By Kevin Price

For GCS Athletics

 

With their sensational running backs leading the way, the Brunswick High Pirates paraded to a 53-21 victory Friday night over Greenbrier in their annual Homecoming Game at Glynn County Stadium.

 

The game was also the second Region 1-AAAAAA counter for the Pirates (3-2) who opened their league schedule with a victory over Grovetown in Augusta.

 

On Friday night, the Pirates rushed for 320 yards with seniors Nigel Gardner and Josiah Gibbons carving apart the Wolfpack defense.  Gibbons ran for 173 yards and four touchdowns on eight carries while Garner followed with 147 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.

 

“Those two guys are so dynamic,” said Brunswick head coach Byron Slack.

 

For the game, the Brunswick offense only ran 29 plays and gained 439 total yards. With four passes falling incomplete, the Pirates had 25 plays that gained yardage. Out of those plays, the Pirates had 11 plays that went for 10 or more yards including nine rushing attempts and two passes which went for 51 and 55 yards.

 

Gibbons had three long scoring runs that covered 34, 40 and 59 yards while Gardner also ripped off a 64-yard run for a Brunswick touchdown. Gibbons also had a long TD run that was a true highlight-reel play called back by a penalty before eventually getting his number called for a 3-yard scoring run to cap that same possession.

 

Gardner scored on his long run in the first quarter before scoring from 7 yards out in the in the fourth quarter for his second score of the night.

 

The Pirates had six drives that ended in touchdowns. Their shortest was 53 yards and their longest was 88, and the Pirates never needed more than four plays to put the ball in the end zone on those TD marches.

 

“We thought the outside runs would be good for us, and they were,” Slack said. “We thought we would be able to get to the edge on them.”

 

Brunswick opened up a 25-7 lead in the first quarter and would go into halftime ahead 25-14.

 

The Pirates scored two offensive touchdowns in the opening quarter and got a 29-yard field goal from Braxton Davis midway through the first period for a 10-7 lead after the Wolfpack (1-4 overall, 0-2 region) fumbled on a kick return deep in their own territory.

 

Also in the first quarter, the Pirates blocked a Greenbrier punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for a third touchdown. Senior defensive back Samir Dobbins blocked the kick and junior linebacker Antwan Thomas recovered it in the end zone for the touchdown.

 

Brunswick’s Trent Lee would run for two points after that touchdown when the Pirates elected to go for a conversion following a penalty against the Wolfpack on the extra-point try.

 

Greenbrier actually opened the scoring after the Pirates fumbled away a short kick  to start the game, giving the ball to the Pack at the Brunswick 42-yard line. Greenbier would go up 7-0 after a 6-yard keeper for a touchdown by quarterback Parker Bentley and the extra-point kick.

 

It only took the Pirates three plays to score when they went on offense with Gibbons reeling off his first scoring run of 34 yards.

 

The Pirates would build their lead to 25-7 before Greenbrier added a second score before the halftime break on a 24-yard pass from quarterback Calvin Pollard to wideout Deion Mitchell to account for the 25-14 score at intermission. That scoring drive, which covered 76 yards, ate up more than seven minutes of the clock. It was aided by a pair of penalties against the Pirates including one that gave Greenbrier a first down prior to a fourth-and-5 play.

 

The visitors only scored once after halftime when they went 76 yards in 12 plays and got a 3-yard TD run by Joshua Jefferson. That scoring drive also included a questionable pass interference call in the end zone against the Pirates that gave the Pack a first-and-goal at the Brunswick 13-yard line.

 

The Pirates prevented a score by the Wolfpack early in the fourth to keep a 39-21 lead. Brunswick’s John Prescott intercepted a pass on a fourth-and-goal play from the 4-yard line and returned it out to the 32-yard line.

 

From there, Gardner gained 9 yards on first down before Gibbons went 59 yards for his fourth score of the night and a 46-21 lead.

 

Gardner added one last touchdown run for the Pirates on their next series to punctuate the Homecoming win.  

 

For Brunswick, senior quarterback Keygan Walker threw sparingly in this game, completing 5 of his 9 passes for 119 total yards. This was his first game without a touchdown pass. He had one called back by a penalty in the first half.

 

Following the game, Slack did express his disappointment with the mishandled kicks and some long kick returns by the Wolfpack in addition to the defensive penalties that allowed Greenbrier to extend drives.

 

“I’m gonna have to figure out what we can do to make sure we don’t give those plays up,” the coach said. “We have to find a way to fix that.”

Brunswick will play a key region game next Friday night against Bradwell Institute in Hinesville. The Tigers lost to Effingham 55-36 on Friday in Springfield.