The Bulloch Academy Gators are currently one victory away from playing in their second state championship in the last three years.
The Gators are coming off and impressive opening round state playoff victory as they knocked off Savannah Country Day 42-0 in a rematch from a game they had played less than a month before.
“I thought we played really well on both sides of the ball,” said Aaron Phillips. “It’s tough to play a team twice in the same season but I felt like our kids handled it well. They have a running back going to Davidson and we completely shut down their run game. I thought we also really improved on special teams and did a great job of keeping them deep and having to cover a lot of ground.”
This week, the Gators host Brookstone in the GIAA Class 4-A Final-4. The Cougars started the season losing four of their first five games, but have really turned things around lately with five straight victories, and only one of those was within a touchdown.
The Cougars are led by running back Dylan Terry, who is averaging over 130 yards rushing per game and has an impressive 23 touchdowns. Brookstone is also capable of throwing when they need to with quarterback Broughton Branch having 13 touchdown passes and has thrown for nearly 1500 yards this season.
“This will probably be the best running back we have seen all year,” Phillips said. “Asa Wall plays some back there for John Milledge but this is the best true running back we have played. He does a great job of getting out of tackles and turning them into big gains so we will have to wrap up well. Their quarterback was a sophomore when we played them two years ago on the way to the state championship. He was good then and only gotten better. We will have a real test on defense and have to make sure we are efficient on offense.”
Phillips believes the key to victory is to slow down the Brookstone offense and knows the importance of not looking past this game.
“As a coaching staff we have preached about only focusing on Brookstone,” Phillips said. “I know these kids look at social media and they are aware of what would happen if we are able to win, but they have done a great job of focusing on our game Friday and not looking ahead. Fans and friends may be looking to make plans ahead but we are just concerned with Brookstone.”
