GUYTON — The South Effingham stadium is known as The Corral, and it was aptly named Friday night, as the Statesboro Blue Devils had to overcome not only the Mustangs, but the 'zebras', as the Blue Devils sweated out a 40-34 victory on a chilly night in Guyton.
“We have faced a ton of adversity that we were not prepared for,” said Statesboro coach Jeff Kaiser. “We have preached to our kids to only control what we can control, and to be honest with you, (in regards to the officiating) I did a terrible job of that tonight with what was going on. We played some sloppy football at times, but our kids played their butts off tonight.”
A number of questionable calls went against the Blue Devils throughout the game, many of which resulted in South Effingham touchdowns. The Mustangs called four time outs in the first half, the fourth resulting in a stoppage of the clock, and no penalty for South Effingham. They proceeded to score on the next play with just 17 seconds remaining in the half.
A third and long pass in the end zone saw a Mustang receiver grab a Statesboro defender, and slam him to the ground. A flag was thrown, but it was a pass interference call on Statesboro. The Mustangs scored a couple of plays later.
With 42 seconds left in the game, the Mustangs' Alex Cela made a tremendous catch. He was a couple of yards out of the end zone, but it was ruled a touchdown to trim the lead to 40-34. The Mustangs then went off sides on an onside kick attempt. SEHS appeared to commit the same infraction on its next try, but no flag came out and the Mustangs recovered the second one. Even more scrutiny followed as the recovery looked to have been made less than the required from what appeared to be less than 10 yards from where the ball was kicked, but the refs ruled it went at least 10 and SEHS took over on offense.
The Blue Devils finally managed to survive as quarterback Taylor Jackson’s fourth down pass was incomplete, securing the Blue Devils their first region win, and getting them one step closer to the state playoffs.
“Im super proud of our team, and our coaches for their job here tonight,” Kaiser said. “We still aren’t in the state, we have to win next week to stay out of a tie, but we will celebrate tonight, and get back to work tomorrow.”
Perhaps overshadowed by all of the attention given to the officiating was an impressive outing by the Statesboro offense. Davardrion Lipsey rushed for two touchdowns and found the end zone twice more through the air. Blue Devil quarterback Drake Horton had 95 yards rushing, and threw for 87 yards and two scores.
The Blue Devil defense helped the offense in the first quarter. The Mustangs attempted a screen pass, but it was sniffed out, and picked off by Xavier Lee at the 40-yard line. A couple players later Blue Devil quarterback Drake Horton found Davardrion Lipsey across the middle on a pass, and Lipsey did the rest as he raced 45-yards for the score. Cody Parker’s extra point gave Statesboro a 7-0 lead with 8:24 left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs had the ball at midfield after the Statesboro kickoff, and proceeded to march downfield, capping the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Jackson to Adam Napier tying the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff the Blue Devils Jaylin Roberson showed his speed, as he ran up to the 20-yard line to field the ball, and then sprinted past the Mustang coverage untouched 80-yards for the touchdown, giving the Blue Devils a 14-7 lead.
The Statesboro defense then set the offense up once again, as Hunter Saussy picked off a Jackson pass at the Statesboro 45-yard line. The Blue Devils then marched down the field and capped their drive with a 17 yard run by Lipsey with 4:58 left in the half.
The defense forced a punt on the Mustangs next series, and then Horton showed he could run as he took off on a 71-yard run all the way to the South Effingham nine-yard line. A few penalties moved Statesboro back to the 21 and the Blue Devils had to settle for a 38-yard Parker field goal to extend the lead to 24-7 with just under two minutes to go.
The Mustangs got the ball at midfield once again on the Statesboro kickoff to start in good field position. Two Statesboro personal fouls would eventually get the Mustangs inside the Statesboro 15-yard line. They would then score on a 13-yard pass from Jackson to Zachary Taylor as they cut the lead to 24-14 at the half.
In the second half Cody Parker added a 36-yard field goal to extend the lead to 27-14. Horton and Lipsey then hooked up on a 31-yard touchdown pass to make it 33-14.
The Mustangs fought back with two Jackson touchdown runs to trim the lead to 33-27 with 4:25 left in the game. The Statesboro offense was unable to move the ball on their next series, but a muffed punt was recovered by the Blue Devils J.D. Kaiser at the South Effingham 30-yard line.
A few plays later Lipsey went in for his fourth score on a 13-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 40-28. The Mustangs added a 29-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Cela, the ensuing on side kick was recovered, but the Mustangs were unable to score, and Statesboro won 40-34.
Next week, Statesboro can ensure itself of the third seed in the region if it can knock off New Hampstead Friday night at Womack Field.
