By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Tigers, BC revisit rivalry tonight at Olvey
Panthers to play at Yellow Jackets
Tigers
The Tigers have been on the road for two weeks but tonight will welcome an old rival, Benedictine, to Olvey Field for the Tigers’ senior night game. - photo by Phgoto by Patty Leon

Bradwell Institute and the Benedictine Cadets will re-ignite an old rivalry tonight at Olvey Field as the Tigers celebrate their senior night game.

Liberty County High School will travel to Jesup to take on neighborhood rival and sub-region opponent Wayne County.

 

Tigers host Cadets

The Tigers last played the BC Cadets in 2003. The Hinesville team won 35-7. BC and the Tigers are struggling this season, and the Tigers need to secure the region win for a shot at the post season.

The Tigers appear to have an advantage over the Cadets with a 2-4 Region 3-AAAAA record and a 2-6 overall mark. The Cadets are 1-6 overall and 1-4 in the region.

Tiger coach Jim Walsh said he will rotate the quarterbacks like he did against Jenkins. In that game last week, the offense suddenly clicked in the second half when track-runner-turned-football-player Marsalis Jackson started taking the snaps.

"We rotate players because we have a couple of kids, young kids that are going both ways," Walsh said. "But he (Jackson) had a good night running the ball. We ended up with 270 yards rushing the other night and that was a good thing against a pretty dang good defense — the second best defense in the region."

The coach said they came out in the first half against Jenkins and ran a lot of plays from the spread formation.

"In the second half we came out in the heavy (set) and it was our old running game and we were hammering down and we had a great deal of success in that. It’s something that fits what our kids can do," he said.

According to the latest standings posted on ga.prepcountry.com, Camden County holds the top spot in the region with Jenkins, Windsor Forest, Beach and Groves ahead of Bradwell. Benedictine, Johnson and Savannah High round out the rest of the region standings.

Walsh said they need to win one game at a time and see what the final standings will be for the post season.

"It’s jumbled up and there is three weeks left of football and that is going to play itself out," he said. "We can’t worry about that right now. The only thing we are focused on is getting better each week and win on Friday night."

As for the Cadets, the coach said they are running the spread formation like their previous opponents.

"We anticipate they will probably try and run the ball a little bit more," Walsh said. "They don’t make a lot of mistakes. But our kids have been playing hard for us and we have to continue to play hard and execute."

 

Panthers at Yellow Jackets

The LCHS Panthers have scrimmaged the Wayne Count Yellow Jackets for the past three seasons. Now the teams will meet for an official game as sub-region 2A-AAAA competitors.

After back-to-back losing seasons, the Yellow Jackets have regrouped and are emerging under head coach Jody Grooms. The Jackets are 3-4 overall and the Panthers are 2-5, but both squads are 1-2 in the region.

Panther coach Kirk Warner knows they are facing a tough new opponent despite their recent scrimmage victories over the Jesup team.

"They are a totally different offense," he said. "They spread and they have a quarterback who can throw it. They have tall receivers who scare you to death and we are going to have to get some pressure on them and force them to make some mistakes. We can’t give him time to sit back there and find those receivers. Their offense is definitely strong and they can score points on anybody."

The coach knows the next two games are must-wins for a better sub-region standing, but said, "We are taking it one week at a time. We are focused on Wayne and we need to get another sub-region win. Win, lose or draw in this game, I think it’s still going to come down to the final game depending on how everything else plays out. But right now, we control our own destiny. As long as we win we’re in."

Panther starting quarterback Matt Desbiens has been medically cleared to play and may take some snaps in tonight’s game. Desbiens sat out the last two games with a cracked finger, but Warner said he plans to rotate Jarrett Rivers and Shadrach Thornton into the spot as well.

Sign up for our e-newsletters