The Statesboro Blue Devils lost their season opener to Southeast Bulloch 23-18, but head coach Matt Dobson said this week upon reflection there were plenty of positives he took from the loss.

"We sustained long drives at times and converted some third downs,” Dobson said. “These are some things we struggled with last year. Looking at the tape from the game we actually played a little better against them this year in my opinion but we just weren’t able to come away with a win.”

Statesboro started freshman Bekham Jarrard at quarterback and he wound up completing 16 of 23 attempts for 180 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

“The offensive line did a great job protecting him and he did a good job of keeping his composure,” Dobson said. “We talked all week about completing passes and he was right at 70 percent for the game. He got hit a few times and it never shook him which I am really proud of. He is going to be a key part of this football program for the next four years and is going to lead us to a lot of wins.”

Dobson said there were plenty of small things he felt were fixable that frustrated him Friday night but he feels those things can get worked out this week in practice.

“We had some special teams miscues but other than that most things we didn’t do well are easily fixed,” Dobson said. “We also had a few ball security issues we need to clean up. Overall, I was pleased on offense and defense and hopefully we can make big strides from week one to week two as you typically do.”

The Blue Devils will host Veterans Friday night in their home opener at Womack Field. Veterans comes in on the heels of a 41-26 loss to Jones County and will be led by 5-9, 160-pound running back Justin Shine who had 106 yards rushing and two touchdowns against Jones County.

“I really don’t know that much about Veterans as I have never coached against them in the past,” Dobson said. “They looked really good on offense last week against Jones County. They are good at running the football and are led by senior Justin Shine who is fast and elusive. On defense they don’t have a lot of seniors but they do a good job of keeping everything in front of them and don’t give up big plays. They struggled a lot in the kicking game and that was probably the reason they lost Friday."

Statesboro and Veterans are scheduled for a 7:30 kickoff Friday at Womack Field.