By: Mike Anthony

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2018 season was the best in recent memory for the Gators of Bulloch Academy.

An 8-2 record and a second-place finish in region action was solid in its own right, but the Gators took things a step farther in winning their first state playoff game since 2009.

In fact, Bulloch Academy could have gone even farther if not for how its schedule played out. The Gators lost a non-region contest to John Milledge Academy and missed out on a region title when they dropped a close one against Frederica.

Those turned out to be possibly the only teams that could handle Bulloch last season as the Gators made it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by John Milledge, which advanced to the state championship game before falling to Frederica.

All of that came in the first season with Pat Collins running the ship for BA. Collins has been the school’s athletic director for two seasons, but stepped into the football head coaching role – a title he has previously held at Portal, Screven County and Southeast Bulloch – during the spring of 2018.

He has seen success wherever he’s gone and while he usually inherits a rebuilding squad, he now has the task of continuing to build on an impressive debut.

“We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us,” Collins said. “We lost 12 seniors, a three-year starting quarterback and 98 percent of our offensive yards from last year. That’s a lot to replace, but we’ve got eight rising seniors who are stepping up and I think we can be a good team again this season.”

Fischer Oglesby is the heir to the quarterback spot vacated by Don Aaron. And while Collins admits that nothing can replace Aaron’s experience, Oglesby has more size and speed that will fit well in the Gators’ offense that showcases plenty of option, with the ability to take long shots down the field.

While the offense settles into an entirely new backfield, it will be the defense that Bulloch relies on early in the season.

Eight starters return, giving Collins hope that his thoughts on the gravity of experience translate into a shutdown defensive unit.

Perhaps the biggest edge Bulloch can take into 2019 is its depth. Not only did plenty of underclassmen get quality playing time last season – including a JV squad that went undefeated in its abbreviated schedule – but the numbers continue to creep up on the roster in general.

The Gators figure to have at least 40 – and possibly 45 – players in uniform to open the season. That’s up from the normal roster of 30-ish Gators from just a few years ago and will allow the team to avoid too many instances of two-way players that can become an issue late in the season as fatigue mounts.

Bulloch will once again kick off its season against arch-rival Pinewood as part of the Erk Russell Classic at Paulson Stadium on the campus of Georgia Southern University.

The Gators will face familiar non-region foes – including Westfield and a rematch with John Milledge – early in the season before playing the entirety of its Region 2-AAA schedule over the final four weeks of the regular season.