By: Teddy Bishop

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Brunswick High Pirates 2024 football campaign came to an end at the hands of the Coffee County Trojans in the second round of the AAAAA state playoffs, finishing 10-2 for the season.

The Pirates opened the season with a loss to Camden County, but then reeled off 10 consecutive wins before losing to Coffee.

The 10 wins included a region championship (with a perfect 8-0 region record), a City Championship (beating Glynn Academy, 49-7), and a #1 seed in the state playoffs.

Coach Garrett Grady’s BHS Pirates scored victories over Wayne County, Effingham County, Evans County, Greenbrier, Glynn, Statesboro, Lakeside, South Effingham County, Bradwell Institute, and Villa Rica (1^st round of playoffs).

Accolades and awards were also plentiful for the 2024 Pirates.

This year’s squad set a BHS regular season scoring record with 460 points (that’s 46 points per game), eclipsing the 459 scored by the 1999 Pirates, which made it to the state championship game before losing to Lowndes.

1999 was also the last time Brunswick High made it past the second round of the state playoffs.

Including Brunswick’s two playoff games, Coach Grady’s 2024 Pirates scored 517 points—more than 43 per game.

Defensively, BHS gave up 237 points—fewer than 20 per game.

More than a dozen Pirates were named First Team All-region.

Unofficial stats show senior running back William Heck was the leading rusher for BHS, running for 1417 yards.

Junior quarterback Grant Moore passed for 2191 yards and 21 touchdowns, with only 3 interceptions.

Tight end Hezekiah Kent, also a junior, was Moore’s favorite target with 36 receptions totaling 680 yards.

Other All-region selections on offense included senior Jamarious Towns and sophomore Waseem Murray. Towns had 33 receptions for 635 yards. Murray totaled 31 catches for 642 yards.

Juniors Chase Richardson and Kasiyah Charlton anchored the offensive line and also earned All-region honors.

Senior linebacker J’Shawn Towns was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year in region 1-5A. Towns was the leading tackler for the Pirates, recording 111.

Other All-Region Pirates on defense include senior linebackers Caleb Butler, Jeremiah Robbins, and Gregg Richardson; senior defensive lineman Lance Brown; senior defensive back Sehki Ashley; and junior defensive back Aviyon Addison.

Butler recorded 84 tackles for the Pirates, and Robbins had twelve tackles for losses.

The BHS defense scored eleven touchdowns this season.

Coach Grady noted that interceptions returned for touchdowns and fumbles returned for touchdowns were keys to the Pirates success.

Selections to the All-Region second team included: Nigel Gardner, Josiah Gibbons, Aiden Watford, Garrett Wiggins, and Chris Wingster on offense; Chris Kimp, Antwan Kirk, Zay Knowles, Chozen Owens, Josh White, and Adrian Volland on defense.

Gardner, a sophomore, rushed for 874 yards and seven touchdowns.

Gibbons, also a sophomore, scored eight touchdowns while averaging over 14 yards per carry.

Pirates noted for Honorable Mention in region play included Evan Ali, Chris Cullins, Samir Dobbins, Xavier James, Jack Kennedy, Trent Lee, Tyler Ray, Andrew Riley, Antwan Thomuse, Nick Wisneski, and Jeremiah Woodward.

Even with all of the accomplishments, Coach Grady acknowledged the loss to Coffee “kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Still, 10 wins is a good season, and Coach Grady lauded the hard work of his coaching staff and players and are already working hard for next season.

“We have to hit the weight room and improve in the trenches,” Coach Grady commented.

It says here the Pirates will do even better next season than they did this season, making a deep run in the state playoffs.