The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets struggled out of the gates Friday as they dropped a 44-7 contest the Statesboro Blue Devils.

In his head coaching debut Jason Anthony felt like he learned some things about his team and is expecting them to make a big move forward this week.

“Our guys have now played a full four quarter game and they never had their heads down pouting,” Anthony said. “Small things like running off the field and keeping their heads up are things I value.”

Anthony was also optimistic after sophomore quarterback J.K. Small’s first high school start.

“He took some shots but bounced right back,” Anthony said. “He was nine for 18 through the air for 86 yards. He didn’t seem to get rattled and he was composed when he came to the sidelines after a series. He made a couple good throws early on and a couple that should have been caught. There are some things to improve on but I thought he was solid for a first game.”

Anthony doesn’t expect to make big changes for this week but just improve on what they are trying to do.

“On offense we are just going to stick to the plan,” Anthony said. “We are going to try and improve up front and just get better at what we are doing. Defensively we have some people that we need to move around. Scheme wise I feel like we are solid but there are a couple players we need to move to different positions.”

Friday the Jackets remain at Fred Shaver Field as they take on East Laurens. The Falcons are coming off a 32-15 loss to Johnson County. The Falcons were 3-8 and haven’t played SEB in a few years but Anthony is very familiar with their head coach.

“Jesse Hicks actually coached me in high school and we talk on the phone a lot,” Anthony said. “Both of us are looking for a win and in our first game neither of us were as strong as we would like to be. Like us, they have speed on the outside. They have two junior receivers who have Power-5 offers. We have to make sure we contain those guys and since they play on both sides of the ball, we have to be able to play up tempo and try and wear them out.”

Southeast Bulloch and East Laurens are set for a 7:30 start Friday at Fred Shaver Field.