BEARVILLE — Fresh off a season-opening 20-7 victory against Coosa Christian School, secondranked Pierce County seeks a 12th 2-0 start in 15 seasons Friday night when it heads across the Satilla River to Caney Bay.
Brantley County (0-2) will be battling to avoid a seventh three-game losing streak to start a season since 2000 and second straight under secondyear head coach David Shores.
BCHS fell 32-12 in its home opener to Charlton County (2-0), which entered the Class A DII Top 10 after beating McIntosh County Academy 40-35 last week, and 19-6 to Windsor Forest in Savanah in a weather-delayed game Friday night.
PCHS and the Herons will meet for the 43rd time Friday night in Caney Bay in a series that dates to 1981. The Bears have captured 14 consecutive games since 2011 to take a commanding 29-13 series lead.
Pierce County has not surrendered more than eight points in the last seven meetings with the Herons and in 10 of the last 13 encounters.
“Luckily, we are at home against a very good Pierce County team,” said Shores. “I can’t wait to see how our team responds after two disappointing losses. I think we’ll come ready to play.”
“The biggest thing I’ve seen is they look like they normally do — really scrappy,” said PCHS head coach Ryan Herring. “Against us they’ll play real scrappy. That’s what I expect for four quarters.”
Brantley County changed its offensive scheme heading into the 2025 cam paign. The Herons are operating out the old Georgia Southern “Hambone” offense with two slots and a fullback. They will also break into a spread look.
“They (Herons) are running a little bit of the double slot option stuff and a little bit of spread stuff,” said Herring. “That’s two different offenses to prepare for. The quarterback (Kaden Hendrix) has a good arm, throws the ball well and runs the ball well.
“We can’t let him sit in the pocket and have all day to throw it. We’ve also got to be able to contain him when’s flushed because he runs better than what you might think.
“The fullback (Malachi Saunders) has good speed and is a tough runner. We’ve got to be able to stop the dive play because he went 80 yards against Windsor Forest.”
PCHS’s rush defense allowed Coosa Christian just 12 yards in the opener on 14 carries against a retooled defensive unit replacing seven starters from a season ago.
“That’s 12 too many,” said Herring. “That’s one thing we’re going try to do is stop the run. I’m never going to let the opponent turn and hand the ball off. That’s been my motto and our motto since I’ve been here.
“We want to stop the run. You have to get eight first downs or put together 10-play drives. We didn’t play mistake free (vs. Coosa), but I thought we played hard. That was the first time for a lot of those guys ever being in a battle on Friday night. We had new linebackers and new defensive linemen who were out there and we’re ( coaches) screaming for dear life on every play.”
The Herons will employ a base 3-4 defensive alignment. Herring expects to see more looks.
“They’ve shown a lot of different looks,” said Herring. “It’s a 3-4 base, but they can get a lot of different looks into it. They will try to give us some headaches with some different looks.”
Coosa Christian’s defense caused problems all night, especially in the first half when the Bears managed just 63 yards.
“They (Conquerors) gave us some exotic looks,” said Herring of the offensive struggles. “We missed some little opportunities, but it was tough. We will learn a lot from what they were able to do against us.
“We had a quarterback (Drake Dowling) who didn’t play football last year and six of our seven linemen who didn’t play much and we (coaches) don’t know their names yet. It was a battle in that first game.”
One area Herring and his offensive coaches are looking to improve on is the wide zone running game.
“We’re still a work in progress, but we really need to get to the zone game going,” he said. “Basically, we need to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
