Despite putting up 14 second-half points and fighting until the final tick of the clock, the Long County High School football team fell to Bryan County, 54-21, on Friday in Pembroke.  
With the loss, the Blue Tide fell to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in Region 2-AA.  
In the first half, the Redskins put up 41 points, while the Blue Tide was able to score only seven off a run by Vanda Vereen Jr. and a successful point-after kick by Randall Behrendt.
In the second half, Long County got touchdowns by Vereen and Austin Mills.
However, it was obvious that Long County did not match up with the Redskins.
“They got a good quarterback who can scramble, we missed some tackles out there and, well, they just made us miss some tackles,” Long County head coach Ron Flott said. “They have some real good athletes, and we just had a hard time matching up with them.”
But even though the Blue Tide team was smaller in many positions on the field, Flott was happy with his team’s heart.
“They overwhelmed us in the first half, but let me tell you something, these kids never gave up and they continued to play hard,” he said. “We made some mistakes, but none of our mistakes were from a lack of effort by our players.”
Though Flott was pleased with his team’s effort, he said they have got to improve in several areas.
“We have got to improve on our tackling, and at times we’re not doing our assignments on the field like we’re supposed to,” he said. “We’re practicing it during the week, but it’s not transferring to the field on Friday night.”
Flott said that one of the primary reasons that Long County is struggling is its inexperience. He said the only way his team can be competitive against some of the schools on their schedule is by controlling the ball.
“We’ve got to keep these offenses off the field, and the only way we can do that is by pounding the ball inside, moving the chains and making first downs, and also hoping that we get a break here and there,” Flott said.
On Friday, the Tide have another big region game when they host a tough Bacon County team. The Red Raiders bring a 2-3 overall record into the contest and a 2-2 region mark.
See Friday’s paper for a preview of the game and to find out who was named as the Player of the Week for the Blue Tide.