Following their first loss of the season, the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets will look to regroup as they host Johnson High School Friday in Brooklet.
“We didn’t bring our ‘A’ game in the first half (against Calvary Day),” SEB Head Coach Jared Zito said of his team’s 40-6 loss. “We had lots of execution errors, lots of mental errors. We played hard, but we had too many mental mistakes and turned the ball over.”
Zito saw a much better performance from the Yellow Jackets in the second half.
“We showed we can play and compete at that level,” he said.
Southeast Bulloch now turns its attention to Johnson High School as the Atomsmashers come to Brooklet for another region 3-AAA matchup.
Johnson comes into Friday’s matchup at 1-2 on the season (1-1 in region play), coming off a 14-8 victory over Islands last week.
“They always have a lot of athletes and kids who can run,” Zito said. “It’s a challenge to tackle them in the open field.”
Offensively, Johnson lines up in the Wing-T and Zito said it’ll be important for his team to play sound defense and swarm tackle to slow down the Atomsmasher offense.
The Atomsmashers are led by Isaiah Scott on offense. The senior running back has 210 yards and a touchdown on the season. Scott also has six receptions so far in 2024 for 84 yards and a receiving touchdown.
Defensively, Zito expects to see Johnson lined up with eight defenders in the box to try to shut down the running game.
“They’re going to bring some pressure with their linebackers and we have to be prepared for that,” he said. “We haven’t seen this defense all year.”
Zito said the blocking angles will be different than the defenses the Yellow Jackets have faced so far this year.
The Yellow Jackets (2-1, 1-1), meanwhile, continue to be led by the three-headed monster in the backfield of Colby Smith, Jayden Murphy and Quentin Reed. The trio has combined for nearly 600 yards on the ground and six touchdowns through three games.
“The main thing is we need to get back to being consistent, paying attention to detail and playing our style of football,” Zito said.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Fred Shaver Field in Brooklet.
