HINESVILLE – A little bit of defense, a couple of doses of special teams and a huge helping of a ball-control offense was enough for the Statesboro Blue Devils to claim a key Region 1-AAAAA win Friday night.
The Devils rallied from 13 points down to upend the Bradwell Institute Tigers 38-28 at Olvey Field/Hokey Jackson Stadium, going to 3-2 on the season and 2-1 in the region. The Tigers slipped to 1-2 in the region and 1-3 overall.
“It was just tremendous guts by our kids,” Blue Devils coach Matt Dobson said. “Just finding a way to win – that’s what it’s all about in high school football.”
After Jahbarri Felix found Carlito Savea behind the Devils secondary for a 39-yard scoring strike, just after the Tigers recovered a Blue Devils fumble, the Tigers led 28-15 with 2:38 left in the third quarter.
Thanks to Rashad Chavers’ 44-yard rumble on third-and-6, the Devils got back within a score on Keon Childers’ second of three touchdowns, a 3-yard run with 1:11 to play in the third quarter. His two-point conversion, the second of the night for the Devils, cut the lead to 28-23.
Statesboro reached the Bradwell 8 on its next drive but Childers got a bad direct snap, and the Tigers took over. Three plays later, though, Dawahyne Chatman lost control of a Felix pass, and Ja’Kori Cope rambled 39 yards for a go-ahead score with 6:11 to play in the game. Childers tacked on another two-point run.
“We had to find a way to get a stop,” Dobson said. “And we used special teams to our advantage to create some possessions. It was just a total team effort. I’m so proud of our guys.”
Childers capped the final drive of the night for Statesboro with a 2-yard TD run with just 1:32 remaining.
Childers ran 45 times for 201 yards. He got Statesboro on the board first – the Devils received the kickoff for the first and second half – on a 1-yard run, capping a 13-play drive that ate up 7:10 off the clock. Davis Harrison found Gage Newson on the two-point pass.
But Bradwell showed its quick-strike ability. On the Tigers’ first snap, Camerson Keeve sprinted 80 yards down the Tigers sideline to bring BI within 8-6.
Keeve’s second TD, an 8-yard run with 8.5 seconds left in the first half, put Bradwell in front 14-8.
Newsome answered with a 9-yard TD run on Statesboro’s opening drive of the second half, set up by the Devils recovering an onside kick, but Felix hit Keeve on a swing pass for an 18-yard score and a 21-15 lead on the next possession.
After Cope’s go-ahead score, the Devils went for a third try at onside kick and got it, leading to Chavers’ clinching score. That ensuing drive chewed up 4:49 off the clock in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils attempted just two passes and didn’t complete either. They ran ball 61 times for a whopping 349 yards, 226 coming in the second half alone.
The running game was an offensive weapon – and a defensive one, too. Keeping the ball meant keeping Bradwell’s high-octane offense on the sidelines.
“We talked to our guys all week. We had to keep the ball away from them,” Dobson said. “That was 100 percent the game plan, offensively and defensively.”
The Blue Devils now enter an off week on a win and having snapped a road hex.
“It’s big to bounce back after a loss and get some momentum going into a bye week,” Dobson said.
