For the second-straight year weather delayed the scheduled game between Statesboro and Southeast Bulloch for nearly two hours, and for the second-straight year the Blue Devils made it worth the wait. Statesboro dominated the run game in route to a 44-7 victory.
Last year the Blue Devils leaned on the run as they carried the ball 48 times. Friday it was a similar script as 48 carries resulted in 456 yards compared to just nine total rushing yards for the Yellow Jackets. Quarterback Beckham Jarrard led the way on the ground for Statesboro with 147 yards and one touchdown, while former Jacket D.J. Brooks ran over his old team for 82 yards on only eight carries with a pair of touchdowns. Backup quarterback Gideon Fulcher added 82 yards and one score, with M.J. Kimble having 75 yards and a touchdown and Jhaden Perkins rounded things out with 51 yards and one touchdown.
“We had some adversity with the weather and we talked all pre-season about how to respond to those things and I thought we did a great job here tonight,” Statesboro coach Matt Dobson said. “I thought we played physical on both sides of the football. We played with physicality on offense. We threw the ball a little early and then ran the ball most of the rest of the game very effectively.
The Statesboro defense had the most question marks coming in but answered the bell Friday allowing SEB only nine yards rushing with 10 tackles for loss and one sack.
“We knew we had to stop the run and we did that tonight,” Dobson said. “All of them played their butts off. The guys up front and linebackers shut the run down and our defensive backs just stayed home and prevented the big plays from happening.”
Southeast Bulloch squandered a couple scoring opportunities in the first quarter. They got down to the two-yard line and ended up missing a short field goal attempt, and later got down to the 21-yard line and missed another field goal wide left.
Statesboro scored on their first possession of the game. Jarrad took off for an apparent 66-yard touchdown. A holding call brought it back but on the very next play from the same distance Jarrard tucked the ball and sprinted 66-yards again. The two-point try was good as Davis Harrison ran in it for an 8-0 lead.
After playing linebacker for most of the first quarter D.J. Brooks made the most of his limited rushing attempts in the second quarter. On fourth and one Brooks ran over a couple defenders for a 13-yard pickup to the 10-yard line. On the very next play he plowed into the end zone. Mason Sellers extra point made it a 15-0 Statesboro lead. The Blue Devils had a pair of turnovers in the second quarter including a fumble inside the three-yard line and the score remained 15-0 at the half.
In the third Statesboro began to impose their will strictly running the ball. Gideon Fulcher came in at quarterback and scored on a four-yard carry to take a 23-0 lead. Southeast Bulloch answered with their lone touchdown of the game as Aaden Peterson took off on a 41-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 23-7. Statesboro quickly responded after a few nice first down runs by Fulcher. Brooks then ran over a couple more SEB players on a 20-yard touchdown run up the middle for a 30-7 lead.
The Blue Devils pulled most of their starters in the fourth quarter where M.J. Kimble added a 52-yard touchdown run and Jhaden Perkins wrapped things up scoring from 11-yard away.
In his first game as the Jackets head coach Jason Anthony felt his team struggled on defense and while he could have beaten himself up he credited Statesboro coach Matt Dobson for some inspiration after the game.
“He came up to me and said it’s never as bad as you think it is and it’s never as good as you think it is,” Anthony said. “He is a good man and they just beat us up and down the field tonight. I thought we held our heads up but that is a very good team we lost to tonight. We need to get back to the drawing board and fix some issues we had and be ready for next week.”
Southeast Bulloch sophomore quarterback J.K. Small did manage to throw for 96-yards on 9 of 18 passing with one interception.
Next up Statesboro will host Burke County Friday at Womack Field while Southeast looks to rebound as they host East Laurens Friday at 7:30 at Fred Shaver Field.
