SAVANNAH – The Statesboro Blue Devils got just what they needed Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

And they got it from all three phases of the game.

The Blue Devils took control in the second half and posted a 31-21 win over Jenkins in a pivotal Region 1-AAAAA game, improving to 6-3 on the year and 3-3 in the region.

“It’s a big win for sure,” Devils coach Matt Dobson said. “Wins against good, physical, athletic teams are hard to come by. Our guys did a great job tonight.”

Trailing 21-14 in the third quarter, the Devils went 83 yards in 10 plays, the biggest Beckham Jarrard’s 42-yard pass to Matthew White, who outfought two Jenkins defenders for the ball.

D.J. Brooks powered in from 2 yards out with 1:12 to go in the third, and Mason Sellers’ point after tied the game at 17-17.

The Devils defense, which gave up 203 yards of offense in the first half, held the Warriors without a first down in the second half – and set up Statesboro’s go-ahead score.

Adrian Brewton recovered Tesean Rhodes’ fumble at the Warriors 16, and two plays later, Brooks barged in from 2 yards out again for a 28-21 lead with 8:01 to play.

The special teams got in the act, blocking a punt on Jenkins’ next possession. That led to Sellers’ 26-yard field goal with 3:41 remaining in the game.

The kicking game wasn’t done, either, as Davis Harrison recovered his own squib kick that deflected off a Warriors up man. Gideon Fulcher picked up 9 yards on third-and-3 to prolong the possession and enable the Devils to run out the rest of the game clock.

Getting contributions from all three phases in the win was a welcome sight to Dobson.

“It’s huge. We haven’t done it a lot this year,” he said. “We’ve played really well on offense and early in the year, we were really good on defense. It’s been hard to put it together. I thought that second half, they really put it together.”

Harrison’s first onside kick attempt opened the game, and the Devils recovered. They turned that into a double pass that Jarrard caught, and with three linemen clearing the way, for a 21-yard touchdown.

Dobson made the decision to start the game with an onside kick long before the opening kickoff. In fact, he made up his mind last Saturday.

“As soon as I watched their kickoff return team and saw how good they were,” he said, “I knew we were going to do that.”

He also wanted to capitalize on the momentum from last week’s thrilling win over Evans.

“I didn’t want there to be an emotional hangover from last week,” Dobson said. “That’s what we thought could get us going.”

Jenkins struck on its second possession, as Jaylon Elliott took the inside reverse and cut back at the Devils 35 on his way to a 42-yard touchdown run.

Another big passing play set up the Devils’ next score. Brooks caught Jarrard’s pass on a wheel route and raced down the sideline for a 78-yard gain, setting up Fulcher’s 3-yard TD run with 5:30 to go in the first half.

The Warriors eschewed the usual Wing-T attack for their next score, with Printess McMullen connecting with Elliott on a 26-yard touchdown strike.

Jenkins’ speed came into play again on their next possession, when the Warriors went 78 yards in two plays – the final 73 coming on a Rhodes’ touchdown run as he sprinted down the left sideline and then cut back across the field, outracing the Blue Devils defense, to put Jenkins up 21-14 with 31.4 seconds to go in the first half.

At No. 21 in the PSR rankings before Friday night, and with Wayne County remaining on the regular season schedule, Friday night’s win also serves to boost the Devils’ chances of making the state playoffs.

“We’re in a good position,” Dobson said. “We have one more opportunity. It’s all a little bit of a gamble about who you match up with. We just control what we can control and tonight was another opportunity to do that.”