Bryan County needed a win over McIntosh County Academy to keep its state playoff hopes alive. It didn’t get it.
McIntosh County (5-2, 4-1) dominated the line of scrimmage and scored the final 20 points of the game to handedly defeat the Redskins (4-4, 3-3) in the Region 3A-II game Friday night at Redskins Stadium.
Anddreas McKinny, who entered the game as the leading rusher in Class A-DII and 10th in the state among all classes with 1,045 yards, gave the Redskins an 8-0 lead before the crowd had settled in its seats.
McKinny, who had 102 yards on the night, dashed 59 yards on the second play of the game and Trevor Lanier lobbed a pass to Eli Koskela to give Bryan County an 8-0 lead with only 53 ticks off the clock.
That basically was it for the Redskins offense which was averaging 227 yards per game rushing but was limited to 118 by the Buccaneers who responded by building a 16-8 halftime lead behind the play of quarterback Nehemiah West and offensive and defensive lines that had their way.
The Bucs tied it on a 5-yard run by Earnest McIntosh who then ran in the two-point conversion. West, who had 123 yards rushing, gave MCA the lead for good when he sprinted 26 yards up the middle on a keeper with 1:43 left in the half for a 14-8 lead at the break.
“We just got our fannies kicked,” Coach Cherard Freeman said. “We couldn’t block them. I didn’t have them ready to play. They got after it and we didn’t.”
On their first possession of the second half, the Redskins took over on their own four only to see McKinny tackled in the end zone for a safety when the Bucs line simply overpowered the Redskins.
Cornerback Elijah Mincey, playing for the first time in a month after suffering a dislocated patella against Portal, got the Redskins to within 16-14 when he picked off West and ran it back 62 yards with 5:28 in the third quarter.
“Mike (Smith) told me the coverage,” Mincey said. “I just went with No. 2 and when we came out of the break the ball was in my hands. I just took it to the house from there.
“I was hoping that would give us a spark,” said Mincey, “but we never did anything after that. We know the situation (playoff possibilities) but we didn’t come out with any energy.”
The Redskins went for two in hopes of tying the game but didn’t make it and then West broke their backs.
Bryan County had the Bucs pinned on their own six on the ensuing kicking but West, on a duplication of his first touchdown run, ran 77-yards up the middle without a hand literally being laid on him to make it 23-14.
The final Bucs score kind of symbolized the kind of night it was for the Redskins when Gaige Javis punting from his own 37 saw the snap sail high over his head with MCA’s Derrick Irons recovering the ball in the end zone with 3:19 to play.
“We just didn’t execute,” Freeman said. “They were more physical. They hit us in the mouth and we backed away. They didn’t do anything we hadn’t seen on film.”