Bryan County High School

Bryan County and ECI battled in a Friday night thriller

Emanuel County Institute at Bryan County High School

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Last Friday night, the Bryan County Redskins played host to defending state champs, the Emanuel County Institute Bulldogs. Final score: ECI 36, Redskins 8.

Enough said? No, there was plenty to be said about the gritty, heart-fought determination that the younger, smaller, out-numbered Redskins played with.

The final scoreboard shows a blowout, but it was no easy task for the Bulldogs. ECI jumped out to a 7-0 first quarter lead with 5:37 on the clock after a 35-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Michael Robertson to Dexter Moody. Mike Flotts’ extra-point kick was good.

Bryan County, which had two first-half touchdown passes called back for penalties, got on the board after ECI running back Washaun Ealey had made it 14-0 on a 12-yard pass from Robertson. With 0:38 seconds left until halftime, Ivey Mutcherson capped off a sustained Redskin drive with a 12-yard jaunt into the endzone for six-points. Willie Deloach added a 2-point conversion run to make the score 8-14 at halftime.

"We hung in there with them and were only down by six at halftime," BCHS Coach Ron Lewis said. "We had the two touchdowns called back and that really hurt us, but our guys hung in there."

ECI had the ball to start the second half and quickly started driving down the field when Redskin Ben Gowens recovered a Bulldog fumble that gave Bryan County the ball at the Redskin 42-yard line. With momentum mounting, the Redskin offense systematically pushed the ball down the field with four consecutive first downs and found themselves knocking on the scoring door again at the one-yard line of ECI.

On the next play, quarterback Winston Johnson ran a quarterback sneak and seemed to have another score for Bryan County, but Johnson put down the ball before the whistle blew and Raymond Sanford scooped it up and sprinted to the 50-yard line before most fans even knew what had happened.

On the next play, Ealey took the handoff and scrambled 50 yards for an ECI touchdown to make it 20-8 with 2:14 on the third quarter clock. ECI would add two more scores in the fourth quarter by Dexter Moody (35-yard run and a 23-yard run). Both 2-point conversion runs were good and the game would end at 36-8 with Bryan County stopped at the ECI 20-yard-line to seal the victory.

Bryan County was 7-11-0 on pass attempts. Redskin Coach Lewis said he knew it would be an uphill battle and was pleased overall with what he saw from his players. "Winston did a good job in operating the passing game tonight. We don’t normally throw the ball much, but our guys did a good job with it tonight."

The Redskins finished the night with 57 yards passing and 223 yards on the ground against a tough, top-ranked ECI squad.

"I’m not leaving field tonight with my head down," Lewis said. "We have a young squad and our guys gave a great effort. They have nothing to be ashamed of. The plan now is to keep working hard in practice, trying to get some other players as much football experience as we can to get ready for our region stretch of games."

After the game, Redskin quarterback, Winston Johnson had nothing but praise for his team’s effort. "We played hard and we gave it our all. At first, we may have been somewhat intimidated by them being the state champs, but once the game began we realized they put their pads on just like we do and that we could play with these guys. We gave our best and I think this game will help us down the road as we strive to make it back to the playoffs."