Claxton looked like anything but a winless team on its first possession as it took the game’s opening kickoff and marched downfield for a quick 7-0 lead.

But the feeling of euphoria was short-lived as Bryan County wasted no time responding and proceeded to roll to a 44-19 Region 3A-DII win over its oldest rival Wednesday night at Redskins Stadium behind the running of Anddreas McKinny and Ger’bravion Collins.

The win was the Redskins’ third straight over Claxton marking their longest win streak in the series which the Tigers lead, 27-11.

What was slated to be Bryan County’s Homecoming Game was moved up to Wednesday due to the scheduled arrival of Hurricane Helene which was projected to bring heavy rain on Thursday, possibly biblical on Friday.

It turned out to be a wise decision as it was a relatively dry evening with weather having no impact on the game.

What did impact the game was miscues by both teams in the early going and the Tigers (0-6, 0-4) ability to convert busted coverages into touchdowns.

The Tigers with help from three Redskins (3-3, 2-2) penalties went 55 yards on the game’s opening drive for a 7-0 lead thanks to Dallas Hill being able to hit Kordai Small on an across field touchdown pass from 18-yards out. Ger’bravion Collins and Knari Dixon were the defenders on the play but each was able to extract a measure of revenge later in the game.

The Redskins answered with a 60-yard drive of their own with Collins scoring on a 5-yard run 3:09 left in the opening quarter. It was the first of two touchdowns for Collins who also ran for two conversions while picking up 105 yards rushing.

The Redskins blew it open in the second quarter despite giving up two long touchdowns to the Tigers.

Quarterback Trevor Lanier scored on a 1-yard run, Anddreas McKinny had an 8-yard touchdown run and Collins added a 1-yard touchdown. Collins had two two-point conversion attempts and McKinny added another. McKinny finished with a game high 160 yards.

However, it was two explosive Tigers scoring plays that left Freeman less than pleased.

Following McKinny’s score Claxton ran a simple option play to the left and Jontarrius Calhoun split the seam and went 74 yards. Following Collins’ touchdown, Small pulled a tipped pass out of the air for a 72-yard touchdown. It was 30-19 at the break.

“We got a win,” said Freeman as the Redskins snapped a two-game losing streak, “but the first half was very ugly.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” Freeman said. “We’ve got to clean those things up. Compared to the game we played against ECI (last Friday) this was a different football team.”

Bryan County used two big plays of its own to close it out in what was a listless second half compared to the opening half which saw the teams combine for 49 points.

Dixon, who had gotten burned in the first quarter, got even with 2:26 left in the third when he picked off Hill at the 23-yard line and ran it back for a touchdown.

Three minutes later McKinny applied the coup de grace when he sprinted 58 yards to cap off his big night.