By Kevin Price

For GCS Athletics

 

The Brunswick High Pirates lost a heart-breaker Friday night, falling to Bradwell Institute 58-49 in overtime at Olvey Field in Hinesville.

 

The Region 1-AAAAAA loss was the first for the Pirates (3-3 overall, 2-1 region) after they had won their first two league games while beginning their defense of the region championship.

 

With the win, the Tigers improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the region under their new coach John Adams who won a pair of state titles with Ceder Grove in the past. Bradwell lost to Valdosta in non-region play and also lost last week at Effingham, 55-36, in region play after defeating Glynn Academy, 54-43, in their league opener.

 

It wasn’t surprising that this one was a high-scoring affair. The Pirates, with a big-play offense, were averaging just over 41 points a game, while the Tigers, who also are known for big plays, were scoring 43 points per game coming into Friday night.

 

The Pirates actually had to score late to force overtime, despite leading by 14 points at halftime and still holding that advantage at one point in the second half after the Tigers had earlier made it a one-score game.

 

Brunswick tied the game at 49-49 on a short run by Trent Lee on the heels of a 44-yard pass play from Keygan Walker to Antwan Thomas in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. 

 

Bradwell drove into Brunswick territory in the closing moments before punting and pinning the Pirates against their own goal-line before the game headed to overtime.

 

BHS won the toss to start the extra frame, choosing to play defense first.

 

The Tigers, starting at the 15-yard line going in, would score in one play when a tipped pass was caught in the end zone by another receiver in the area for the Tigers.

 

It looked like Bradwell might botch the extra-point with a bad snap, but the Tigers would run for two points and the eight-point lead.

 

On what would be its only overtime possession, Brunswick called the number of Nigel Gardner, who set a school single-game record for rushing yards in the loss. A fumbled handoff exchange still netted three yards on first down, but the Pirates threw incomplete passes on the next two plays, leaving them facing a fourth-and-7 situation from the 12.

 

Walker was forced to scramble on the final play of the game and came up short of the first-down marker, thus bringing the contest to a disappointing finish for the Pirates.

 

The clock wasn’t working throughout the game on the scoreboard which the two teams lit up from the start.

 

The Pirates scored in five plays on their first possession, but the Tigers answered quickly with a two-play drive and a 73-yard touchdown pass to tie the score.

 

Brunswick went up 14-7 later in the first period on a 54-yard scoring run by Josiah Gibbons, but again Bradwell answered. The Tigers converted on a third-and-6 play to keep the drive alive before quarterback Jah’Barri Felix ran for a 39-yard score to tie the game.

 

The Pirates went back in front with one offensive play as Gardner paraded 76 yards for a 21-14 lead.

 

The BHS defense stopped Bradwell’s next drive, but the Tigers got the ball back after their punt struck a Brunswick player and the home team pounced on the ball inside the red zone.

Bradwell tied up the game again, making it 21-21 still in the opening quarter.

 

The Pirates would march 66 yards on their next possession with Gibbons scoring from 8 yards to regain the lead for BHS at 28-21.

 

They would go up by two scores in the second period on a 64-yard TD run by Gardner for a 35-21 advantage which was the score at halftime.

 

BHS went into the break with more than 400 yards of total offense.  

 

After halftime, the Pirates stopped a Bradwell threat after the home team had the ball first-and-goal from the Brunswick 3-yard line and came away with no points.

 

However, the Pirates lost a fumble deep in their territory, and the Tigers would cash in on that, scoring to draw within 35-28 on a 1-yard run by Felix.

 

The Pirates would go up two scores again when Gardner raced 15 yards for another touchdown, a play that was set up by a 30-yard pass play from Walker to Waseem Murray.

 

The Tigers roared back, though. Felix went for a gain of 49 yards into the red zone on a third-down scramble, leading to his 18-yard TD pass to running back Cameron Keeve to get the Tigers within 42-35.

 

The Pirates went three-and-out on their next series, and it looked like the Tigers might do the same when they got the ball again. However, a pass interference call against the Pirates on a third-down play from the Brunswick 34 allowed the Tigers to keep the ball.

 

Bradwell would continue the march and scored on another short run by Felix to deadlock the score at 42-all early in the final frame.  

 

Bradwell went in front for the first time all night in the fourth quarter after an 81-yard touchdown pass.

 

BHS obviously tied the score to force overtime, but ended up with a hard-to-swallow setback on the road.  

 

Gardner did set a new single-game rushing record for the Pirates, breaking the previous record of 327 yards set in the 1988 season by Billy McCoy in a game against Groves.

BHS is reporting that Gardner finished with 353 yards on the team’s MaxPreps page. BHS will chart the statistics again by watching game film before the final stats become official.

The Pirates are off next week. They will return to action on Oct. 16 in the annual City Championship game against Glynn Academy.

 

The Red Terrors lost 36-25 on Friday night to Effingham at Glynn County Stadium. The Rebels went to 3-0 in the region with the victory and now sit alone atop the region standings after the first three weeks of region play.