Keith Howard’s hat trick Friday night led Statesboro a 6-0 win over Jenkins High School in region action at Womack Field.

The Blue Devils (2-3-1, 1-1-0) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Less than two minutes into the game, Statesboro’s  Brayden Bembry was fouled in the penalty area. Howard cashed in the penalty shot to give SHS an early lead.

Five minutes later, Bembry would score his first goal of the season when he found himself open 10 yards out and blasted a shot to the top corner to double the Statesboro lead. Howard would add his second of the night with 25 minutes remaining in the first half with a free kick from 23 yards away getting by the Jenkins goalkeeper to make it 3-0 after just 15 minutes of action.

Jude Powell tallied the fourth SHS goal as he was able to get behind the Jenkins defense midway through the second half. His cross deflected off a JHS defender and into the goal to extend the Blue Devil lead.

With just under 10 minutes remaining, Howard scored his third of the night. Less than two minutes later, Tupper Saussy was the beneficiary of a misplay by the Jenkins defense and capitalized with the sixth SHS goal.

Goalkeepers Creighton Horst and Trevon Harden combined for 11 saves to preserve the shutout.

“It’s always good to get our first region win,” Blue Devils Head Coach Jared Simonin said following the win. “We had a tough loss against Coffee earlier in the week so to respond like this with a 6-0 win against a really good Jenkins team is always a good thing.”

“Our next game is against Bradwell and that’s always a tough one,” he said. “We’re just going to get back out and not do anything special and keep doing what we do and keep pushing forward,” he said.

Kickoff against Bradwell will be Tuesday night, with the girls kicking off at 5 p.m. and the boys game at 7 p.m. at Womack Field.