The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets closed out a perfect 13-0 regular season Wednesday night with a 41-0 victory over the Statesboro Blue Devils scoring on every possession in the process and earning the No. 1 seed in next week’s area tournament. 

“We didn’t play too good yesterday, but I really liked what we did tonight,” said coach Marci Cochran. “I feel like it was important to get some momentum going into the area tournament next week. Returning all but one player off last year’s state championship team has really helped us to be able to be a little more in depth since this year since they know each other and what to expect more on the field.” 

Ansleigh Littles started the scoring for the Jackets with a 10-yard pass to Addie Hood for the touchdown. Kaylee Haas scored on a 1-point conversion to make it 7-0. Southeast added another score on their next possession as a 15-yard pass from Little to Lauren Erickson set up a 3-yard run by Haas for a 13-0 lead. Littles took the 1-point conversion in herself to extend the lead to 14-0. 

Haas completed a short pass to Abigail Morgan to extend the lead to 20-0 and a Littles pass to Alex Odom made it 21-0. The two would hook up moments later as Littles tossed a deep pass to Odom for a 41-yard score to make it 27-0. Another 1-point conversion worked as Korine Talkington hit Odom to extend the Jacket lead to 28-0 at the half. 

In the second half Hass hit Delanie Thames for a short touchdown pass which was followed by a Haas 1-point conversion for a 35-0 lead. Talkington finished the scoring with a 24-yard pass to Hood for a 41-0 lead. The Blue Devils finally mounted a charge late in the game after a couple passes from Ada Lacienski and a few nice runs by Terrece Gibson, but the drive stalled out inside the five as the Jacket defense preserved the shutout. 

The Jackets will host next week’s area tournament and will play the No. 4 seed which is yet to be determined.  

“We are sitting good as the No. 1 seed,” said Cochran. “It’s important to make sure we stay focused for whoever we play next Tuesday because we want to be able to advance and host the state tournament again as well.” 

Statesboro drops to 2-4 in region play but still has a chance to make the state as they wrap up the region schedule against Claxton Monday.  

“The biggest thing I would like is for the kids to be able to have a longer season for them to enjoy it more and to have more time to develop,” said SHS coach Bob Massee. “Unfortunately, with the success of the other sports programs at SHS during playoffs it’s hard to let them play dual sports. I’m glad that the other sports are successful and hopefully we can get a win next Monday to get back to state.” 

Statesboro travels to Claxton for a 5:00 start Monday.