Editorial Note: Due to the pending inclement weather, Bryan County High School announced on Tuesday afternoon that Friday night’s Homecoming game with Claxton has been rescheduled. The game will now be played Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The school also indicated Homecoming festivities would be rescheduled but did not say when.

Bryan County Coach Cherard Freeman wasn’t exactly giddy but he was far from displeased with his team despite losing to ECI, 26-12, last Friday night.

“We played a heckuva game,” Freeman said. “We really did. If you like old school, physical South Georgia football that’s what you got. No shotgun formation, no trickery. We have a tough schedule coming up but I told them if we can play the way we played against ECI we’ll be fine.

“The game was a lot closer than the final score. We dropped a couple of touchdown passes when the kid just took his eye off the ball. Then it was 20-12 and we threw a hail mary but they ran it back.

The Redskins (2-3, 1-2), who play Claxton at home Friday at 7:30 p.m. in a Region 3A-DII game, are not on life support, Freeman said. Far from it as they go into their Homecoming game with the Tigers (0-5, 0-3) looking to remain in the hunt for a playoff berth.

Pre-season favorite Metter (3-1, 2-0), Jenkins County (4-0, 3-0) and McIntosh County Academy (4-1, 3-0) as expected find themselves atop the standings in the early going and it’s a reasonable assumption that at the end of the season they’ll be somewhere in that order when the playoffs start.

However, after that it’s a wide-open crapshoot for the fourth spot in the nine-team region. It’s also a reasonable assumption to make that Claxton (0-5, 0-3) and Savannah (0-4, 0-2) will not be that fourth team. Both are having horrid seasons

So, that leaves Bryan County, Portal, ECI and Screven County in the mix. Having already lost to Portal and ECI the Redskins cannot afford another slipup.

“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to make the playoffs,” Freeman said. “That hasn’t changed and it never will.

 “I think we’ve got a good shot at doing it,” Freeman said. “The good thing about it is that the teams ahead of us, we’ve still got to play them or rather they have to play us. If we take care of our business, we’ll be fine.”

With the season at the midway point Freeman feels the Redskins are starting to find their footing and he’s starting to identify his leaders.

A pair of juniors, lineman Zane Renteria and running back Anddreas McKinny have stepped to the forefront, Freeman said.

When the Redskins were forced to play Portal with five starters suspended following that fight-marred debacle with Savannah and two others out with injuries Renteria did not take a play off.

“He played every snap,” Freeman said. “I can’t say enough about the job he did against Portal.

 “He’s one of our leaders on and off the field,” Freeman said. “He’s playing great, one of the guys we go to lead. He’s a really good wrestler, too. He’s a great athlete, but he's a great kid, too.”

McKinny is finally getting to show why Freeman was excited about his future when he ran for 204 yards as a freshman. He had 189 yards and three touchdowns last year before his season was cut short by a pair of knee surgeries.

At ECI the junior speedster had 157 yards including an 81-yard touchdown run to push his season total to 723 despite missing the Portal game. He now has 1,116 yards for his career.

“He’s having a heckuva year,” Freeman said. “He is really playing well, playing good football and he’s doing it coming off two knee surgeries on the same knee last year.

“He’s small but tough. He works hard in the weight room and loves the game. He plays with a passion.”

A big reason, Freeman said, he’s optimistic about the rest of the season is the play of the offensive line of Renteria, Allen Meadows, Esavian Rivera, Nathan Long and Matthew Huff along with sophomore linebacker Corey Collier who also fills in along the line when needed.

“I think they’re starting to jell a little bit,” Freeman said. “We can’t afford any injuries but they’re starting to play pretty good. It’s an all-out effort from here on out.”