By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Brunswick High Pirates 2017 football season came to a heartbreaking end last night a 24-21 loss to Northside Warner Robins.

The Pirates drove 67 yards in 2 minutes and had their heart broken on the north end zone goal line with 16 seconds left as BHS threw an interception to end Sean Pender’s first season at BHS with a 7-3 record.

Northside will move on and play Tucker in the second round.

Pirate Report Card

Offense: B. It is playoff football against a traditional football power in the state of Georgia, and this group took it to Northside most of the night.

Passing game was very good and Pender said all week that BHS was going to have to throw it all night against the Northside defense who was very good against the run.

Offensive line was awesome all night in pass protection.

Shaq Robinson had a rushing and receiving TD. DJ Whitfield had his best game as a Pirate with 12 catches for 165 yards.

We come now to Jamarius Stevens, who had a great playoff game as he passed for 304 yards and a score. He rushed for 105 and a score. I will miss this kid and he will go down as one of my favorite Pirate QB’s of all time.

Pender told me on Friday night that if BHS scored 28 points they would move on to Tucker and said red zone offense would be the key. He was correct as BHS only got points on three out of six trips into the red zone.

A fumble on the first series that setup the short field for the Eagles first score and the season ending pick kept this grade from being an A.

Great playoff effort by the BHS offense.

Defense: B. This group played its guts out against a running football team. The Northside veer got some yards and the one pass Northside completed all night long was for a TD, but this unit flew around and made some plays.

Tevin Small played a great game at LB. Kam Futch, the captain of this defense, played his heart out.

BHS stopped the fullback in the veer all night long and contained the QB for the most part. The pitch guy made a few runs but the defense put up a very solid football effort against a brand name in Georgia High School football.

Very proud of the effort of this group.

Special Teams: C-. You can’t give up an 85 kickoff return for a TD in a playoff game against a team like Northside where points are at a premium.

BHS did some good things with Jaylen Jackson on punt returns, and only punted one time in the contest.

This area was one of the most improved aspects of BHS football in 2017.

Coaching: B+. Solid game plan. Pender showed confidence in his offense by going for it on fourth down from the two on the first drive.

The clock management was solid on the two minute offense at the end of the game. Team played inspired football all night long and great adjustments were made at the half.

Overall: B. BHS went toe to toe with Northside and came up 3 points short.

Nothing to hang your head about in reality. But, the reality is that this loss stings and will hurt for a long time because BHS was a better football team than Northside.

Sometimes in team sports the better team does not win and that is just life and you learn from it.