The Statesboro Blue Devils are two wins away from doing something they haven’t done in nearly 15 years. A 43-20 win over Evans last Friday put the Blue Devils at 6-2 overall and tied for first place in the region with a record of 5-1. Friday’s win also guaranteed the Blue Devils of their first winning season since 2013.

Dobson went into Friday’s game at Evans wondering how his team would respond after upsetting Brunswick the week before but he was pleased with the focus they showed on the road.

“I loved the way we came out against Evans jumping out to a big lead,” Dobson said. “We have emphasized starting quickly and we accomplished that Friday as they showed maturity. We didn’t look ahead and that will have to be the plan once again this week against South Effingham.”

The Blue Devil offense did well in the three weeks they were playing without quarterback Beckham Jarrad posting wins over Bradwell, Lakeside and Brunswick. With Jarrard back, the offense had their best performance of the season posting 43 points with Jarrard throwing for 243 yards and three touchdowns and Keon Childers recording three scores as he is now leading the state in Class 5-A with 20 touchdowns and also has over 1,000 yards rushing.

This week the Blue Devils run into another team on the rise with a chance to do something they haven’t done in a while. The South Effingham Mustangs have won three of their last four games and have an outside chance of making the state playoffs for the first time since 2019.

The Mustangs are led by junior running back Khyran White who is averaging over 155 yard per game, while freshman quarterback Liam Coburn leads the passing attack.

“They have won four of their last six games and the most impressive thing is they are winning close games,” Dobson said. “They have won two of those games in overtime and when you are trying to rebuild a program like coach Loren Purvis is doing there that is a key. They have transitioned on offense to more of a Wing-T under center. They are slowing the game down and on defense they have been really good at stopping teams on third down. One thing that has stood out is they are +4 in the turnover margin in their wins and they are -4 in their losses. Ball control is going to be key Friday.”

Statesboro and South Effingham are scheduled for a 7:30 start Friday at Womack Field.