BROOKLET — Southeast Bulloch faithful may well remember forever the final game played at historic Fred Shaver Field, but it will not be for the performance of the home squad.
    The hosting Yellow Jackets did not much resemble some of the powerhouse teams once coached by their field’s namesake, when the team fell 30-0 to visiting East Laurens Friday night.
    In its season finale, the Falcons (2-8, 1-7) had little trouble in running away with a first region win of the season against a Jacket group that could not hold an opponent to fewer than 20 points for an eighth consecutive game. The boys from East Dublin marched to a runaway score behind a run-game that amassed almost 300 yards on the ground.
    On Senior Night and before a large crowd, what may have been the Jackets (1-8, 0-7) best chance to reach the two-win mark, turned into a sixth game in which the team has been shut-out this year. 
    “We made mistakes on offense with protecting the football and committing penalties. We haven’t had that issue [this season], but we had it tonight,” said Southeast Bulloch coach Pat Collins. “Our lack of execution was the difference in the ballgame.”
    “I am disappointed for our community, especially Coach Shaver who this field is named for, that we didn’t play better,” he said. “We didn’t play our best tonight and that’s disappointing.”
    The one name that rang louder than ‘Shaver’ in Brooklet Friday night was ‘Waters.’
    East Laurens tailback and linebacker Roy Waters twice planted Jacket quarterbacks with drive-ending sacks, when he wasn’t finishing trots in the end-zone.
    The senior back turned in a highlight-reel performance, scoring three of the game’s four touchdowns, including a 70-yard scamper that vaulted the Falcons to a 14-0 lead as time expired in the first quarter. A 1-yard score by Waters opened scoring minutes earlier, on a nearly seven minute drive that began the game for East Laurens.
    Late in the second quarter, Waters struck again.
    The work-horse sprung through a hole in the SEB front for another 1-yard touchdown run. The Falcons weren’t deserving of all the credit for the game’s third score. A blocked punt recovered by wide receiver Nick Fordham on the Jacket one-yard line set up the touchdown.
    “We had the blocked punt, and that was the first major breakdown in the kicking game this year,” said Collins. “You have to give East Laurens credit. The out-executed us tonight.”
    The Falcons would add a field goal before the half, and another touchdown in the fourth quarter when tailback Taye Brantley capped an 83-yard drive with a 10-yard sprint off-tackle to put the score far out-of-reach.
    Friday’s loss leaves Southeast Bulloch High School with but one final chance to garner a region win in 2011.
    The Jackets will venture west to face Region 3-AA leading Dublin High School.
    The Fighting Irish (8-1, 6-1) fell Friday to Jefferson County.
    “As always, we will look at the film and try to find things we didn’t do well that we can correct,” said Collins. “We have a lot of work to do. There is no doubt about that.”
   
    Jeff Harrison can be reached at (912) 489-9454.