BRUNSWICK — A track meet broke out in the opening 24 minutes of Friday’s scrimmage here at Glynn County Stadium before the Ware County and Brunswick defenses showed up for the next 12 minutes.
The Gators and Pirates, both playoff participants in their respective classes in 2024, put on a first half offensive explosion combining for 10 touchdowns in a 34-all stalemate through three quarters of varsity action. The third quarter was contested in a heavy rain shower with neither team scoring.
The two junior varsity teams played a scoreless final 12 minutes combining for three turnovers — an interception by the Ware County defense and two interceptions by the Brunswick defense.
Gators’ head coach Jason Strickland and his staff will begin making corrections Monday as preparations get underway for Friday’s (August 15) season opener against visiting Class AA Appling County.
Ware County, which finished 6-6 a year ago, are ranked No. 7 in Class 4A in the pre-season Maxwell rankings. The Pi-rates, who had to forfeit 10 wins for using an ineligible player in 2024 to finish 0-14, are No. 3.
“We’ve got a lot of things to clean up,” said Strickland after the scrimmage. “I saw some good things tonight, effort being No. 1, but we made a lot of mistakes. The good thing is those mistakes are correctable.”
Offensively, the Gators accumulated 276 yards in the first half getting 145 rushing yards and 131 yards in the passing game. Five of the seven possessions ended with touchdowns.
Defensively, big plays were the downfall as the Pirates totaled 299 yards (212 rush, 87 pass) in the opening half. Brunswick running back Nigel Gardner (nine carries, 167 yards) scored on first play runs of 82 and 80 yards sandwiching the scores around three more touchdowns.
The Pirates, who returned significant parts from their historic offensive campaign last season, also scored on a thirdand- long 45-yard pass. They added an 87-yard kick return for a score and recorded a defensive touchdown.
“I think the first half was dealing with first game jitters,” Strickland said. “We didn’t do a good job of tackling in the first half and fitting the gaps. We did a much better job in the second half. In saying that, we’ve (coaches) got to develop more defensive linemen for a rotation.
“Offensively, we (coaches) had to make some changes because we wanted to run more two and three tight end sets. We were limited to a one tight set.
“Tay (shaun Franklin) and “Little” (Jamir Boyd) ran well. Isaiah (White, quarterback) played well. I thought he did a good job of keeping his composure. He checked to a different play on about 30 percent of our snaps.”
Ware County took advantage of the Pirates having just one starter returning to their front seven defensive alignment from 2024. The Gators The Gators scored on their first two possessions going 55 yards and 66 yards.
White (9-of-14, interception, 149 yards, two touchdowns) connected with Ja’Londi O’Hara (five catches, 111 yards) for a 51yard score with Franklin (10 carries, 48 yards) bulling his way in from a yard out for the second TD.
Jeffery Gonzalez kicked the first PAT with a bobbled snap foiling the second. He finished with four PATs on five attempts.
Brunswick followed the first Gators’ touchdown with an 82-yard jaunt by Gardner on first snap and the second with an 87-yard kick return by Lewis, each tying the score at 7-all and 13-all, with 6:56 left in the opening quarter.
The Pirates grabbed their only lead at 20-13 1:03 before the end of the first period on a strip sack of White.
Ja’Mario Rice’s 45-yard return (two returns, 35.5 average) of the ensuing kick set up a game-tying 12-play, 54-yard possession by Ware County eating up 5:31 spanning the first and second quarter. The drive ended with White scooting three yards round eight end. Gonzalez knotted the score at 20-apiece.
A Lojuan Blue interception two plays later set up a very short field for the Gators. White connected with Gunter Fore (two catches, 20 yards) on a drag route capping a twoplay, 20-yard scoring possession giving Ware County a 27-20 lead just 5:59 before intermission.
Brunswick’s response was a game-tying nineplay, 88-yard drive in 3:27 with quarterback Grant Moore (5-of-10, interception, 87 yards) hooking up with Waseem Murray (four catches, 68 yards) for 45 yards on third-and-nine for a 27-all deadlock with 2:25 left in the half.
Jah Evans’ 44-yard kick return (two for 38.5 average) to midfield set up an eight-play scoring drive capped by White’s nineyard swing pass to Franklin with 26 seconds left in the half for a short-lived 34-27 advantage.
Gardner broke off an 80yard jaunt on the first snap after Gonzalez’s kick bounded into the endzone sending the teams to intermission tied at 34-apiece.
After a combined 575yard explosion in the first half, the two teams generated 41 yards during the third and final varsity quarter.
Tayshaun Franklin bulls his way into the end zone over two Brunswick defenders in the first quarter of Friday’s scrimmage at Glynn County Stadium. Franklin scored a second touchdown late in the second period on a nine-yard pass from quarterback Isaiah White. Photo By BO CARTER
