BROOKLET — For the first time this season, the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets will travel outside of Bulloch County when they face Brantley County in big game for SEB’s playoff hopes.
    The Yellow Jackets (3-3, 1-2) are currently in a four-way fight for fourth place in Region 1-AAA and the state playoff spot that comes with it. Johnson, Beach and Savannah High all also have one region win. A win over Brantley County is essentially a must-win for SEB if they have any realistic hopes of advancing, especially with Appling County and Tattnall County looming on the Yellow Jackets’ schedule.
    Southeast Bulloch head coach Pat Collins has been pleased with his team’s efforts at practice, especially considering the players have been on Fall Break this week.
“The biggest challenge (with fall break) is the kids are on a different routine,” Collins said. “They may sleep in a little later and that can throw them off, but we’ve kept our afternoon practice schedule and tried to keep the football as normal as possible.”
    Brantley County (1-5, 0-3) enters tonight’s contest on a five-game losing streak, most recently falling to Appling County last week 35-6. The Herons have struggled offensively on the year, failing to score more than 14 points in any game and averaging only seven points per game.
    “They may have the best offensive line we’ve seen all year,” Collins said. “They block very well and we’re going to have to do a good job along our defensive front and linebackers to stay low and keep our pads down to get off blocks and make the tackles.”
    Offensively, Collins said the Yellow Jackets have spent the week working on the fundamentals.
    “We need to execute what we do better,” Collins said. “Last week we didn’t execute well, especially our blocking, so we’ve focused a lot on that.”
    Tyler Epps has led the way offensively for the Yellow Jackets with 509 yards and five touchdowns on the year. Antonio McMillian has 430 yards and is averaging 8.8 yards per carry, though he has played sparingly over the past two games as he’s battled an undisclosed injury.
    Collins said he expects the Herons to present multiple fronts on defense in an attempt to confuse the Yellow Jacket offense.
    “We need to be certain of our assignments and execute the fundamentals. I’m confident we’ll be able to handle the adjustments we need to make,” he said.
    Following a season-opening win at cross-county rival Portal, the Yellow Jackets (3-3, 1-2) then opened their new stadium with a five-game home stand which saw SEB go 2-3 over those games, including the school’s first region victory in four years. The Yellow Jackets are 3-1 all time against Brantley County with the last matchup coming in 1999.
    Collins said he hopes a large number of fans can make the trip to support SEB. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.