Bradwell Institute has its last regular-season game Friday when the Tigers face Coffee County in a Region 3-AAAAA in Douglas.
The Trojans hold an 8-1 overall record and 6-1 region mark. Meanwhile, the Tigers are looking to avoid the program’s first winless season since 1954 when Bradwell went 0-9, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association.
The Trojans’ offense is led by senior quarterback Tyree Paulk. He is 101-for-147 passing for 1,154 yards and 14 touchdowns. Leading Coffee County’s ground game is Demetrius Davis with 794 yards and 10 touchdowns on 116 carries. The Trojans have amassed 2,388 rushing yards so far.
“It’s not an easy task, but we have to focus on playing hard and executing … we need to try and eliminate the mistakes,” Tiger coach Greg Hill said about facing the Trojans on the road.
Last week against Brunswick, Tiger quarterback Duane Johnson was 1-for-3 passing for 14 yards. Senior QB Michael Moore was 0-for-3. Deion Stewart had the one reception.
Bradwell as a team rushed for 101 yards. Trevon McCoy led in rushing with 34 yards on four carries. Deangelo Smith had 22 yards on 13 carries, Shaun Maschino carried seven times for 16 yards. Luther Echols had 16 yards on five carries, and Barnes rounded out the double-digit ball carriers with 15 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Johnson had nine yards on four carries.
Defensively, Maschino made an interception. Barnes led in tackles with 13 total tackles and also had two sacks for four yards lost. Terrius Crimiel who returned two kicks for 115 yards including a 95-yard return for a touchdown at the start of the second quarter. Evan Crystal had five punts for 117 yards.
“Last week, the guys fought their butts off, and we saw a lot of good things when we did take care of the football and made the correct reads,” Hill said.
The Tiger defense will need to place pressure on Paulk, who went 12-for-18 passing for 169 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in Coffee’s 34-0 win over Richmond Hill last Friday. Paulk also scored one rushing touchdown. The Trojans rushed for 254 yards on 41 carries, led by Lacarvius Sears’ 78 yards on nine carries.
Regardless of the outcome, Hill said there is plenty of work ahead for the Tigers.
“As I’ve been telling them, this year we are kind of laying that foundation down of what we want to be … and they’ve fought all year,” Hill said. “We just didn’t get the breaks that we needed, and the one thing we will continue to take during the off-season is to continue to be physical, and with the learning curve and growth they experienced from this year, the returning players will play a step faster and know what to expect from being in the same system.”
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.