BROOKLET — The Yellow Jackets’ playoff chances were dealt a major blow Friday night as Southeast Bulloch suffered a 27-7 loss at the hands of region foe Beach High School.
    The loss drops SEB to 4-4 overall and, more importantly, into a tie with Beach at 2-3 in Region 1-AAA play.
    “I have to congratulate Beach tonight. They were the better football team,” SEB head coach Pat Collinss said.
    While the Yellow Jackets still have an opportunity to earn Region 1-AAA’s fourth playoff spot, SEB’s final two games are against the top tier of the region as the Yellow Jackets travel to face Tattnall County before returning home for their finale against Appling County. Also, with the loss to Beach, the Yellow Jackets would likely lose any tiebreakers with the Bulldogs should it come down to that.
    Southeast Bulloch looked to start fast as on the third play from scrimmage, running back Antonio McMillian broke through the Beach defense and appeared to have a chance to break a 59-yard touchdown run. However, a Beach defender knocked the ball out of McMillian’s hands and the Bulldogs were able to recover the fumble.
    Midway through the first, Bulldog running back Maynard Potter hauled in a pass from Kenny Moore and raced 67 yards for the first of his two touchdowns on the night.
    “I thought we had the early momentum,” Collins said. “Turnovers just kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
    On Beach’s next possession, Potter found the end zone again, this time on a 48-yard run that put the Bulldogs up 15-0.
    “Their running back, Moore, is very talented,” Collins said. “He made some plays that hurt us.”
Moore ended the night with 193 yards from scrimmage on the night.
    The Yellow Jackets looked to cut into the lead after recovering a Beach fumble on the first play of the second quarter. Four plays later, SEB had a first-and-goal on the 5-yard line. However, on fourth-and-goal from the 1, McMillian was unable to surge past the Bulldogs’ defensive line, which stopped him just short of the goal line.
    Five plays later, Moore found Dymere Smith on a long pass, and Smith was able to elude an SEB defender and race along the sideline for an 84-yard touchdown reception.
    After another SEB fumble on its next possession, the Bulldogs scored again, this time on a pass from Moore to Samuel Brown to give Beach a 27-0 halftime lead.
    “In the second half, we continued to fight. I didn’t see any of our boys give up,” Collins said. “They continued to play hard and didn’t quit.”
    The Yellow Jackets were able to get on the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter when James Coto found the end zone from 10 yards out to complete the scoring for the night.
    Offensively for SEB, Tyler Epps had 78 yards on 15 carries, and McMillian added 66 yards on seven rushing attempts.
    “We had several boys who were hurt and tried to play through it,”  Collins said. “I applaud their courage for trying to do that. The fact of the matter is, we had several injuries and were not at full strength tonight.”
    The Yellow Jackets travel to face Tattnall County on Friday at 7:30 p.m.