Mike Anthony
Beasts From The East
By: Mike Anthony
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
From beginning to end, the 2018 Major League Baseball season went mostly as the experts predicted.
High payroll teams that fattened up even more before April got the returns on investment that were expected as the Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers all lit up scoreboards throughout the season, with Boston ultimately topping Los Angeles in the World Series as the Dodgers came up just short for the second consecutive season.
Other teams that entered 2018 with rosters that were mostly the same as their winning counterparts from 2017 also excelled.
The defending world champs from Houston made it to another American League Championship Series, Cleveland once again dominated the AL Central and the Chicago Cubs looked like a World Series contender until hitting a late snag.
The one division that played against type last season was the National League East. The division was supposed to be the Nationals’ for the taking, but Washington spun its wheels for two-thirds of the season and never looked like a playoff team. The Mets once again had all the pitching in the world and once again watched as all of those pitchers went down with injuries.
In the end, it was Atlanta and Philadelphia. They were picked fourth and fifth in most preseason predictions. The Braves ultimately claimed the lone playoff spot out of the division, only to bow out in the divisional series.
That left an interesting question heading into the offseason and the always-exciting winter meetings. Would the Nationals and Mets take advantage of windows to win that were allegedly still open, or was the standings flip-flop a sign of big changes coming?
The NL East seems to have chosen option ‘C’, in which just about everyone is making moves as if they expect to be making noise in October.
Washington had a busy December, picking up former Braves Kurt Suzuki and Matt Adams for bench depth before signing arguably the best left-handed pitcher on the free agent market in Patrick Corbin.
The Mets were involved in one of the biggest trades of the offseason so far, as they shipped veteran Jay Bruce and some prospects to Seattle in return for eight-time All-Star Robinson Cano and ace closer Edwin Diaz.
The Braves signed former American League MVP Josh Donaldson to upgrade at third base. Another former All-Star – and fan favorite – will return to town as Brian McCann returns to the club where he cut his teeth in Major League Baseball.
Philadelphia traded for an All-Star shortstop in Jean Segura, signed former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen and remain as a team constantly linked to free agent crown jewels Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.
And in much less interesting news, the Marlins will still be the Marlins.
Regardless of the myriad moves sure to be made between now and Opening Day, gauging the National League East will be a tough task.
The recent bullies on the block (Washington and New York) have been too inconsistent to believe that the division will be one of the best in the league. Yet, the quick turnarounds and evident investment into continued improvement of Atlanta and Philadelphia will make it tough to write off any team in the division that isn’t playing its home games in Miami.
Injuries, a brutally long season and the notoriously quirky ups and downs of baseball make it impossible to make a call on the division as the final days of 2018 tick away, but anyone paying attention to the offseason hot stove will agree that the NL East should provide plenty of drama next season.
Coming In Flocks
By: Mike Anthony
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
Bowl games often promote themselves as an entire week of fun and a celebration of what the competing teams have accomplished over the course of a long season.
Maybe some teams and fan bases out there play favorites with their bowl games and destinations, but for a Georgia Southern team that suffered through a pair of losing campaigns that ended without a postseason, there was never a doubt that the Eagles’ bowl would serve as an early Christmas present to everyone.
Well before the season had ended, Georgia Southern fans were making their bowl plans. As soon as the Eagles hit the six-win mark, hotel rooms in Mobile, Montgomery, New Orleans and Orlando began to fly off the shelves. The destination was ultimately Montgomery and Eagle Nation paid its first visit to Alabama’s capital city.
Montgomery could have easily been mistaken for Statesboro over the weekend. Not only did Georgia Southern set a record for Camellia Bowl tickets sold through a school’s athletic department, but most corners of downtown Montgomery were sporting blue and white, both before and after the game.
The party started before most fans even set off for Montgomery. In fact, it was how some fans made the trip that grabbed the early headlines.
When a bus chartered for students by Georgia Southern head coach Chad Lunsford quickly filled up, Eagle alumnus and country music star Cole Swindell stepped in and got another bus in on the action. And then a GSU booster chipped in for even more seats to be made available. By the time all was said and done, it wasn’t just bus seats, but also tickets and t-shirts that had been donated by various sponsors and organizations.
Montgomery got its first taste of the full force of Georgia Southern 24 hours before kickoff. A week’s worth of soggy and cool weather did nothing to dampen Eagle spirits, nor did it keep anyone from taking full part in the festivities.
According to one Twitter account, an Eagle fan made his way to a designated fan meetup following a Friday evening pep rally for the team. In keeping with a competitive nature that seems to bridge the gap between Eagle players and fans, the supporter was about to ask a bartender how the fan participation compared to Appalachian State’s previous appearances in the Camellia Bowl, only to be told that Eagle fans had already topped their Sun Belt rivals in that category.
I awoke on the morning of the game to photographic evidence that proved Saturday would be an even more overwhelming showing of support by Eagle fans. Numerous emails sent to tailgaters stressed that the parking lots wouldn’t open until 9 a.m. On Friday, more emails stated that 8 a.m. was the absolute earliest anyone should show up.
The photo I received showed my friend’s tents and flags already assembled in the tailgating lot with a grill warming up. It was 6 a.m.
By the time the team arrived at the stadium, Eagle Nation was in a fever pitch. Once again arriving in style in some yellow busses borrowed from local schools, the team had to stop short of its designated drop-off. The sea of Eagle fans was too thick to drive through, but the players were happy to walk the rest of the way while doling out high-fives.
The game offered its own excitement that can be diagnosed and debated, but if the purpose of a bowl game is really to celebrate a good season, Georgia Southern fans and players were winners well before Tyler Bass split the uprights for the Eagles’ 23-21 victory.
All through the winter, spring and summer of 2018 the Eagles put in the work that was necessary to turn a 2-10 squad into a 10-3 bowl winner.
During the offseason, the fans were relegated to nervous optimism on the sidelines, but came forward in droves to spur the team on once it became evident that winning football was back in Statesboro.
In the end, both groups had every reason to celebrate – and they did.
From chartered bus trips, to late-night parties, to several clutch plays that will be recounted again and again, Georgia Southern took everything that bowl season had to offer.
And after a week’s worth of Georgia Southern fans and players doing what they do best, it might be Montgomery – and any future bowl destinations for the Eagles – that is left wanting more.
Georgia Southern Eagles Bowl Preview
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Georgia Southern will make a return to bowl season for the first time since 2015 as the Eagles found out they are headed to the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala.
The Eagles (9-3) will face another group of Eagles in the Dec. 15 contest as their opponent will be Eastern Michigan (7-5) out of the Mid-American Conference.
Georgia Southern’s only previous bowl appearance also came against a MAC team as the Eagles stormed past 2015 MAC champion Bowling Green in the GoDaddy Bowl.
“It’s an honor and a blessing to be able to play in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl,” Georgia Southern coach Chad Lunsford said. “A bowl game is hard to get to and it’s a reward for our players, staff and fans. We’ve had a great season, but to be able to have the opportunity to pick up a 10th win against a great opponent in Eastern Michigan is something we won’t take lightly.”
Georgia Southern is one of five Sun Belt Conference teams heading to the postseason.
An official statement by the conference on Sunday placed Sun Belt champion Appalachian State in the New Orleans Bowl against Middle Tennessee State (Conference USA), Louisiana in the Cure Bowl against Tulane (American), Troy in the Dollar General Bowl against Buffalo (MAC) and Arkansas State in the Arizona Bowl against Nevada (Mountain West).
Georgia Southern didn’t learn of its exact postseason location or opponent until Sunday, but had spent the last week on the practice field in preparation for whatever bowl season had in store for it.
It served as an extra week of learning and scrimmaging for younger players while offering some banged up regular contributors a few much-needed days of taking things easy.
“Honestly, I would have rather had it not been an off week,” GSU quarterback Shai Werts said. “I think we would have all rather been playing Saturday (in the Sun Belt championship game). But it was good for some guys to get some rest. Now we just ramp it back up and get ready for Eastern Michigan.”
The ‘other’ Eagles from Ypsilanti, Michigan don’t have quite the record as Georgia Southern, but have had plenty of highlights that make them deserving of a bowl game and a tough opponent for Southern.
Eastern Michigan beat a Purdue squad that handed Ohio State its only loss of the season and dropped tough overtime contests to a then-ranked San Diego State and MAC champion Northern Illinois.
EMU is similar to Georgia Southern in that much of its success has come when a sometimes-shaky offense has shown up to compliment what is usually a very steady defense.
One bright spot for Georgia Southern — EMU’s roughest day on defense all season came at the hands of option-heavy Army as the Black Knights ran for 289 yards in a 37-22 victory.
Georgia Southern will ship out to Montgomery on Tuesday, Dec. 11 where the team will continue to practice while also taking part in multiple events hosted by the Camellia Bowl and the city of Montgomery.
Eagles Hard-Court Landing
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In a back-and-forth ballgame, Georgia Southern rarely had the upper hand and couldn’t find a way to come out on top in the end.
Georgia Southern battled East Tennessee State on Tuesday night at Hanner Fieldhouse. The Buccaneers held a small lead throughout most of the game, but the Eagles fought hard and edged ahead several times down the stretch.
Georgia Southern took a 59-58 lead with 5:17 to play, but East Tennessee powered through the final minutes to claim a 69-64 victory and hand the Eagles their first loss of the season.
“I thought we battled and I thought we showed toughness,” GS coach Mark Byington said. “This will come back and help us later on. We missed some shots late and they made them. We did a lot of things right. The things we did wrong that cost us, I know we can fix.”
Tookie Brown led the way for the Eagles (5-1) with 16 points and Quan Jackson added 13 more in his return from an ankle injury suffered last week, but Georgia Southern was never able to turn the game into the free-flowing and high-scoring contests that it has benefitted from so far this season.
The slower pace was, in part, due to a solid effort from the Buccaneers (6-2), who utilized a big lineup to out-rebound the Eagles on both ends of the floor and prevent Georgia Southern from cranking up its transition game that has been a huge weapon so far this season.
At the same time, an Eagle lineup that saw the return of Jackson and the first minutes of the season from junior forward Simeon Carter may have also played a role in keeping the Eagles from finding their rhythm.
“I like our depth, but that means that we’re having a lot of guys working their way back from injuries and getting everyone involved,” Byington said. “We’re going to be a work in progress for a couple of weeks. We were out of rhythm in spots. We just need to learn what we’re like as a whole team.”
Tray Boyd III led ETSU with 17 points, with Isaiah Tisdale adding 15 and Patrick Good chipping in 13 more.
Neither team led by more than seven points during the game and the lead shifted several times in the middle of the second half.
The Bucs took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Boyd with 4:27 to play.
Brown made a pair of free throws to close within 66-64 with 57 seconds to play. Solid defense by the Eagles appeared to force a few extra steps by Mladen Armus, but no whistle sounded and Armus found Good for a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left that sunk the Eagles’ comeback hopes.
Georgia Southern began Tuesday night as just one of 25 Division I squads that were still undefeated. That lofty title is now gone, but the Eagles still have plenty to prove as they continue a very challenging non-conference schedule.
The Eagles won’t have to worry about Tuesday’s loss for long as travel plans are now in order. Georgia Southern is scheduled to catch a 5 a.m. flight out west as they now look forward to a Thursday night matchup against perennial national power Arizona.
“We want to improve on where we’ve come up short, but we don’t have time to dwell on this loss,” Byington said. “Arizona will be a tough test. East Tennessee will win 20 games and maybe be a tournament team.
“We don’t have a single second to feel sorry for ourselves. The games will keep getting tougher, but we’re going to be battle-tested by the time we get into conference play.”
Picking Off The Panthers
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
By any measure imaginable, the 2018 Georgia Southern football season has been an overwhelming success.
The Eagles entered the fall with their third head coach in four seasons and their fifth offensive coordinator in the same span. The team went a program-worst 2-10 in 2017, losing its first nine games as one of the youngest rosters in the country was thrown into the deep end and struggled to stay afloat.
Those two wins came only after Chad Lunsford was named interim head coach midway through the season. Lunsford was given the official head coach title just before the final game of the season. He promised a return to the winning culture that Georgia Southern is synonymous with and he has delivered.
Armed with some new faces on the coaching staff and a team that has had an extra bounce in its step since before spring practice began, the Eagles currently sit at 8-3 and have a chance to notch their third nine-win season in five years at the FBS level.
But for all the success, there is one glaring wrong from the past few years of GS football that need to be righted.
On Saturday, the Eagles head to Atlanta to take on Georgia State and will try to end a three-game losing streak that stems back to the 2015 regular season finale.
The Panthers haven’t been the cause of the Eagles’ recent struggles. After all, a program with a lifetime record of 29-76 isn’t the cause of anyone’s main problems. But Georgia State has been there to rub salt in the wounds over the last few seasons, making all of the negatives sting just a bit more.
Georgia Southern has exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations this season and will soon receive an invitation to is second bowl game in program history.
The Eagles were in contention for the Sun Belt championship game into November and a still relatively young squad figures to keep the positive momentum rolling into 2019.
But there’s still a looming, panther-shaped box remaining to be checked off on this season’s list of goals.
College teams are often remembered season by season, but individual classes of players also take plenty of pride in what their group was able to accomplish during their time.
This year’s seniors already have a roller coaster resume. They signed on and took a chance with a team in its FBS infancy and were immediately part of a bowl winner. Then they endured a coaching change and – over two seasons – saw the team sink as low as it ever has.
But in their final season at Georgia Southern, this class has flipped the script. In less than 12 months, they have guided the Eagles from the depths of national bottom 10 lists to plenty of accolades about a team from Statesboro that is on the rise.
The one thing this class has left to do is to take down that team from Atlanta.
And based on how this season is going, those seniors are probably thinking the same thing as their fans.
Is it Saturday yet?
Not The End
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Georgia Southern football.
On one hand, it’s tough to say that the team has been disappointing. After all, the same Eagles that suffered their worst season ever in 2017 took the Sun Belt by surprise in racing out to a 7-1 start. Seven wins was about the highest win total anyone had projected for the Eagles, much less their mark two-thirds of the way through the schedule.
But as the season carries on, expectations have a way of changing. So, when the Eagles came up punchless in Monroe two weeks ago and then allowed 32 unanswered points to Troy last weekend, those seven wins somehow don’t seem like such a feel-good story.
That’s not an indictment of the team or even its play over the last two weeks. That’s just sports.
Coaches will drone on and on each year about how their teams aren’t as good as their best win, nor are they as bad as their worst loss. The cliches and platitudes might not do much for ailing fan bases, but there is plenty of truth behind them.
Rarely can a team look back at an entire season and not see a few places where an extra play here or there could have meant a couple of extra victories. And, if that same team is being honest with itself, it’s also usually true that it could identify a spot or two where wins could have turned into losses if not for some good fortune.
The fact is that nothing the Eagles can do over the final two weeks of the regular season will make 2018 anything other than a success. Head coach Chad Lunsford is steadily gaining folk hero status points for the job he’s done.
He has quickly turned around the program and the young guys who were thrown into the fire last season are steadily proving they are capable of forming the core of Georgia Southern squads that can compete for conference championships in the immediate future.
The current season is already a success, but the next test is whether or not that’s good enough for the 2018 Eagles.
There won’t be a top-25 ranking or a New Year’s bowl and a shot at the Sun Belt title is all but mathematically impossible. However, there is still a chance for another bowl win, a possible 10-win season and two more chances to pay back conference foes for losses suffered last season.
Georgia Southern isn’t a world-beater. The fast start was nice and there have been tons of positives when compared to 2017, but the plain truth is that there are plenty of things that need to continue to improve if the Eagles want to head into the final month of 2019 with another good shot at winning the Sun Belt.
The good news is that the players seem to realize that. The better news is that there are still a few games remaining in this season to get a head start.
Much is always made about how a team deals with success after a big win or how it handles adversity after a loss. What the Eagles need to do is figure out how they want to deal with themselves.
Either they can stay at their current level and notch some accolades with upset wins here and there while not quite having the consistency to make it to the finish line, or they can continue to improve and become a team that is feared rather than just favored.
One would assume that the Eagles want to be in the latter category. And with two possible payback games left on the schedule this season, now is as good a time as ever for them to start being feared.
All Buzz
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 1973 season holds a special place in the hearts of Southeast Bulloch fans as it was the second of consecutive state championships for the Yellow Jackets.
But in modern times, the year has become a spectre. While the Jackets walked of the field as the best in Georgia in 1973, that title game also marks the last time SEB won a state playoff contest.
Unfortunately, for Southeast Bulloch, that winless streak has now reached a full 45 years. The Yellow Jackets mounted an impressive 9-1 mark in the regular season and earned a No. 2 seed and a home game to begin the Class AAA playoffs, but Liberty County wrecked the party, managing a slim lead after one half of play and shutting out the Jackets in the second half en route to a 38-14 triumph.
The first half was a seesaw battle as the Jackets threw the first punch.
With leading running back Jamari Daniel hampered by an ankle injury, SEB was still able to drive down the field and C.J. Coney punched in a 3-yard run to give the Jackets an early lead.
Liberty answered with a 3-yard touchdown run of their own as Kris Coleman scored the first of his four touchdowns on his way to 15 carries for 143 yards on the evening.
In what became a running gag, Liberty missed the ensuing extra point and SEB still led. But the Panthers answered with another touchdown on a 26-yard Coleman run and another missed conversion gave Liberty County a 12-7 advantage.
The teams traded scores over the final minutes of the half to send the Panthers into the locker room with an 18-14 lead.
On the first drive of the second half, SEB appeared to stop Liberty, only to have Coleman strike again. The Panthers’ star running back took a short snap on a fake punt and danced through a pair of tackles on his way to a 44-yard touchdown to extend the Liberty lead.
The Jackets couldn’t answer on their next offensive possession and, following a punt, Liberty began to sink the knife into the Jackets.
Liberty County quarterback Dionte Bowens led his offense on a 12-play, 79-yard drive and Bowens capped off the long trek with a 5-yard touchdown plunge.
A last-gasp from the Jackets’ offense took them all the way to the Liberty County 1, but that’s where the Panther defense made its stand. To add insult to injury, the Panthers drove the length of the field to add on their final score of the night and put the game out of reach.
With the win, Liberty County moves on to the second round of the state playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. The Panthers will travel to Peach County next week.
Meanwhile, another year can be added onto the Jackets’ postseason victory drought.
Eagles High And Lows
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As a lifelong baseball fan, I grew up with the old adage that “a winning streak is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher.”
That sentiment isn’t exclusive to baseball as prolonged success in any sport is only attainable if a team is able to check all of the boxes and do all of the little things correctly from one game to the next.
Simply put, the huge wave of emotion and momentum that swept over the Georgia Southern football team after beating a nationally ranked Appalachian State squad didn’t carry over to the Eagles’ next game.
For every inspired play made against App, the Eagles had a flat-footed look as UL Monroe stormed its way to a victory. For every fortunate bounce Georgia Southern found against its arch rival, it seemed that an equal and opposite disaster was lying in wait against the Warhawks.
This isn’t a calling out or a tsk-tsking of the Eagles or their effort. It takes a nearly perfect team to make it through an entire season without suffering a game where things just don’t work out and – for all their success this season – the Eagles are still far from being perfect.
It is impressive that a team with so many new coaches and so much youth in key roles took so long to get around to such a disastrous game but the timing of everything certainly makes things sting a bit more for the team and fans alike.
For a team that has such high hopes for both the remainder of the season and for the immediate future, Saturday’s loss needs to serve as a lesson that is quickly learned and corrected.
Early in the season, the Eagles found success by doing all of the little things right, even if the big plays weren’t always there. Sheer athleticism powered the winning effort against South Carolina State and an impressive intensity allowed the Eagles to hang with Clemson for four quarters even while dealing with a hostile environment, a truckload of injuries and an impending hurricane.
They rose to the occasion in crunch time against Arkansas State and Texas State and they buried Appalachian State under a sea of turnovers and momentum.
But out in Monroe, all of the little things went lacking just as all of the big things – like blown coverages and an inability to gain first downs – also went wrong.
Georgia Southern proved it could overcome a slow start on the road in a convincing win over New Mexico State last month, but the Eagles were able to do that by going back to basics and playing a disciplined final three quarters.
Against the Warhawks, the penalties and negative first down plays continued throughout the game. And when two huge momentum plays – a pick-six and a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown – went their way, they were unable to capitalize and immediately gave back the points to fall further behind.
So now the Eagles are faced with a task that is unique for this season.
For the first time this week, the Eagles will enter a game coming off of a disappointing performance (it’s hard to count a loss to Clemson as too disappointing).
The last two months have been a steady stream of the Eagles and their fans building up performance and expectations with each passing week.
Now is the time for Georgia Southern to prove that it’s the effort and process of preparing for a big game that matters more than riding a winning streak.
Statesboro Buries Phoenix
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
A week ago, there were plenty of nerves at Womack Field as the Statesboro Blue Devils gutted out a win over South Effingham to punch their first ticket to the state playoffs since 2013.
On Friday night, the Devils were able to keep the momentum rolling. Statesboro found itself trailing New Hampstead by a count of 21-7 midway through the second quarter, but rallied to score the final four touchdowns of the contest to claim a 35-21 victory.
Statesboro took an early advantage when leading rusher Jaylen Roberson continued his suburb season with a 21-yard touchdown run.
As the second quarter began, the Phoenix answered with a bang. Deyandre Ruffin found open space for a 65-yard scoring run and Justin Mckithen topped that with a 90-yard touchdown run to put New Hampstead on top.
Things appeared to be heading for disaster when the Phoenix blocked and recovered an SHS punt for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead with just a minute remaining in the half, but the Devils got off the mat.
Statesboro responded with a stellar kick return by Will Yawn, another big run by Roberson and a pitch-and-catch from Drake Horton to Ryan Lindsey to reach the red zone.
Horton completed the textbook two-minute drill by finding Corey Gibson for a 10-yard touchdown strike to cut the Devils’ deficit to 21-14 at halftime.
From there on out, it was all Blue Devils.
Roberson found the end zone again midway through the third quarter and the ensuing extra point tied things up. It was Roberson doing the damage again early in the fourth quarter with a 4-yard run on the first play of the final period putting him in the end zone for the third time on the night.
The big plays that had spurred the Phoenix to their early lead were nowhere to be found in the second half as the SHS defense clamped down. And with 1:54 to play, Devardrion Lipsey plunged in from four yards out to wrap things up.
With the win, the Blue Devils improved to 4-6 on the season. More importantly, the Devils and Phoenix entered Friday’s game with identical 1-2 marks in Region 2-AAAAA competition.
The regular season finale turned into a de facto region playoff for seeding. The big win for Statesboro bumped them into the region’s No. 3 seed while New Hampstead was left with the No. 4 seed and will have to tangle with Region 3-AAAAA champion Starr’s Mill in next week’s first round action.
Statesboro will travel to face Griffin next Friday. Ironically, it was a loss at Griffin in the second round of the 2013 playoffs that marks the last time the Blue Devils made an appearance in a state playoff game.
The Blue Devils’ fourth win of the season equaled the total wins for the program over the last three seasons combined and is the most in a single year since a 9-3 mark in the 2013 playoff season.
The team will be a prohibitive underdog at Griffin next week, but now in the second year of the Jeff Kaiser coaching era and with a handful of junior playmakers who have keyed the improvement, Statesboro could be well on its way to reestablishing itself as a perennial playoff participant.
Playoff Bound
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the first time in five years, the Statesboro Blue Devils will have a spot waiting for them in the GHSA state football playoffs.
Facing a South Effingham squad that eliminated them from postseason contention on the final night of the 2017 regular season, Statesboro ground out an early touchdown and extended its lead with another late score to hang on for a 12-7 victory.
Only five teams compete in Region 2-AAAAA, with four being awarded spots in the state playoffs. That has been the case for the last three seasons, but the Blue Devils ended both 2016 and 2017 in last place and were forced to watch from the sidelines in the postseason.
Heading into Friday night’s game at Womack Field, the stakes were clear. South Effingham was playing its final game of the regular season and had lost its first three region games while Statesboro was 0-2 in region play with another game awaiting next week. A Statesboro win would guarantee a finish ahead of the Mustangs and a playoff berth.
The Blue Devils answered the call as Jaylin Roberson rushed for 218 yards and a pair of touchdowns while the SHS defense held tight throughout the night.
Roberson raced to the left side and turned the corner, stepping through a pair of tackles while tightrope walking the sideline on his way to a 46-yard touchdown to give the Devils an early 6-0 lead following a failed PAT.
Statesboro’s defense stifled South Effingham all night, allowing just 152 total yards. But the biggest defensive stop of the night may have come from the SHS offense.
The Devils drove inside the SEHS red zone late in the second quarter and threatened to extend the lead, only to see Davardrion Lipsey cough up the ball.
The fumble was scooped up by a Mustang defender and SHS linemen weren’t able to keep pace, but Roberson covered both the length and the width of the entire field to make a tackle at the SHS 3 yard line.
A pair of penalties backed the Mustangs farther from the end zone and Michael Dixon stepped in front of a Zach Taylor pass for an interception that maintained the SHS lead into halftime.
While the Devil defense continued to shut down the Mustangs in the second half, the lead remained at a precarious six points well into the final quarter.
Roberson once again rose to the occasion to seal the victory, ripping off a 63-yard run with under five minutes to play and finding the end zone once again three plays later.
South Effingham reached the end zone on its next possession. However, the score came with less than a minute remaining and the ensuing onside kick attempt bounced out of bounds, allowing the Devils to run out the final seconds.
The win guarantees the Devils of at least a fourth place finish in region play, but they could move to third with a win at New Hampstead in next week’s regular season finale.
Depending on their finish, the Devils will head to the South metro-Atlanta area to take on either Riverdale or Starr’s Mill in the first round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs in two weeks.
