Bryan County High School

Redskins earn first win of the season

Bryan County High School at Calvary Day School

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The hard work and early season games against powerhouse teams such as Emanuel County and Wilcox County is beginning to pay off for Bryan County as the Redskins spoiled the Calvary Cavaliers’ Homecoming game with a 16-12 Region win to pick up the first win of the season.

"We started out the year with some tough opponents and we are benefiting from those games," Head Coach Ron Lewis said. "We are a young team and we are still trying to become a good football team. We are practicing in pads throughout the week and are busting it pretty hard with these guys. It has not been an easy road for them. We weeded out the ones that didn’t want to do things our way and now have a group of guys that is working hard. I’m proud of them."

Bryan County scored during their first offensive possession of the game when Ivey Mutcherson bounced outside for a 66-yard touchdown run. Willie DeLoach ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0. The Redskins played a ‘bend but don’t break’ type of defense most of the night and made the big plays when needed to shut down all four Cavalier offensive series in the first half. Calvary forced the Redskins to punt on their next two possessions, and Bryan County went in at the half up 8-0.

Bryan County began the second half with the ball on their own 40-yard line and went right to work with their hard-nosed rushing attack. On the second play of the series, Deandre Walker busted up the middle for 44 yards and the Redskins soon found themselves knocking on the door again at the Cavaliers’ 15-yard line. Mutcherson got the call and took the handoff up the gut for his second touchdown of the game. Winston Johnson added a 2-point conversion to up the score to 16-0 with 7:58 on the third quarter clock.

Trailing 16-0 heading into the fourth quarter, Calvary started a drive at their own 26-yard line and worked the ball across midfield before Mark Jones put six Cavalier points on the board with a 47-yard touchdown run. The 2-point conversion failed and the score moved to 16-6 in favor of Bryan County with 9:46 left in the game. Calvary quickly got the ball back after a stalled Redskin possession that resulted in a punt.

With the ball at the Bryan County 33-yard line, Calvary took advantage of two questionable penalty calls against the Redskins to keep their comeback hopes alive. John Curry later scored from 6 yards out to close the gap to 16-12. Extra point kick failed.

With 2:08 remaining in the game, Bryan County was forced into a punting situation on their next possession, but a bad snap forced Redskin punter Willie Deloach to try and run for the first down yardage. The Cavaliers stopped him short, and the Calvary offense took back over at the Bryan County 43-yard line. The battling Redskin defense stood their ground against several last minute pass attempts and sealed the 16-12 victory when a Seth Stroud fourth down pass was intercepted by Deloach with 40 seconds left in the game.

Mutcherson finished the game with 160 yards on 30 carries and Deandre Walker carried the ball 6 times for 65 yards. Mutcherson, who was the offensive workhorse for the Redskins, was excited to get that first win.

"It feels good to finally get a win, especially in a region game. Our line played really hard and it seems that those early season games against the bigger and stronger teams are paying off now. The coaches are pushing and working us real hard at practice and a lot of the younger players are stepping up and starting to contribute and gain some confidence."

The Redskins are now 1-4 and 1-0 for Region 3-A. Next up, the Skins will be at home on Friday, Oct. 10 against Savannah Christian in another region contest.