The first step to rewriting the Statesboro football story is removing the doubt from fans’ minds, and that will happen if the Blue Devils can beat Burke County at the Bear Den in tonight's season opener.
There was a time where Burke County was an easy win for Statesboro, as from 1999 to 2003 the Devils won five games in a row by an average margin of 29 points. The two sides took a break from 2004 to 2007, then Statesboro won again in 2008 28-19 to make it six in a row over the Bears and lead the overall series 6-1.
“Statesboro vs. BC used to be a bloodletting,” said Portal head coach Matt Smith, who was an assistant under Buzz Busby during the beginning of that run. “They were good team, but we always had the upper hand.”
However, things have flipped very quickly over the last six seasons. Burke has taken four of the last five matchups between the two sides, including last year’s 20-7 romp at the Erk Russell Classic. So if Statesboro wants to turn back the clock on its football program, they’ll first have to turn back the clock with the Bears.
“We need this. We don’t want to start off like we did last year going down hill,” said junior quarterback Davis Wiggins. “All the hope was drained out of us then.”
Burke County has seen considerable success with their football team under Eric Parker — especially in the current decade. Starting in 2010, the Bears are 60-18 with a Class AAA state title in 2011. The past two years have seen a small dip in success with a 7-5 campaign in 2015 and a 7-4 first round playoff exit last season, but are on the right track in 2016.
Last week Burke County won their opening game against Grovetown 29-7 in an impressive defensive effort. Grovetown’s only touchdown of the game came off a pick-six in the third quarter, while their offense was held to 1.3 yards per play and a team quarterback rating of 8.4. Keep in mind the Warriors were breaking in a new quarterback and running back from a team that went 5-5 in 2015, but the numbers are still daunting.
“They’re typical Burke alright,” said head coach Steve Pennington. “This is the quickest defense I’ve seen from them in several years. They must have the whole track team out there because they’re just so fast.”
The area of concern for Burke was their offense, which averaged a very pedestrian 4.9 yards per play against a Grovetown defense that returned a healthy amount of their best players from a year ago. The Bears needed 67 carries to reach 198 yards rushing, averaging a very poor 2.9 yards per rush. Had it not been for the defense’s strong effort, Burke’s offense may have not had the field position to score 22 points (BC had a pick-six).
“This is a quick offense,” said sophomore linebacker Chris Hill. “But I don’t think they have anyone who stands out particularly. We’ll just have to look at them as an equal threat.”
Either way, at least Burke has had a week to work out whatever kinks they needed on offense. Statesboro’s only preseason game saw the Blue Devils average a mere 4.4 yards per play against a strong Southeast Bulloch front seven. SHS only had 2.9 yards per rush, with the only real production coming from junior Tupac Lanier’s 55 yards on 11 carries.
But there’s a good chance SHS could look to open things up with Wiggins, who looked solid in his time in the SEB scrimmage. Wiggins completed 63 percent of his passes at 6.9 yards per attempt, giving a new wrinkle to the SHS offense which is normally attune to run the ball at a high volume.
“I think I’ve learned a lot about them just from watching film this week,” Wiggins said. “I’ve gotten better at reading the line and carrying out my fakes since the scrimmage.”
According to Pennington, the key to beating Burke County is simply discipline. Burke is a team that will line up in the I-formation one play, then split out five wide receivers on the next. It will force Statesboro to know their assignments to a T, because one slip up could make for explosive plays for Burke County.
“The multiple formations will be a challenge for our defense,” Pennington said. “We have to line up right. It’s the difference between something big and a marginal game.”
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at 'The Bear Den'.
Chris Stanley may be reached at (912) 489-9408.
Blue Devils open season with Bears

