The Statesboro Blue Devils have a long history of winning on the football field including winning state championships as recently as 2001 and 2005. The Devils advanced to the semifinals in 2010, but — entering this season — hadn't won a state playoff game since 2013.
This didn’t seem like the year that streak would end. Statesboro lost to Bradwell in the final minutes a few weeks ago, and then fell to Ware County 50-0 the following week. With postseason hopes hanging by a thread, the Blue Devils finally put things together with a 35-0 victory over Jenkins in their season finale which, coupled with a Bradwell loss, gave them the No. 3 seed in the state playoffs.
Facing a perennial playoff opponent in the No. 2 seeded Tucker Tigers Statesboro went on the road and battled back and forth before pulling away late in the first half to take a 35-20 halftime lead, and finished the upset 49-27 to run their playoff record against Tucker to 4-0.
“The message in our locker room the past couple of weeks is that nobody else matters except the people in our locker room,” said coach Matt Dobson. “We have told them not to listen to the outside noise, and that is another big message this week. Everybody doubted us, and now you have people singing our praises, and we are still saying do not listed to the outside noise.”
The biggest improvement has been on the Blue Devil offense. Through their first nine games of the season Statesboro was averaging just over eight points per game. In their last two games they have averaged 42 points per contest.
“I think the offensive line has shown the most improvement,” said Dobson. “They are being physical and moving people off the ball. It took some time with injuries but they are really starting to click. I also have to say Kam Mikell isn’t ready to be done playing high school football. He has taken things over offensively. He is running the football with tremendous effort and has done a good job throwing the ball as well. I have been so proud of his effort.”
This week Dobson knows Statesboro will be in the underdog role once again as they travel to No. 1 seed Harris County. The Tigers are 10-1 and have won 10 straight games including an opening round 42-20 victory over Ola. The Tigers are led by 5-11, 235-pound running back Mataye Youman who is averaging over 117 yards rushing per games and has 17 touchdowns. Quarterback Levi Watson has thrown for over 1,300 yards and eight touchdowns. The Tiger defense is only surrendering just over 14 points per game.
“I have coached against Harris County coach Tommy Watson when he was at Lambert,” Dobson said. “When you look at the tape, they are a physical team who run the ball well and they are just sound in what they do. They are pretty simple in that they run the football and they know how to stop the run on defense. I think there are a lot of similarities in what we do and what they do. It is going to come down to who can run the ball more effectively and stay away from the turnovers.”
Statesboro and Harris County kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Hamilton.
