BROOKLET — The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets (3-7, 2-6) celebrated senior night Thursday, and four seniors were honored before SEB fell to the Savannah Country Day Hornets 4-1 in a game that proved to be too much to handle for the home team.
    Senior midfielders Chris Maddox, Chris Montgomery Steven Roberson and Anthony Lynch — the 2007 Bulloch County leading scorer — were all honored before the teams took the field.
    The Hornets started off fast, attempting six shots in the first eight minutes. The last of which — a chip shot set up by Drew Johnson that bounced off teammate Nic Newton’s head and grazed the goalpost — was the closest either team came to scoring early on.
    Country Day was able to get on the scoreboard in the 14th minute when Chris Howie set up for an indirect kick and fired it into the air for teammate Jim Allen Schuman. Schuman was able to convert with a header that slipped in past the outstretched arms of Southeast Bulloch keeper Corey Nettles.
    The Yellow Jackets had an opportunity to tie when, in the 32nd minute, Lynch was able to set up Sophomore Ian Foster with a one-on-one situation, but the shot was off its mark and drifted high.
    The SCD lead was doubled in the 34th minute when Zach Lorenz took a pass from Howie in the box and fired it past Nettles for the second Hornet goal. The third and final Country Day goal of the half was scored in the 36th minute when Drew Johnson took a pass from Travis Cook and gave the Hornets a 3-0 halftime lead.
    Southeast Bulloch responded at the start of the second when Lynch missed wide left just 35 seconds in. Lynch got it back in the 44th minute and fed it to Justin Hodnicki, who launched it at the goal from 25 yards out past diving SCD keeper Lee Adler, closing the gap to 3-1.
    The next 10 minutes saw the two teams exchange possessions and shots, but Savannah Country Day scored their fourth and final goal in minute 54. Jason Kornblatt threw the ball in and Johnson controlled it, turned, shot and scored his second goal of the contest.
    The four SEB seniors hustled, but were unable to keep up with the visiting Hornets.
    “(The seniors) did a great job,” said SEB coach David Quattlebaum. “Lynch always plays with a lot of energy, and he had some beautiful crosses (that got us) some shots on goal… I was really pleased with the way they all played.”
    The Jackets will head to Dublin on Wednesday for the first round of area playoffs. A win there will assure them a spot in the state Class AA playoff bracket.

Lady Hornets 2, Lady Jackets 1 

   The Savannah Country Day Lady Hornets paid a visit to Brooklet to take on Southeast Bulloch on an emotional senior night for the Lady Yellow Jackets.
    Morgan Jones — SEB’s leading scorer and the only senior on the team — was honored in a pre-game ceremony that highlighted her impressive four-year career. After all of her academic accomplishments were listed for the applauding crowd, 88 balloons were released representing the 88 goals Jones has scored for the Yellow Jackets in her career.
    The game was also emotional, as the Jackets looked to avenge a 2-0 loss to the Hornets earlier this season. Jones was moved back to defense with the hopes of slowing the well-tuned Savannah Country Day attack, but SEB could not completely hold them off.
    The first half was all SCD. Yellow Jacket keeper Kacey Jones was kept busy, as the Hornets kept on the attack the entire first half. Although there were many close calls, Jones was able to preserve the shutout for the entire first half.
    The first real scoring opportunity for Savannah Country Day came in the 23rd minute when a direct kick by Jane Hagen soared toward the crossbar, but Jones was able to make a leaping play on the ball. The crossbar came in to play in the 33rd minute when Ali Ramee slammed a close-range shot over Jones’ head but it hit the post and bounced back into play.
    The Yellow Jackets were barely able to make an offensive play in the first half, and the Hornets out-shot them 14-1. The only SEB attempt came in the 24th minute when Morgan Jones launched a bomb from 45 yards out that took a high bounce and looked as though it was going to sneak in.
    The 0-0 halftime tie was hard earned by Kacey Jones and the Yellow Jacket defense. Jones finished the half with nine saves.
    The second Hornet shot attempt of the second half finally enabled SCD to crack the Jacket defense as Holly Suthers took a pass from Candice Aaron and gave Savannah Country Day a 1-0 lead. Aaron also scored on a Ramee assist for the second Hornet goal.
    Trailing by two in stoppage time, SEB coach Aimee Civalier pulled Morgan Jones out of her last regular season game to the applause of players and fans, and the game came to an end.
    Kacey Jones finished the game with 24 saves, and Savannah Country Day out-shot the Jackets 35-1. The exhausted SEB defense never quit.
    “Kacey had a lot of shots,” said Civalier. “But I felt like our defense did a good job trying to control that a little bit.”
    The Lady Yellow Jackets will play an away game against Toombs County on Tuesday. It is a play-in game to determine whether or not SEB will make the state playoffs. The Jackets are 1-1 against Toombs so far this season.
   
    Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404.