They say you can die of a broken heart — after 15 losses in a row you’d think no loss would be too painful for the Statesboro Blue Devils fan base to endure at this point.
Think again.
After trading haymakers with Liberty County for 48 minutes, Statesboro saw themselves set up for a 43-yard field goal to finally snap a historic winning streak. The snap was good, the hold was good and the kick was in line. But Caleb Dowden -- whose made kicks as long as 58 yards in his career — drove the kick low and into a hard, pushing Liberty County line.
The ball deflected off the outstretched hands of the bulged line, rolling harmlessly back to the ground and sealing the 36-34 win for Liberty County.
“Man I thought we really had a shot with a field goal if we had gotten close enough,” said Statesboro head coach Jeff Kaiser, who leaned against the fence drenched in sweat from the swampy Hinesville conditions. “The kids fought hard. It hurts man.”
Kaiser’s eyes were glazed over with pain — barely able to get words out. He was quick to put blame on himself for what he called a “dumb” play call that would turn the tides in Liberty County’s favor.
After Sage Reese gathered Statesboro’s third interception of the night, the Blue Devils set up at their own 42 with less than two minutes to play. After being stuffed twice on runs, Statesboro tried to set up a shuffle screen to Tupac Lanier — the same play Lanier would score on from 63 yards out in the second quarter.
But an imposing rush of Liberty County’s defensive line forced Davis Wiggins to try and arch his throw over the line, but instead it would wind up in the leaping hands of Markel Johnson who would run unscathed back the other way to put Liberty up 36-34 after a missed PAT.
“The difference in the game was that dumb play call I made,” Kaiser said. “I should have just ran it and punted it. I thought we could get a chunk and be over with it.”
It was a miracle Statesboro was in the game to begin with. You couldn’t have scripted a worse start for the Blue Devils, who in the first seven minutes gave up a 15-play, 80 yard touchdown drive, a safety and a 85-yard kick return touchdown. In all honestly the Blue Devils had no reason to try and fight back, but did anyway.
Statesboro defense would come to life in the second quarter, shutting down Liberty County’s run game and nabbing a pick-six courtesy of Harrison Hughes to propel Statesboro on a 20-0 run. It was a refreshing change of pace from last week’s defensive performance where Statesboro gave up over 500 yards of offense at 7.3 yards a play.
While special teams was a strength for Statesboro last week, it would cost them dearly Friday. The safety was set up on a muffed kickoff which saw the ball roll out of bounds at the one, the kick return touchdown, two missed field goals and another long punt return that set up the Panthers at the Statesboro ten for a score in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got to find some speed on special teams, I don’t know if we have any,” Kaiser said. “Those special teams errors cost us along with penalties.”
If one thing’s certain, Statesboro (0-2) can’t afford to hang their heads this week. They’ve got to dust off before Screven County (2-0) comes to town, who’ve won their first two games by a combined 93-33 score.