In a game called with 4:18 left in the third quarter due to a fight, Bryan County rode a rock-ribbed defensive effort to a 28-0 win Friday night over Savannah High at the Blue Jackets’ stadium.
In only the third ever meeting between the two schools and the first at Savannah High, the Redskins (2-1) were in complete control of the Region 3A-DII opener for both teams when a fight broke out at the Bryan County 39-yard line following a four-yard run by Anddreas McKinny.
The brawl quickly spread across the field with players from both teams entering the fray requiring several minutes for officials and coaches to get things under control. At that point, game officials declared the contest over with teams ordered to their respective locker rooms. No fans were involved.
Savannah player Shone Ruth was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure after he went down with a possible neck injury. Ruth appeared to be in considerable pain as EMTs took several minutes stabilizing his neck. He had movement in his extremities.
“It was a beautiful night for football,” Bryan County Coach Cherard Freeman said. “It was just not the way we wanted to end it. It’s never good to stop a football game because of an incident like this.
“But it’s kids…you got a bunch of kids in a new world we’re living in who don’t know how to be kids.”
Up until the fight erupted it had been a cleanly played game as games go: the Redskins had been whistled for six penalties, the most severe being called for a chop block, while the Blue Jackets (0-3) had been flagged six times for 23 yards, one of which was for a face mask in the first quarter.
Three of Savannah’s penalties came on Bryan County’s conversion attempt following its first touchdown. On three successive plays the Blue Jackets were lined up offsides.
“I thought we had a clean game going,” Freeman said. “The second half we came out and played decent football and scored a couple of touchdowns. We got a score, got a stop, got another touchdown and then that happened.”
It was the Blue Jackets’ 29th straight loss including a 66-8 shellacking at Bryan County last year. The year before the Redskins had prevailed, 41-0, when the two teams found themselves in the same region for the first time due to reclassification.
The Redskins took an 8-0 lead on their second possession when Gaige Javis scored on a 5-yard run on the final play of the first quarter. Trevor Lanier added the two-point conversion when he skirted left end following the back-to-back-to-back offsides calls.
Sophomore middle linebacker Corey Collier then made it 14-0 when he picked off Andrew Lewis, Jr. 's attempted screen pass and returned it 46 yards with 9:39 left in the half. The Redskins put on a heavy rush and Collier, playing his position perfectly, caught the ball and scooted down the left side to score untouched.
Bryan County took the second half kickoff and marched 73 yards on nine plays with Mckinny scoring on a 9-yard run with 7:44 on the clock. Ger’bravion Collins ran it in for a 22-0 lead.
Ten seconds later it was 28-0 when junior defensive lineman Zane Renteria scooped up a Lewis fumble and ran it in from 16 yards out.
Collins finished the night with 87 yards rushing on 12 carries and Mckinny added 79 on 11 attempts. Savannah was limited to nine yards rushing on 16 attempts and had 29 passes. Lanier completed two of six passes for 18 yards with completions to Jayden Lee and Collins.