touchdown run to keep the scoring going. Trace Dorminy got in on the quarterback rushing touchdowns as well by scoring on a quarterback keeper. Trace also found sophomore, Avery Cobb for a touchdown.
Isaiah Jackson did a great job running the ball is well. His field vision allows him to make every run an opportunity for 6. Jackson found pay dirt as well on the night.
Senior Rett Thompson ran the ball hard viscously on the night. Thompson found the end zone twice on the night. He had a rushing touchdown and also a kick return for a touchdown as well. The Knights went on to score 49 straight points. There were a lot of freshmen that got to see action on the night. This will pay off as the season progresses.
The Frederica defense was lights out. Led by Harry Veal, the Knights forced several turnovers on the night.
Harry Veal is may be one of the best linebackers in Glynn County this year. He could be one of those guys we watch on Saturdays.
There were a few highlights plays on defense. Hard hits by Deke Jernigan, Tyler Pierce, Josh Meadows, Matthew Hagstrom, and others and also an interception and big return by Santana Clark.
The biggest play on defense came from junior defensive back, Jackson Wetzler. Wetzler broke on a bubble screen from his cornerback position and intercepted the ball and returned it 50 yards for the pick 6. This was indeed the defensive play of the night.
Frederica’s youngsters did a great job as well. William Brock, Eli Fritchman, Kyle Perez, Josh Elliot, and Will Counts all made excellent defensive plays on the night.
The Knights finished off Bethesda 62-12. Head Coach Brandon Derrick addressed his team at the end of the game. He praised his team for coming in, battling the conditions and dominating the game the way they did.
Frederica has a huge game next week. This week will be a GISA versus GHSA battle in Atlanta against Wesleyan. FA will face a very talented and disciplined team that has a few division 1 players.
This is will be a test but Coach Derrick knew that when Wesleyan was scheduled. Coach Derrick’s favorite message to his team is, “In the words of Ric Flair, if you want to be the man you have to beat the man.”
The Knights will step into the ring next week to take on the man and they hope to make some noise in Atlanta.
Glynn Academy Beats Ware….Again
By: Christian Goeckel
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
What a difference a week can make. Glynn’s 31- 7 victory over Ware County was a huge momentum boost after the week one loss to Benedictine.
This time last week some were wondering if the success of Glynn’s past three seasons was behind them. Now those same people are wondering just how far the Terrors can go.
The Gators of Ware County came into this game under the impression that they were facing a down team. Instead, they ran into a meat grinder of a team that was looking to take it’s frustrations out on someone.
Offensively, Glynn was finally able to get the ball moving down hill. Coach Hidalgo stressed all week the importance of getting the dive game going. Well they did, and a whole lot more.
Like Denzel Washington’s Coach Boone said in “Remember the Titans”, the option offense is like novocaine, “Just give it time, always works.”, and work it did. Glynn rushed to the tune of 303 yards and were a couple shoestring tackles away from a lot more. Caine Crews was the bell cow, rushing 21 times for 139 yards.
The offensive line, which Coach Rock credited with a good performance last week, was borderline dominant in this one. Glynn running backs consistently found huge holes to run through.
Passing the ball wasn’t necessary much of the game, but when they did Jernigan looked more comfortable. Jernigan completed 2 of 3 attempts, but it was the noticeably different pace on the ball that has to be encouraging for Glynn as his injured right shoulder continues to heal.
Defensively, it was very much a bend but don’t break mindset in the first half. Gator’s quarterback Jeremiah O’hara was able to move his team up and down the field, but Glynn always came away with a 3rd down stop or turnover. Diandrez Wilcox was a huge part of that, forcing two fumbles and recovering one.
The return of linebacker Cameron McClellan can’t be overstated. His play was sorely missed, but his presence was missed even more. The defense looked much more comfortable behind his direction, along with that of Hunter Hall.
Once Glynn’s offense got going, the Terror’s defense was able to pin its ears back and attack as Ware had to pass more. E.J. Thomas constantly harassed the Ware County backs behind the line of scrimmage.
Just like last year, Glynn was able to steady itself against Ware after a week one loss, but this one seemed different. This game was a statement that the Terrors are not a team to be forgotten or looked over.
This team has studs all over the field and more coming back from injuries weekly. Glynn started to find it’s footing this week and everyone else in Southeast Georgia should be on notice.
Glynn Academy now goes on the road for the first time this year. Their opponent, Tift County, has outscored their opponents 76-7 in their first two games. The game will kick off at 7:30.
Sophomore running back Nolan Grant is getting more comfortable, rushing for 64 yards including a 20 yard touchdown.
Freshman Caden Hutchinson punched in his first career touchdown in the fourth.
Senior running back Tyler Grant returned from last year’s ACL injury. He played sparingly and left the field with what appeared to be a leg injury, but returned to the game.
Cameron McClellan returned to action nursing a foot injury. The injury isn’t expected to cost him anymore game time.
For the second year in a row, after allowing points in the first, Glynn was able to shut the Gators out in the final three quarters.
Knights Early Journey
By: Alex Mathis
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After two weeks, Brandon Derrick’s Knights are 1-1.
Their first game was in Montgomery, Alabama against Parklane Academy of Mississippi.
On top of first game jitters, the Knights faced extreme heat and a very big and talented Parklane team. The Knights kicked off at 230 central time. The on field temperature had to be close to 110 degrees. The Knights started off very sloppy.
Glynn Academy’s Season Opener
By: Christian Goeckel
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The football season in Glynn County began with a resounding thud, as Glynn Academy fell to Benedictine 33-8.
What was expected to be a heavyweight fight became more of a “Who can put the ball on the ground more?”.
Knights Of The Roundtable
By: Alex Mathis
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Frederica Knights look to make a deeper run into the playoffs this year. The Knights have the depth to compete for a state championship.
Brandon Derrick’s Knights will have some familiar faces on the field but some will be in different positions. Let’s take a look at this year’s team preview.
Red Terror’s Pitchfork Games
By: Christian Goeckel
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
If you asked any coach they’d tell you every game is a must win. If I was being completely literal I’d tell you only region and playoff games are must wins.
But every team has games on their schedule that hold more meaning than just the win and loss columns; games that can swing the entire momentum of your season. This is a look at the three games that can be the difference between another exceptional season for Glynn or a mediocre one.
