BROOKLET - For the second consecutive season, the Yellow Jackets of Southeast Bulloch are sub-region champions.

The Jackets claimed the 2014 title with a close win over Jenkins in Savannah. Jenkins invaded Fred Shaver Field Friday night with revenge on its mind, but four rushing touchdowns by Chase Walker and a dominating second half of defense by SEB awarded the Jackets a 28-14 victory and a second straight top seed heading into the region playoff.

"I'm so proud of the entire team effort," SEB coach Pat Collins said. "We came into this game all beat up and had a lot of guys who tried to go, but couldn't. A lot of kids really steeped up and played great in a
big game."

Tied at 14-14 as the second half got underway, the Yellow Jackets (5-3, 4-0 Region 1-AAA) took the kickoff and embarked on a methodical 15-play drive. When Walker (34 carries, 166 yards) finally plowed into the end zone from a yard out, the Jackets had run off 7:54 of game time.

The SEB defense responded by forcing Jenkins (5-3, 3-1) to a 3-and-out and the Jackets maintained possession for the rest of the period.

Quickly wearing on its opponent, Southeast Bulloch continued to grind out yards and melt off time before Walker added his fourth touchdown of the night on another 1-yard plunge.

"Our defense put us in some good situations and the offense helped by chewing up yards and clock," Collins said. "It was a phenomenal effort and a total team victory. Playing good team football is what we had to do to beat a team as good as Jenkins."

Jenkins got a final chance to get itself back into contention when it forced a turnover on downs from the SEB offense with just under five minutes to play.

Gaining good yardage for the first and only time in the half, the Warriors traveled nearly the length of the field, but ran off most of the remaining time in the process. With 34 seconds to go and facing 4th-and-9, Middleton fired a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Klayton Carter to clinch the SEB victory.

The Yellow Jackets set the tone early, shutting down the Warriors' opening drive after they had advanced into SEB territory. On the Jackets' first offensive possession, Jaylen Wells kept the drive alive with a 23-yard pass to Tyler Collins on 3rd-and-10. On the next play, Walker found room up the middle and raced 37 yards to the end zone. After an Andrew Cribbs PAT, SEB claimed a 7-0 lead.

The Warriors (5-3, 3-1) evened things up on a 2-yard pass to Timothy Leeks from Javonte Middleton, but Michael Davis get the Jackets going again with a 68-yard return on the ensuing kickoff.

Armed with great field position, the Jackets needed just five plays before Walker scored from 3 yards out.

"Everyone played a great game," Walker said. "Both the offense and defense executed and we fed off of each other all night."

Jenkins answered with a big play of its own as Arkeem Byrd (12 carries, 133 yards) took the second play of the next possession and raced right before cutting all the way back across the field and outrunning all Jacket defenders for an 80-yard run to retie the game at 14-14.

SEB got within scoring range just before halftime, but a 43-yard field goal attempt by Evan Schlierf sailed just right and the teams remained tied at the break.

With the win, SEB locked up the No. 1 seed in its sub-region regardless of its performance in next Thursday's game at Islands.

On Nov. 6, the Yellow Jackets will take on the No. 4 seed from the west sub-region with the winner earning a spot in the Class AAA state playoffs.

Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9408.

Star

Southeast Bulloch has based its offense around sophomore running back Chase Walker all season and Friday was no exception. Walker toted the ball 34 times and racked up 166 yards while scoring all four of the Yellow Jackets' touchdowns to clinch the sub-region over Jenkins. 

Box Score

JHS 0 14 0 0 — 14

SEB 7 7 7 7 — 28

First Quarter

SEB_Walker 37 run (Cribbs kick), 7:37

Second Quarter

JHS_Leeks 2 pass from Middleton (Greco kick), 9:23

SEB_Walker 3 run (Cribbs kick), 6:46

JHS_Byrd 80 run (Greco kick), 5:50

Third Quarter

SEB_Walker 1 run (Cribbs kick), 4:06

Fourth Quarter

SEB_Walker 1 run (Cribbs kick), 9:40

JHS SEB

First downs 12 16

Total Yards 295 275

Rushes-yards 17-157 54-252

Passing 138 23

Comp-Att-Int 12-30-1 1-4-0

Turnovers 1 1

Penalties-Yards 10-76 3-30

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING_JHS: Byrd 12-133; SEB: Walker 34-166

PASSING_JHS: Middleton 12-30-138; SEB: Wells 1-3-23

RECEIVING_JHS: Scott 2-55; SEB: Collins 1-23