CANEY BAY — Four weeks into the 2025 season has passed with Brantley County getting its first open date ahead of Region 1-A play.
Head coach David Shores believes his 0-4 squad needs to look in the mirror to regroup and rededicate over the final seven weeks of the regular season with 10th-ranked Jeff Davis on the horizon September 19 in Hazlehurst.
The meeting will be the 24th in the series the Yellow Jackets lead 15-8. BCHS shocked the then 4-0 seventhranked Jeff Davis squad 28-21 at home last season.
“That’s a really good football team,” said Shores. “I know they’re probably out for blood this year after how things went down last year.”
Before game-planning begins, Shores will put his team through team and individual drills this week.
“We’re going back to fundamentals and hopefully get our heads right,” said Shores of what’s in store during the open week. We were 0-4 this time last year going in to region play. We’ve got to stay in front of the things that are important, play for each other, play for the guy next to you and not worry about the scoreboard.
“We’re going back to the drawing board. We’re (coaches) going to make some tweaks offensively. We’re going to try to make progress, try to improve in our positions and help improve the units on the field.
“We’ve got to get back to blocking and tackling and doing a better job of fitting up on defense where we’re supposed to. It’s about consistency. We’ll (coaches) see someone make a mistake and the very next play play it perfect. You wonder as a coach how that happens.” Brantley County has suffered losses to Charlton County (32-12) and Pierce County (44-0) at home. The Herons have dropped road games to Windsor Forest (19-6) and Vidalia (35-0).
BCHS returned to the practice field Monday (September 8) with short abbreviated practices and a Friday off day.
“Tt’s time to get our heads right and our bodies right,” the second-year coach said. “We’ve got guys banged up. Peyton Perez suffered a high ankle sprain against Vidalia. We’re licking our wounds right now and trying to find our way. This is a perfect time for an open week, that’s for sure.”
Shores said Kaden Hendrix is his quarterback moving forward. He hopes to get Malachi Saunders back from an ankle injury against the Bears which limited his playing time at Vidalia.
“Malachi was banged up and didn’t get many reps last week,” said Shores. “Hopefully he’ll be a little bit closer to full speed. We’ll (coaches) see if he can get going.”
With Saunders getting just two carries for four yards against the Indians, Shores and his offensive coaches utilized five other skill position players to carry the workload.
Mason Kicklighter, Payton Hanchey, Tallon Collins, Daesean Hutcherson and Perez combined for 34 carries and 100 yards with Kicklighter leading the way with 69 yards on 13 attempts.
Shores believes the ball has not bounced Brantley County’s way as well as making costly mistakes.
“I talked with Dean Fabrizio (Lee County head coach), a very good friend of mine, and he told me the margin for error is so slim in that region (Region 25A; Thomas County Central, Coffee, Northside-Warner Robins, Houston County and Veterans),” said Shores. “I told him here at Brantley County one misstep for us defensively and it’s a touchdown or offensively its a sack. We have to play mistake free and error free football.
“That’s something I talked to players about before the Vidalia game. I told them we hadn’t played as a team, really and truly, but two times since I’ve been here and we won both (Jeff Davis, Bacon County).
“I said let’s go out there and play for one another play selfless football and play as a team. We did everything but that. The five or six personal fouls in the first half were because of being selfish. That’s the stuff we’ve got to grow out of.”
Shores believes his squad matches up well with Jeff Davis, especially the Herons’ defense facing the “flexbone” offense it sees everyday in practice.
“They’re an option team,” he said, “and we’ve got some some experience in defending it since we put the scheme in last spring. I believe our guys in the box (linemen, linebackers) will step up.
“Hopefully they will do a better job of holding their ground, not get washed down and kicked out and those kind of things. It’s responsibility and discipline football.”
