Metter and Michael Ricks made it official last Friday night as the Tigers beat Bryan County, 21-8, to clinch the Region 3A-DII championship.

Metter (8-1, 7-0) was a 28-point favorite according to the Maxwell Ratings but the win didn’t come easy as the Redskins (4-6, 3-5) put up a fight to the end but simply couldn’t generate any consistency on offense against the No. 9 Tigers. Metter leads all Class A-DII teams in scoring defense, allowing 8.1 points per game.

Ricks, a 5-foot-7, 157-pound junior quarterback, proved to be the difference in the game as he used his feet, and, on occasion, his arm, to keep Metter drives alive.

For the night Ricks ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries while completing 7-of-13 passes for 107 yards. It was Metter’s fifth region championship in the last six years. Bryan County won the region last year.

Going into the contest Metter had a one-game lead over Jenkins County with two to play and only needed to beat Bryan County or Screven County this Friday night to finish on top.

The game, Bryan County coach Cherard Freeman said, was a microcosm of the Redskins’ season. They played well, just not quite well enough to win.

“I give it to Metter,” Freeman said. “They’re a good football team and they won the region championship and they’re the No. 9 ranked team in the state.

“We’ve got a good football team,” Freeman said, “but we just couldn’t take care of the little things. That hurt us tonight, and it hurt us all year.

“Once we got bogged down, we didn’t have someone step up and push us over that hump. We didn’t have that difference maker tonight.”

All of the scoring took place in the first half with possessions being limited as both teams are predominantly run oriented.

The game’s opening drive was an indicator of how the night was going to play out as Metter took 12 plays, all runs, to go 63 yards. Kahne Brown scored on a 4-yard run on third down with 5:32 on the clock. Ricks had runs of 12 and 17 yards as the Tigers were two-of-two on third down conversions.

Bryan County then had the ball for the next six minutes before turning it over on downs at the Tigers 31. Then on its next possession it gave before giving Metter a golden opportunity and the Tigers took advantage.

Taking over on their own 22-yard line the Redskins, down 7-0, decided to go for it on 4th-and-inches at the 31 only to turn it over on downs. They made it worse by being called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which gave the Tigers the ball at the 17.

Ricks got six, Bryan County was offside and after he lost a yard Ricks went in from 7 yards out to make it a 14-0 game and, as it turned out, all the points Metter needed.

Anddreas McKinny returned the ensuing kickoff 21 yards to the 36 but three plays netted only six yards. However, the Tigers were called for roughing the kicker and given a reprieve the Redskins drove it down to the one and from there Trevor Lanier sneaked it in. Ger’bravion Collins added the two-point conversion with 3:32 left in the half.

Metter, however, countered by going 74 yards on seven plays with Ricks scoring on a 3-yard run with 49 seconds left in the half.

Neither team was able to seriously threaten in the second half other than when Bryan County drove the ball to the Metter 10 before turning it over on downs with 8:55 to play. Metter was able to run out the clock as it controlled the ball for 17 plays before taking a knee at the Redskins eight to end the game.