SYLVANIA—Screven County coach Greg Manior was concerned his team might be distracted by the week’s homecoming activities. Aside from a halftime distraction for his kicker, the hoopla of the event seemed to have little effect.
    The Gamecocks evened up their record for the season at 2-2, but they are a perfect 2-0 in Region 3-AA play after beating Southeast Bulloch 20-0 Friday night.
    “I worried about homecoming and all of the hat days and powder puff games,” said Manior. “But we came out and played pretty well. We lost a little focus on offense, but give Southeast Bulloch credit, their defense played hard.”
    Jeremy Johnson paced Screven County with 171 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Darius Wright added 70 yards and quarterback Aikeem Mingle scored twice from inside the 10-yard line.
    While Southeast Bulloch did everything in their power to contain the duo of Johnson and Wright on defense, the Yellow Jackets (1-3, 0-2 Region 3-AA) mustered next to nothing on offense. By the end of the game, Southeast Bulloch had just four first downs and 41 total yards of offense.
    Screven piled up 283 yards of offense, including 263 on the ground.
    “[SEB] Coach [Pat] Collins and Coach [Jack] Webb put a good game plan together defensively,” said Manior. “They have a good young team. Heck, we’re both young.”
    The Gamecocks jumped out to a quick lead after a long drive took them from their own 30-yard line and ended with a six-yard run by Mingle. Kicker Jessica Markovcic missed the extra point, but her night would get better.
    Screven padded their lead in the second quarter when Mingle powered in from one yard out. Johnson ran in the two-point conversion in to make the game 14-0.
    At halftime, things took a different turn.
    Markovcic, a two-year starter at placekicker for Screven, was named the school’s homecoming queen. She was crowned standing next to her father, Gamecock offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Terry Markovcic, in full pads with black strips under her eyes. When her team returned for the second half, many of them took a minute to hug their kicker on the sideline.
    “I don’t know if that happens too often,” said Manior. “We’ve got a homecoming queen on our team and we’re very proud of her.”
    Markovcic missed another extra point on Screven’s final touchdown of the game, a one-yard run by Johnson. After the miss, the holder stood and quickly tapped his own chest to take blame for the miss.
    After the game, Manior said the first miss might have also been the result of a bad hold.
    Considering how the night worked out for both Markovcic and the Gamecocks, who lost their first two games of the season, Manior was satisfied.
    “We are 2-0 in region play and these are the games that matter,” he said.