BRUNSWICK — For Statesboro, the third time was the charm.
    The Blue Devils (8-2) survived a furious second half rally and made a goal line stand to force overtime before putting away Brunswick 20-14 to clinch the Region 2-AAAA championship Friday at Glynn County Stadium.
    The win serves as a bit of vengeance for the Devils who saw the Pirates (7-3) clinch the region title at their expense in the regular season finale in each of the past two seasons.
    “This championship goes beyond the efforts of just one game,” said SHS coach Steve Pennington. “We had to dig down deep, but we were up to the challenge.”
    Having erased a 14-0 deficit to tie the game early in the fourth quarter, the high-powered Brunswick offense had two chances to win in regulation, but the Statesboro defense was up to the task.
    Chris Anderson was picked off at the SHS 20 by Ben Roberts at the 3:28 mark, and after driving to the Statesboro 3 with just seconds left in regulation, Coleman was stopped a yard shy as time expired.
    Taking the ball to begin overtime, the Pirates were stopped just inches short of a first down on 4th-and-10, allowing the Devils to take over possession.
    “We were out of options,” said Pennington. “We were tired and had some guys out with injuries. It took a total team effort to get those stops.”
    On the Devils’ first play of overtime, Dequan Daniels rushed through a big hole up the middle. He was briefly tripped up at the 5, but kept his footing and made it to the end zone to clinch the region title.
    Early on, things didn’t look nearly as tough for the Devils.
    Statesboro’s biggest play of its opening drive also capped it. Dequan Daniels rushed of the right side and found a seam, racing past defenders and covering 22 yards to put the Devils ahead.
    In all, the drive spanned 12 plays and covered 76 yards. Most damaging to Brunswick was the fact that the scoring march also chewed up 5:26 of game clock, keeping the potent Pirate offense shivering on the sideline.
    Not to be outdone, Brunswick sought to answer right back.
    In 10 plays, the Pirates raced down the field and into the Statesboro red zone, but heralded recruit Justin Coleman was drilled on an inside handoff and Justin Spells recovered to hand the ball – and momentum – back to the Devils.
    SHS couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing drive, but did gain enough yardage to wind down the rest of the first quarter.
    The Devils stopped Brunswick again, but the Pirates put themselves in good position, downing a punt inside the SHS 1-yard line.
    That was when the Devils again imposed their will. Statesboro went 4-for-4 on 3rd down conversions to cover the 99-plus yards in 7:49.
    SHS quarterback Reid Pennington found Freddie Burden from eight yards out to give the Devils a 14-0 lead heading into the half.
    Down, but not out, Brunswick came roaring back.
    The Pirates took the opening kick of the third quarter and quickly marched down the field. Anderson broke loose on a 20 yard run down to the SHS 2-yard line, and Coleman powered into the end zone two plays later. Going for two as it has all season, BHS was stopped short on a failed double reverse, and Statesboro held a 14-6 advantage.
    The score inspired the Pirate defense, which did a much better job in the second half of bottling up Blue Devil runners.
    BHS pulled closer when Jarvis Small raced in from eight yards out, and pulled even with a conversion run by Coleman.
    Statesboro was able to regroup from there on out, and the overtime win clinched the Devils’ first region title since 2005.
    “It’s a great feeling, but that pales in comparison for the pride I have for the way our team played tonight,” said Pennington. “The effort that they exhibited is something that we’ll celebrate for a long time.”

    Mike Anthony can be reached at (912) 489-9404.