It wasn’t pretty on the gridiron for Glynn Academy, but the team held through adversity with a statement 21-0 win over Statesboro to mark the start of something new.
Having new faces all around the offensive side of the ball, Glynn had to deal with not only star tailback Greg Peacock being sidelined for a few weeks but a midweek injury to second-stringer Willie Butler that left the Terrors coaching staff scrambling to fill an important role.
With new faces on the line and Josh Baker at the center position, Glynn head coach Rocky Hidalgo was impressed with his effort but knows the unit as a whole will grow as the weeks continue.
“We have three new o-lineman, a sophomore center starting his first game, he did a good job in there but we came off the ball moving around well, he just had too much penetration,” Hidalgo said. “Just really wasn’t playing as a unit and that will get better.”
The Terrors started the game with their first two positions ending in turnovers, and thinking it could be a long and uneventful night, the defense stepped their game up and showed how dangerous it can be.
Forcing a three-and-out to open the night before Ryan Young recovered a fumble in the Statesboro half of the field, it took a third drive for Glynn Academy to put the first points on the board.
On the first play of the drive, quarterback Ryan Schueneman took two steps in his dropback and lofted a deep ball to 6-foot-5 receiver David Prince. Using his size and ability to battle the defense, Prince showcased his Randy Moss-like skills as he hauled in the first touchdown of the 2023 season for the Terrors.
Making it a mission to keep the Blue Devils off the board, the Terrors’ defense did just that as they forced a punt and two consecutive turnover on downs before Young jumped a pass for a 75-yard pick-six to push the team’s lead to 14-0.
Before the half and knocking on the door, Statesboro tried to throw in a last-second pass attempt into the end zone for Kam Mikell, but a poor throw allowed Jayden Ellis to dive for the interception to force a touchback and enter the half up 14-0.
Seeing the offense struggle to put points on the board, Hidalgo pointed out how his defense stepped up throughout the night.
“You know what we did, we played great defense,” Hidalgo said. “This is a really good defensive football team, when you talk about starting a football team where I like to start is having a great defensive football team. They run hard and they knock the hell out of people and that’s a great place to start. This is going to be a good football team when it’s all said and done. This is going to be built around defense, a physical running game, and getting our special teams squared away. This is going to be the type of team that people are used to seeing from us. I’m excited about what we got from here.”
“We had three picks where guys went and got the football in the back end. They are good players: Bruce Edwards, Ryan Young, Marshawn Turner, Jayden Ellis, Ty Chisom those guys are incredible athletes and they are really good athletes back there. We are a really good solid linebacking core, a bunch of those guys were back from last year. A lot of guys who played upfront, this is a tough game where they played a lot of snaps. They fought their tail off and I’m really proud of them.”
In the second half Trent Tankersley and Turner came up with interceptions three and four on the night before the defensive pressure of Peyton Parker and Da’Vontae Lang left the Blue Devils looking for answers on the sideline.
Ellis added the exclamation mark on the night with an 85-yard punt return touchdown where he split two defenders up the middle of the running catch and made his way down the Terror sideline to put the team up 21-0.
From then on the Terrors’ defense put the sole focus on pitching a shutout and they did as Parker put the finishing touch on the night with an explosive hit to cement the 21-0 win.
Glynn heads to Darien to take on McIntosh County Academy on Friday.