It has been awhile since Bradwell Institute was 1-0 in the region football standings – and since it could claim a win over Glynn Academy.
That’s where the Tigers stand after a wild comeback against the Red Terrors on Friday night.
Bradwell overcame an early 14-point deficit and raced past the Red Terrors for a 35-28 win at Olvey Field in the Region 1-AAAAA opener for both teams.
“It’s really big for morale, for everybody,” said Tigers coach DeShon Brock, whose team – thanks to an off week and a cancellation – had not played since August 16. “It’s a team we haven’t beaten since I don’t know when. It’s really big. Now they believe everything we’ve been preaching.”
The Tigers scored two touchdowns in less than three minutes late in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. They tied the game at 28-28 on Jabarri Felix’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Dewahyne Chatman on a fake punt with 4:24 to go.
Then, after Glynn’s only three-and-out of the game, the Tigers took the lead when Felix found junior Jacobi Pasley in the flat. The speedster, who was given a state championship ring at halftime for his win in the 400-meter dash at the state track meet, bolted through the Red Terrors defense for a 55-yard touchdown and Bradwell’s first lead of the game with 1:26 to play.
One play after the Terrors muffed a punt, Felix scored on a 19-yard keeper to bring Bradwell within 14-7 with 2:15 left in the first half.
But Felix was picked off for the second time in the game on the first play of the second half on Cooper Reiss’ diving attempt. That set up Max Noonan’s 9-yard run and a 21-7 lead.
Bradwell answered, aided by two unsportsmanlike conduct calls against Glynn, and Felix – despite dropping the snap – rambled in from 7 yards out with 8:01 to go in the third quarter.
Glynn Academy, which rushed for a whopping 359 yards, ate nearly seven minutes off the clock on its next drive, but Patrick Coyle’s 38-yard field goal attempt fell short.
On the ensuing possession, Felix rolled to his right and hit an open Chatman, who raced the final 40 yards to the end zone for a 74-yard scoring strike.
“Being down, with our offense, and we believe in our defense, we believe we can score from anywhere,” Brock said. “If we just do our job, we have a chance.”
Noonan gave Glynn the lead back on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Sean Wallace, but on fourth and 19 from the Red Terrors 48, Brock called for the fake punt. Felix pulled down the high snap and rolled to his right, flipping a pass to Chatman, who took off through the Glynn defense and down the Red Terrors sideline.
“The offense in the second half played lights out,” Brock said. “The defense showed up big when we needed them to. The defense had been playing great all game. We got on to the offense that they needed to help them out. That fourth quarter, that’s what Georgia high school football is all about. Both teams played well.”
Glynn finished with 458 yards of total offense and 21 first downs. Da’sean Howard ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, and D.J. Creighton added 96 yards on 16 attempts. Howard scored the Red Terrors’ first two touchdowns on runs of 5 and 7 yards in the second quarter less than two minutes apart.
Felix, who also ran for 60 yards, was 13-of-26 for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Chatman had four catches for 157 yards.
Brock said the Tigers considered finding another game during their two-week break, but opted not to play.
“We came up with a plan, and we stuck to it,” he said of the 20 days between games for his team. “We had a couple of injuries from the Liberty County game.”
The Tigers, now 1-1 on the season, travel to Springfield on September 12 to face Effingham County. The last time the Tigers started the region schedule 1-0 was 2019, after knocking off Effingham County. It was also the Tigers’ first win over Glynn since 2010.
The Rebels, who are 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the region, fell 42-14 to Brunswick, giving up 349 yards rushing to the Pirates while mustering only 201 yards of offense.
The Rebels put up 343 yards of offense in a 56-42 loss to Houston County and ran for 202 yards in a 23-20 win over New Hampstead.
