Southeast Bulloch head coach Jared Zito said this week you can’t call the Statesboro vs. Southeast Bulloch football game a rivalry until the Jackets win one. Well, it’s a rivalry now, as the Yellow Jackets beat Statesboro for the first time in school history, 23-18, Friday at Fred Shaver Field in Brooklet.
It also was the opening game of the 2024 season for both teams.
“This is huge for the players and fans and the whole Brooklet community,” Zito said. “It wasn’t pretty, but our guys were able to get the job done. They battled the whole way and the biggest thing for me was they were able to close the game out when they needed to.”
Last season, Southeast Bulloch coaches and players felt like if they were close to defeating the Blue Devils. Friday night, the third play of the game set the tone, as Statesboro fumbled on a double reverse and Southeast Bulloch’s Chris Jones scooped up the ball at the 23-yard line and went all the way in for a touchdown.
“That play was huge for us to gain the momentum out of the gates,” Zito said. “We had told the kids to be ready and focused from the start and when the opportunity presented itself, we took advantage.”
The Blue Devils showed plenty of fight, as they would outscore SEB 18-16 the rest of the way. Ultimately, the game came down to who made the biggest mistake, and that would be the first Statesboro drive.
“We felt like it would come down to us not beating ourselves and unfortunately we did that,” Dobson said. “Congratulations to SEB for executing when they had to, but I thought our guys did a great job of not quitting and playing hard all the way down to the final whistle. We have things to clean up, but we have plenty to build on.”
After the scoop and score, the Blue Devils marched right back behind freshman quarterback Beckham Jarrard and capped their drive with an eight-yard touchdown from T.Y. Chambers. The extra point failed to leave the score 7-6.
Southeast Bulloch added a 32-yard field goal by Owen Turner to make it 10-6, which would carry into halftime.
In the second half, the Jackets scored on their first possession, as running back Colby Smith went up the middle, virtually untouched, for a 37-yard touchdown to make it 16-6 as the extra point failed. Jayden Murphy added a 70-yard touchdown run to extend the SEB lead to 23-6 at the end of the third.
Statesboro fought back, getting a one-yard touchdown pass from Jarrard to Gage Newsome to cut the lead to 23-12, but failed to convert a two-point conversion. The Blue Devils then added a two-yard touchdown run by Chambers. The conversion failed again, leaving the score 23-18.
The Jackets were able to run out the clock from there to improve to 1-0 with the remainder of their games being region games. They are off next week and play Islands August 30.
Statesboro will be back in action next Friday as they host Veterans at Womack Field at 7:30 p.m.
