The Statesboro High School Blue Devils defeated the Evans Knights by a score of 36-35 on Friday, Oct. 23.
Both teams found their most success running the ball, Statesboro totaling 285 rushing yards on the day while Evans piled up 297 yards of its own on the ground.
Leading the way for both teams’ ground games was a running back donning the No. 2 jersey. For the Blue Devils, No. 2 was DJ Brooks, who had 136 yards and three touchdowns on 28 attempts. Brycen Gault was the usual suspect for the Knights, with 20 carries for 205 yards and two scores.
Neither team had a strong passing game, Statesboro High finding 151 air yards, a touchdown and an interception on 26 attempts. Evans numbers weren’t any better, as quarterback Grant Deal only threw the ball six times for 54 yards, a score, and a pick.
Statesboro quarterback Beckham Jarrard came through in the clutch, though, going five-for-nine on his team’s final (and game-winning) drive. A magical play, akin to something out of “Friday Night Lights,” gave the Blue Devils the win. Blue Devils’ coach Matt Dobson himself admitted this was a game that exemplified the best qualities of high school Football.
“I hate that somebody had to lose, today, but I’m glad it wasn’t us,” he said. “Evans played a hell of a game. Hats off to them. This is what high school football is all about, guys battling and making plays. This was fun, this was the purest form of the sport.”
Evans established themselves as soon as they got the opening kickoff, with Gault making a 63-yard house call on the first play of the game. The Blue Devils slowly but surely fired back with a grinding, 15-play, 10-minute drive, capped off by a five-yard touchdown pass from Jarrard to receiver Kevin Sello. A failed two-point conversion kept them a point behind.
Evans would extend their lead to eight with a nine-play drive of their own. The Knights defense forced a three-and-out, and an otherworldly 32-yard one-handed catch by Saintwain Roberts put the Knights up by 15. This turned out to be Deal’s singular completion of the half, though Evans looked ready to run away with the game.
The Blue Devils refused to be exorcised, though, and a 35-yard rush by Sello set up Brooks to punch in a score from the one-yard-line. He’d then manage what he couldn’t on the first drive and put the two-point conversion away as well, making it 14-21. A terrible kickoff attempt by kicker Mason Sellers gave Evans the ball at the 45, but an ill-advised deep ball by Deal resulted in an interception by Izayah Perez of Statesboro. With just under three minutes left in the half, Jarrard made two big completions to put his squad in the red zone and threaten a score before throwing an interception of his own at the 11-yard-line with 13 seconds left, sending the game to halftime.
The second half was a pure slugfest. Both teams chipped away at the other defense on the ground, the Blue Devils setting the tone with a five-minute scoring drive with no rushing attempts; a PAT by Sellers tied the game at 21. Roberts got all the way out to Statesboro’s 45 on a 45-yard return of the ensuing kickoff, and five of Evans’ own run plays put them back up by seven. A twelve-play drive with just one pass attempt saw Brooks find pay dirt yet again, and another PAT retied the game. With 11 and a half minutes of clock left in the game, Evans would do its best Statesboro impression and kill eight minutes of clock, doing it all on the ground, not once attempting a pass in 14 plays.
A miraculous goal-line stand by the Blue Devils, where the stopped the Knights’ run game four times in a row from the 1-yard line, kept it tied with just over three minutes to play. All seemed lost however, as Evans’ Christian Scott managed a scoop-and-score on a fumbled scramble by Jarrard.
Now down 35-28, Statesboro bit the bullet and threw the ball. They steadily dinked and dunked their way downfield until a big 18-yard completion, once again to Sello, put the Blue Devils at the Knights’ 40. Evans’ Alejandro Moss had a huge sack of seven yards, but then the unbelievable happened.
With roughly 30 seconds left, Jarrard found Todd Easter at about the thirty-four, and completed it to him despite the swarths of Knights defensive backs. As Easter was being tackled, he lateraled the ball to teammate Ma’jerrin Kimble, who took it 35 yards to the house.
Only down by one, Statesboro decided to go for two, and the interior offensive line dominated to allow Brooks to walk in.
Evans was able to get to the 50-yard line before using their last timeout with a second left on the clock, but Deal’s Hail Mary attempt was broken up to end the game.
Dobson admitted that the lateral wasn’t an entirely improvised play by his team.
“It’s something we’ve practiced in years past, though I’m not sure we have this season,” said Dobson. “We brought it up on the sideline during our last timeout, and the guys executed it phenomenally.”
Evans Coach Lee Hutto was clearly disappointed in the result, watching the replay of Statesboro’s game-winning trick on the sideline TV after talking to his guys.
“We played super hard, and we’re still a young team,” he said. “We are starting 10 sophomores. We’re just going to keep pushing on and prepare for ARC. Statesboro is super talented, and we showed we can hang with anyone, so we just have to keep pushing.”
Evans (3-5) will go on the road to take on a strong Richmond Academy (6-2) team on Oct. 30. ARC beat Groves High School 67-0 on Oct. 23. Statesboro (5-3) will head to Jenkins (3-5) on Oct. 30.
Cooper Brady is an Augusta University student.
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