STATESBORO - In a sloppy game marred by over 20 penalties called on Bradwell Institute alone, the Statesboro Blue Devils held on for a 41-36 win Friday night at Womack Field.

The game lasted three hours and 17 minutes, without going into overtime, and that is also five minutes longer than the length of an average NFL game, with TV timeouts and 15-minute quarters.

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 35-8 lead and held off a spirited late charge from the Tigers. Two of the Tigers touchdowns in the fourth quarter were a result of Statesboro turnovers, leaving head coach Matt Dobson happy for the win, but knowing the Blue Devils have plenty to work on.

“You are never going to apologize for a victory,” Dobson said after his team improved to 2-3 on the year and 1-2 in Region 1-AAAAA. “We preached to our defense about not giving up big plays, and they gave them up. We told the offense we have to hold onto the ball and we had three turnovers. If we don’t turn the ball over, we may have put up 60 points. We have next week off and that is a good thing because we have a lot to work on.”

Statesboro put up some pretty big numbers in the game as freshman quarterback Beckham Jarrard completed 18 of 30 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns and also caught a touchdown pass. T.Y. Chambers added 91 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving. Rashad Chavers and Keon Childers both had two touchdowns and Statesboro piled up 365 yards of offense.

On the flip side, Bradwell tallied a whopping 580 yards of offense with 303 yards through the air and 277 yards on the ground. But they also incurred 150 yards of penalties.

Jarrard’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Chavers opened the scoring, and Chambers added a two-point run. Bradwell tied the game at 8-8 on Carlito Savea’s 60-yard TD strike to senior speedster Tyon Jones and adding the two-point conversion.

The Blue Devils extended the lead to 21-8 on Chop Heath’s 3-yard run and a 63-yard reverse pass from Davis Harrison to Jarrard.

Statesboro appeared to put the game away with Jarrard’s 5-yard TD pass to Chavers and then his 33-yard strike to Childers for a 34-8 lead in the third quarter.

The second half started with Statesboro looking like they’d pull away. The Blue Devils scored on a five-yard pass from Jarrard to Chavers to make it 28-8. Jarrard then threw a perfect pass to Childers in the end zone for a 33-yard score to extend the lead to 34-8.

That’s when things got sloppy for the Blue Devils. A turnover led to a short touchdown run for Jacob Pasley to make it 34-16 after the two-point conversion. On their next series, Jarrard was hit and fumbled the ball. Jerome Delaney scooped up the loose ball and rumbled 32 yards to make it 34-22.

Statesboro struck back on Childers’ 4-yard touchdown run by Childers in the fourth to extend the lead to 42-22. Bradwell added a pair of scores as backup quarterback JaRousha Houston connected with Jones and Jonathan Holloway on touchdown throws to get within six, but the Devils recovered a last-minute pooch kickoff and ran out the clock.

“We hit a few explosive plays on offense and built a nice lead,” Dobson said. “Then things got bad for us and we seemed to lose a little focus. Our kids fought and we found a way to win. Our kids are learning how to win; now we have to learn how to finish a game.”

Bradwell, now 1-4 overall and 0-3 in region play, hosts Greenbrier on September 27 at Olvey Field/Hokey Jackson Stadium.