The Statesboro Blue Devils rebounded nicely from two straight losses. Last week, they went on the road and were leading 43-0 at the half before putting their JV in for the second half and coming away with a 49-14 victory over Groves to improve to 4-2 on the season.
Despite playing a team that had not won a game this year, Statesboro coach Matt Dobson felt it was important to work on the Blue Devils passing game, an area they had struggled with.
“We wanted to get some guys some touches if for no other reason to help their confidence,” Dobson said. “It’s one thing to catch a ball in practice but it’s another to actually do it in a game under the lights. We were able to get multiple guys touchdowns who had not gotten one in a while, or in some cases all season. Hopefully that gives them some confidence going into this week.”
The Augusta area hasn’t been a hotbed for football over the past 10 years or so. With that in mind in the preseason it looked as though the trips to Augusta would be successful for Statesboro, but Richmond Academy has proven to be a tough team.
The Musketeers come in with a 4-2 record and their only two losses are to Benedictine and Ware County, the same two teams Statesboro lost to. With the exception of last week’s 30-0 loss to Ware Co., ARC was averaging 36 points per game and Dobson knows this could be a dangerous matchup.
“This is probably one the best football teams they have had over the last 10 or 20 years over there,” Dobson said. “They have a lot of guys who are athletic and elusive and can make short runs into a long touchdown. Their quarterback reminds me a lot of our quarterback Beckham Jarrard. He can throw the ball well but he can also scramble and run when he needs to. If you look at their film from last year the biggest difference is how they have improved on the lines of scrimmage on offense and defense.”
Quarterback Carson Hand is 6-2 and 200 pounds and has already thrown for 915 yards and seven touchdowns. He has also rushed for three scores. Leading rusher Jay’Andre Brown is averaging eight at 100 yards per game and Dobson knows ARC has weapons at skill position that can break free for big plays, something the Blue Devils have struggled with in their two losses.
“Last week we started preparing a little for ARC,” Dobson said. “We’ve made a couple personnel changes as well as installing some things schematically that we think will help with some of those problems we had with giving up big plays because that is really what has hurt our defense.”
Statesboro and Richmond Academy are set for a 7:30 start Friday in Augusta.
