Trailing by 19 points late in the third quarter against the two-time defending state champions from Brentwood, Bulloch Academy rallied for three touchdowns in the final 15:04 of the game to come away with a 36-33 victory over Brentwood High School.
Senior B.J. Smart capped off the Gators’ comeback with 1:50 remaining by scoring the go-ahead touchdown a 15 yard run against an obviously tired War Eagles’ defense.
“The kids did not quit and that’s the biggest thing,” Gator Head Coach Aaron Phillips said following the win. “They believed from the first snap until the last one that we were going to win this ballgame,” he said.
Brentwood scored with 3:34 remaining in the third quarter on a touchdown pass from Baylor Cobb to Brayden Tyson to extend their lead to 33-14, but Bulloch Academy started chipping away at the lead.
“We can’t score 21 points on one play. We’ve got to do it one bite at a time, one play at a time and that’s how we try to do it.”
The comeback started when quarterback Sam Hubbard found Rocco Reiss open behind the War Eagles’ defense and found him in stride for an 82 yard score just 28 seconds after giving up a touchdown to trim the lead to 33-21.
Brentwood appeared to be going in for another score late in third quarter, but Nick Eason was able to jump in front of a pass on the goal line for an interception to keep the deficit at 12.
After trading punts, the Gators would embark on an 80 yard drive that saw Eason finish it with a one yard run. Case Woodrum’s extra point made it 33-28 with a little over five minutes remaining.
Two incomplete passes by Brentwood on their next drive helped save some clock for the Gators who were able to force a punt with just under four minutes remaining.
The Gators would drive 44 yards leading to Smart’s touchdown. A two point conversion gave Bulloch Academy a three point lead with 1:50 remaining.
Brentwood started to mount a drive, but a low snap was fumbled and Whit Olliff was able to jump on the ball to preserve the lead. One first down later, the Gators were able to run out the clock and seal the win.
Phillips was pleased with the win, but said there were areas the team still needed to improve going forward. Among those were penalties in which, he said, they “shot themselves in the foot” with mistakes.
The two teams combined for more than 25 penalties on the night.
The War Eagles opened the scoring on their second possession. Following a Gator turnover, Brentwood’s Chase Daniel hauled in a deep pass from Cobb to open the scoring.
Bulloch Academy would respond in short order when junior running back Connor Perry took a handoff up the middle and then cut towards the right sideline and raced by the Brentwood defense.
Case Woodrum’s PAT gave the Gators a 7-6 lead.
However, it wouldn’t take long for Brentwood to respond. Facing a second and 18 from their own 28, Cobb dropped back and lofted a deep pass to a wide open Quez Collins who ran under the ball and strolled into the endzone to give the War Eagles a 12-7 lead late in the first quarter.
Cobb would strike again early in the second quarter, this time using his legs. Following another Gator turnover, the War Eagles would convert a third and 13 down to the Gators’ 14 yard line.
Cobb would run a quarterback draw up the middle and find paydirt to extend the War Eagles’ lead to 19-7.
The Gators, however, would fight back. On their next drive, they’d go 75 yards on four plays, keyed by a 51-yard run by Hubbard. Two plays later, Reiss punched it in from four yards out to trim the War Eagle lead to 19-14.
Brentwood would respond on their following drive, going 73 yards that culminated with a 32 yard pass from Cobb to Jaelen Johnson to extend the War Eagles’ lead to 26-14.
The game didn’t end until after midnight as there was a nearly two hour delay for lightning in the Statesboro area Friday night.
“We’re going to take the win and we’ll enjoy this until tomorrow morning and then we’re going to start on Tattnall Square Academy.