By: Christian Goeckel

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Good football teams seem to take on the identity of their coach.

Alabama is a “trust the process” machine that will cut you out if you don’t fit, just like their coach Nick Saban.

Georgia Tech carries a huge chip on their shoulder, to go along with a huge inferiority complex mostly perpetuated by head man Paul Johnson. The Glynn Academy Red Terrors are no exception.

Their coach, Rocky Hidalgo, is a guy who isn’t afraid to voice his opinion and truly loves the game of football and everything it represents.

The Terrors play that way, with 8 and 9 defenders flying to the ball every play, and wide receivers treating their opponents like ragdolls while blocking them 20 yards down field.

The other characteristic of this team that mirrors that of their coach’s is confidence. Sure, Glynn started 1-2, but no where in the team did doubt creep in.

The only thing this team focused on was improving themselves: tightening up on run blocking, less penalties, fewer mental errors. To the Terrors, these were the only thing standing in their way. Not an opponent, but themselves.

Glynn entered this week’s matchup with Effingham on the uptick. The Terrors had thoroughly dominated Wayne County the week before, for the most part and felt like they had truly caught their stride, but could they do it two weeks in a row? Absolutely.

The Terrors walked into Effingham and smashed the Rebels in the mouth, to the tune of 363 yards rushing. After marching 89 yards for their first scoring drive, the Terrors quickly doubled their lead when David Murray returned an Effingham interception for a touchdown.

One word you’ll hear thrown around this program all the time is “consistency”. Glynn has battled it all year and that didn’t change Friday night. After jumping out quick in the first, Glynn sputtered in the second and allowed Effingham to catch their stride and tighten the score to 14-10. That was as close as the Rebels would get.

In the second half the law offices of Jernigan, Crews, and Grant, who combined for 279 yards on the ground, lead the way to five straight touchdown drives, ballooning the lead to 42-10 before the subs stepped in.

For the second year in a row Glynn hung 48 on Effingham, and truly played a complete game, besides the garbage time touchdowns that the backups allowed, finishing off the Rebels 48-27.

This, above even the Wayne game, seemed like the Glynn team we expected to see. An absolutely dominant run game to go along with an aggressive defense.

It couldn’t have come at a better time, as this was the official start of region play. That 1-0 region record reigns huge in a region with only five teams, and sets up an absolute monster game next week against the one loss Pirates of Brunswick who dismantled Bradwell Institute 64-21.

Brunswick High is starting to garner well-deserved statewide attention as an elite program, but one important factor remains. This region runs through Glynn Academy.

The winner of this huge rivalry will be in driver’s seat for a playoff berth, and will answer the biggest question around the community: Does Glynn still run this, or has Brunswick finally found a coach who can maximize all that talent?

I believe both, until they are dethroned this is Glynn Academy’s region and Sean Pender is the absolute right fit at Brunswick.

The Pirates, like their coach, are fiery and fast. While Glynn Academy is plenty fast and plenty physical, but like their coach they’d rather show you than tell you.

This coming Friday’s matchup promises to be one of the biggest in recent memory, and will be just the first of many matchups between Pender and Hidalgo.