By: Garrison Ryfun

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Glynn Academy Red Terrors enter the City Championship game at 2-4 (1-2 in region play), looking to get back on track against rival Brunswick High.

The Terrors have shown flashes of what they are capable of throughout the season, particularly on the offensive side of the football, but consistency has been an issue. Now, at the midpoint of the region schedule, Glynn will look to pick up a much-needed win against its biggest rival and even its region record at 2-2.

Brunswick leads the all-time series 42-38-2 and has won the last two meetings between the teams. Glynn Head Coach Rocky Hidalgo is 7-5 against the Pirates during his tenure with the Terrors.

Last season’s matchup was a particularly crushing defeat for Glynn, as the Terrors saw a 16-point fourth-quarter lead slip away in a loss to Brunswick.

If Glynn wants to come away with a victory in this rivalry game and important region matchup, it will have to play a clean game, something the Terrors have struggled to do lately.

The Red Terrors have fumbled on its opening possession in each of its first three region games, with turnovers becoming a recurring issue. Against Effingham County, the Terrors fumbled six times, losing four of them.

Aside from the turnovers, Glynn has found plenty of offensive success in the second year of its Flexbone offense, averaging 32 points per game through the first six games of the season. Much of that success has come from under center, with quarterback Max Noonan leading the way.

Noonan leads the team with 7 rushing touchdowns, carrying the ball 79 times for 381 yards. Fullback Caiden Robinson leads the Terrors in rushing yards with 389 on 82 carries, adding 6 touchdowns of his own. Ja’Kori Roman, one of Glynn’s two starting slotbacks, has accounted for 377 total yards and 4 touchdowns on just 23 touches between rushing and receiving. On the opposite side of the formation, fellow slotback Ian Pomiechowski has added 338 total yards and 3 touchdowns on 32 touches.

Defensively the Terrors have struggled this season, to this point they are giving up 36.5 points per game which would be a school record putting them ahead of the 1977 team which gave up 31.2 points per game over 10 games in a 1-9 season.

Most of the struggles for the Terrors have come in coverage, which opposing teams have consistently exploited. Glynn has had trouble slowing down some of the better receivers on its schedule, with several putting together their best performances of the season against the Terrors’ secondary.

That trend continued last week against Effingham County, although in a slightly different way. Glynn was able to hold Trayvis Hunter, who entered the game as the Rebels’ leading receiver, to just 7 yards.

However, Isaiah Brown stepped up in his place, catching 3 passes for 114 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brown’s performance was enough to move him past Hunter as Effingham’s leading receiver on the season.

The Terrors’ defense will have another big test ahead of it against Brunswick, with receivers Waseem Murray and Isreal Henry presenting a real challenge through the air.

The Terrors will also have to account for two dynamic running backs in Nigel Gardner and Josiah Gibbons, who are both are averaging more than 11 yards per carry this season.

Gardner is coming off a record-breaking performance against Bradwell Institute, rushing for 363 yards and 3 touchdowns to set a new Brunswick High single-game rushing record.

With the struggles Glynn has had in coverage this season, the Terrors will have their hands full trying to slow down Brunswick’s passing attack without allowing Gardner and Gibbons to take over the game on the ground.