Ware County tuned up for its season-opener next week at Bainbridge by outscoring Brunswick 2114 in the varsity portion of a scrimmage Friday night in Memorial Stadium.
The Gators’ offense produced a pair of touchdowns while the defense added the third in the three quarters of play against the Pirates.
Brunswick’s junior varsity outscored its Ware County counterparts, 12-6 in the final quarter that had both offenses possessing the ball for six straight minutes.
“We had a lot of effort and got a lot of guys on film,” Ware County head coach Jason Strickland said. “We can all get a lot better, players and coaches.”
Running backs Ma’Siyer McKoy and Jimmy Taylor each ran for touchdowns for the Gators offense, both taking a direct snap from the center as a “wildcat” quarterback. T.J. Turner had the other touchdown on a fumble recovery in the end zone after a high shotgun snap deep in Pirates’ territory sailed over Walker’s head.
Taylor, who’s just a sophomore, ran 16 times for 47 yards against a de-fense that routinely had eight, and often nine, men in the box. McKoy, who opened on defense, added 19 yards on five carries.
“Jimmy showed how good he can be,” Strickland said.
Quarterback Isaiah White overcame a slow start that included an interception on his first pass attempt to finish 5-of-12 for 109 yards. He was perfect on three passes in the second half for 71 of the total.
“Isaiah responded in the second half like we knew he would,” Strickland said. “We didn’t do well on first down (in the first half) and ended up with too many second-and-longs. It was hard to get any rhythm going.”
Jeffrey Gonzalez converted both his extra point attempts and punted three times for a 42.5 average. The left-footed kicker also was just wide right on a field goal attempt from just shy of 50 yards that had plenty of distance to spare.
“Gonzo was elite tonight,” Strickland said of the two-way junior. “Our special teams were great.”
Included in the unit’s play was a 43-yard return on the second-half kickoff by Davion Jones, a senior defensive back. He also had an interception as did freshman cornerback Mehki Porter.
The game served as the debut of a rebuilt offensive line after the graduation of all its starters and two key backups, and it wasn’t an easy start against the Pirates’ alignment.
“Those guys showed a lot of guts against what they faced,” Strickland said. “We think we have the right guys in there. They just need to play.”
The Gators got on the scoreboard first after a 41yard punt from Gonzalez pinned the Pirates at their own seven. Quarterback Keygan Walker couldn’t pull in the high snap on first down, and when he went into the end zone to retrieve it, he was faced with a swarm of defenders.
Walker tried to bat the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety, but didn’t get enough of the ball. Turner pounced on it for with 5:10 left in the first quarter.
“The defense will have to hold us for a little while until we get some offensive consistency,” Strickland said of a unit that recorded 10 plays of zero or negative yards on the night.
The visitors drove from their 20 after the kickoff for a third-and-six play from the Ware County 12. Jones, however, killed the threat when he timed his jump against receiver Israel Henry just inside the goal line to pull in the pass and return it 25 yards.
The Gators put together their most consistent drive of the night, moving to a first down at the Brunswick 30. After Taylor got three yards on first down, White misfired and was then sacked for a sixyard loss.
On came Gonzalez whose kick from a step inside the 40-yard line just missed right with 8:01 left in the half.
The Pirates drew even on the ensuing possession, moving from their 20 to a first down at the Ware County 30. Nigel Gardner, who led Brunswick with 110 yards on 20 carries, lost three yards before Walker misfired on a pass.
The senior found Shawne Simmons on a fly pattern on the next play in the back of the end zone for the touchdown. The first of two extra point kicks on the night from Braxton Davis tied the game with 4:30 until intermission.
Jones turned what looked like a possible disaster on the second half kickoff into a success with his return.
Davis sent a spinning line drive kick toward Porter on the right side of the return formation. Porter ran toward the kick to catch it, but the ball bounced off his chest.
Jones, who was on the other side in the two-returner set, was running across the field and pulled in the ball as it bounded off the ground and quickly found a seam for the big return.
“Not the way you draw it, but we thought we could get a good return with those guys back there,” Strickland said. “The others blocked it really well.”
After an illegal procedure penalty, White found Ja’Londi O’Hara alone in the Pirates’ secondary for a first down at the Brunswick five. McKoy scored two plays later on a four-yard run with Gonzalez adding the extra point for a 14-7 lead with 10:31 to go in the period.
Porter’s diving interception on the following possession gave the Gators a first down at the Brunswick 26. White hit O’Hara on a tunnel screen for 24 yards on the first play and Taylor finished it off with 8:47 left for the game-winning points and a 21-7 cushion.
“We were going to throw it on every down in the second half if we had to. We had to get Ja’Londi involved,” Strickland said of the senior, who finished with three catches for 81 yards.
Brunswick finished off the scoring with their best drive of the night, moving 92 yards in 11 plays and a penalty for a touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Walker to Henry with 1:17 remaining.
In the final period, Brunswick’s reserves had the ball on offense first and put together two scoring drives starting at the Pirates’ 30, mostly on the passing of quarterback Eli Overton. Jacob Johnson scored both touchdowns on runs of three and 27 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Kieren Brown engineered the Gators’ 70-yard scoring drive which culminated on a three-yard run by De’Shavius Gibson with just more than a minute left in their offensive time.
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