By: Christian Goeckel

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

When the Terrors took the field Friday night in Jesup, it had been four weeks to the day since they walked off the field after being trounced by Tift County.

In those 28 days lie a hurricane whose effects are still felt around the county, irreparable damage done to families, 16 grueling hot practices, and a lot of determination.

When teams start a year with a couple of big losses, terms like “soul searching” and “different direction” get thrown around. It’s easy to get down on a team, especially when it’s the offense that has struggled.

The air around the team has been different since they graduated such a decorated class this past year, that included one of the most exciting offenses in the state for the past three years.

The one constant has been coach Rocky Hidalgo. His studious confidence has been simmering under the surface, with a feeling that he sees something in this team others may not. They may not have #5 taking snaps, but this Glynn Academy team has plenty of soul, and they only go in one direction. Down hill.

In the week leading up to Friday night’s game, Wayne County, Glynn’s opponent, announced that they would not seek to renew their annual games against Brunswick High and Glynn, breaking traditions that go back decades.

It seemed odd that a team that was ranked number 8 in 5A entering the week would be shying away from any contests. That question only lingered long enough to get us to kick-off.

Before the game we were asking “Why wouldn’t they want to play Glynn?”. By the time it got to halftime that had done a resounding 180 and the question is now, “Who does?”.

To put it mildly, Glynn beat the brakes off Wayne County. It was 14-0 before the Jesup crowd could blink after Randon Jernigan broke a 46-yard touchdown on 4th and 4 on the opening drive, and then Hunter Hall took advantage of a Yellow Jacket turnover on their first play, diving into the endzone from 1 yard out.

It seemed like a seminal moment in the season. Good teams will hold on to wins like this. Great teams will put their foot on their opponent’s throat and dominate. The Terrors chose the latter.

With the defense smothering the Yellow Jackets, the offense struck again on a quick, two-play drive to extend the lead to 21-0, and Jernigan finally got to let a ball fly when he connected with Caine Crews on a deep ball. Jernigan capped that drive with a 16-yard scamper into the endzone.

The only worry from this game came in the second half. With a large 31-7 lead, it seemed like Glynn relaxed. Call it fatigue from not having enough game action, but you simply can’t let up against a good team like Wayne. The Yellow Jackets were able to get within 10 before Glynn finally stiffened, and walked out with a 38-27 win.

There was plenty to like, and plenty to critique from this game. We finally saw flashes of how dominant they can be, but also a lot of nagging issues reared their ugly heads. No matter what it’s always huge to get a win on the road, especially heading into region play.

During his weekly coaching show, coach Hidalgo informed us that “The rest of the region should be on notice that, ‘This region still runs through Glynn’.”. If the team can build on the successes of this game during this week’s practice, there will be a ton of confidence heading into next Friday’s matchup with Effingham.

It’s region play time. Every snap is crucial, every loss devastating. If Glynn has visions of the playoffs, they must begin with a win this week.