Brunswick High Pirates 2018 Season Recap
The Pirates Next Voyage
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 2018 season ended for the Brunswick High Pirates before Halloween. No playoffs, and a final won loss record of 3-7.
The key factors for the disappointing season were youth and inexperience, and a defense that could stop opposing teams this fall.
Even the most optimistic Pirates like myself saw back before the season started that the season may be a struggle.
The Pirates opened with Coffee, Bartram Trail (Florida), and Camden in the first month of the season and got off to an expected 1-3 start after beating MCA 49-7 in Darien.
Brunswick then beat New Hampstead and Monroe in back to back weeks to even the slate at 3-3 going into region play. The Pirates hosted Richmond Hill in the region opener and got drilled 41-7. They never recovered from that loss and went on to drop region games to Effingham, Glynn, and Bradwell to finish out the season.
Pirate Season Report Card.
Offense: C-. The Pirates averaged 18.8 points a game in 2018 which was far below the record setting offense of the previous year.
This offense failed to score over 14 points in any region game and averaged right at 12 points a game against region rivals.
Jaylen Trimmings had a fine season running the football, but inconsistency at the QB position doomed the offense.
BHS turned the ball over too many times at key moments in contests to get any momentum in key region games down the stretch. Brunswick High loses only 4 starters on offense in 2019 so look for this unit to get back on track next season.
A lot of young skilled talent returns in 2019 most of which will be 10th and 11th graders next fall. BHS played a lot of youth at key positions in 2018.
Defense: D-. The Pirate defense gave up 36 points on average in region play and other than the city title game against Glynn, gave up over 40 points against to the rest of the region.
That won’t get it done on Altama Avenue. Look for some changes on that side of the ball for 2019. The good news is BHS returns 8-9 starters in 2019. Look for the unit to be much improved. BHS must find some size on the defensive line, but will be fine at LB and DB in 2019.
Special Teams: C. Special teams were about average in 2018. The unit did some good things and some not so good things. Consistent kicks into the end zone, which was a luxury every other team in the region had except BHS, are needed.
Coaching: C. With a 3-7 record you can’t give high marks, but game plans and schemes were solid, but execution was not all season.
BHS has a good coaching staff, but things did not go the programs way in 2018. Sean Pender and the BHS offense will be the most productive in Region 2 next fall, you heard it here first.
BHS will have a new attacking style scheme on defense and this season was just a blip on the radar screen.
Overall: D. Brunswick High went 3-7 and the program has not won more than 7 games in a season since 2010 which is also the last time BHS won a playoff game.
Final Thoughts: Sean Pender is building a football program and this was the season to pile it on BHS because roles will start reversing in 2019.
BHS started a freshman at RB, OL, and DB at various times in 2018. The Pirates also started a sophomore QB for most of the season.
The 2019 Pirates will bring back 15-17 kids that started a varsity football game in 2018.
And don’t think for one minute that this group will forget what the Effingham’s of the world did by throwing TD passes with under a minute left in the game up 38-14.
Effingham, Richmond Hill, and Bradwell coaches all know the young talent on the BHS roster, and they better not shed one tear when payback comes their way next fall.
BHS 2018 Season Recap
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Year one of the Sean Pender era at Brunswick High is in the books, and it marks a turnaround in a program that has been down for the last two football seasons.
BHS finished the season with a heartbreaking 24-21 loss to Northside Warner Robins, but the 7-3 final record almost matches the combined 8 wins in the previous two football seasons.
Pender who took over in February got Brunswick back in the state playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Season Grades:Offense: B+. This unit did a complete 360 in 2017. Here is the proof.
In region games the Pirates averaged 45. 5 points per game compared to 20.5 points per game in 2016.
The region record improved to 3-1 instead of 1-3 and missing the playoffs.
Pender is a QB guru and Jamarius Stevens had a record breaking year in offensive production with over 3000 yards in total offense and accounted for 38 TD’s.
Alonzo Brown and DJ Whitfield had all region years at WR. Brown, who was not used at all in 2016, set a school record for single season receiving yards, and Whitfield accumulated almost as much finishing the season with third most receiving yards in a single season in Pirate history.
The offensive line was the backbone of the football team led by seniors Ty Hinson and John Cano. Shaq Robinson had a great year at RB.
This unit scored over 40 points in seven out of ten games, 50 points twice, and 60 points twice in 2017.
Defense: B-. This unit was undersized up front but battled hard all season and held Northside to 213 total yards in the playoffs.
Kam Futch was the leader and captain of this unit and displayed those qualities in 2017.
Jaylen Jackson was the best all-around player in the region playing both ways and Jagaryon Marcus and Tevin Small were the unsung heroes of the defensive unit doing whatever they were asked to do on defense.
Special Teams: B. Dalton Thrift developed into a good kicker for BHS. Jaylen Jackson was dangerous in the return game, and Jagaryon Marcus led special teams in tackles. Huge turnaround for this unit in 2017.
Coaching: A. Pender turned this thing in one year and the three losses were to teams that are in the final 16 of the 6A playoffs currently. This team could easily have been 9-1 right and had played Tucker in the second round.
Overall: B+. The 7-3 record in the first year with a new head coach is the second best in the 50 year football history. Only the 2008 Pirates with NFL players Darius Slay and Justin Coleman finished with a better mark of 9-3 in Victor Floyd’s first season.
In conclusion, this sportswriter eats, drinks, and sleeps BHS football and I want to offer a sincere thank you to this senior class and to Coach Sean Pender and his staff.
Seniors, you turned this thing around in one season and you leave BHS as Co-Region Champions. This 2017 football team will always have a special place in my heart due to the fact that you kept working and fighting when most counted you out.
Ty Hinson, John Cano, Kam Futch, Jamarius Stevens, Ben McCloud, Shaq Robinson, Jaylen Jackson, Alonzo Brown, Tevin Small, Sean Ward, and the rest of this class thank you from a grateful Pirate nation for the hard work and dedication. You leave this football program on solid ground for the future and you leave the program better than you inherited it. You will be missed.
Sean Pender thank you for taking this job. You will lead BHS to great things as a football program.
The 2017 Pirates will be looked back on as the team that got BHS back on track.
Pirate Pride is a way of life and this football team showed that in 2017.
