Pirates sail past Lakeside-Evans in final regular-season game
By Kevin Price
For GCS Athletics
The Brunswick High Pirates won on the field Friday night, parading past Lakeside-Evans 62-7 in their regular-season finale in Evans.
The Pirates will have to wait until Saturday morning to see if they won in the rankings, too, which will determine their state-playoff fate.
Brunswick entered Friday night two spots out of the 32-team field for the Class AAAAAA state playoffs which will be set by the Postseason Rankings for the first time this season in all classes in the Georgia High School Association.
Brunswick finishes its first season under head coach Byron Slack with a final 5-5 overall record that includes a 4-3 final mark in Region 1-AAAAAA.
The Pirates ended the season with back-to-back wins as they also knocked off Effingham last week. The Rebels secured the region title Friday by winning their final game against Greenbrier.
The Pirates jumped on the Panthers, who finished 0-10 on the season, from the start as they scored the first 20 points and led 20-7 after the opening quarter.
Josiah Gibbons opened the scoring for the Pirates with a 6-yard touchdown run before fellow senior running back Nigel Gardner put BHS up 13-0 with a 24-yard TD run the next time the Pirates had the ball.
BHS got into the end zone a third time in the opening frame on a 4-yard rush by Waseem Murray. Earlier on this drive, senior quarterback Keygan Walker and Isreal Henry hooked up on passes that covered 16 and 32 yards.
Brunswick went up 27-7 with just over seven minutes to play before halftime on a 72-yard dash to the end zone by Gardner through the middle of the Lakeside-Evans defense.
Gibbons also added a second score before the halftime break when he scored from 47 yards away to give the Pirates a commanding 34-7 advantage at the half.
The Brunswick senior who scored five times last week against Effingham added his third score Friday night moments into the third quarter as BHS went up 42-7 on the Panthers.
A Zi’yan Rankin interception got the ball right back for the Pirates. Rankin had two picks last week in his first game back since being sidelined with an injury in the season opener. The Pirates turned his interception into points as Murray caught a touchdown pass, this one going for 31 yards and giving the Pirates a 48-7 lead.
BHS extended its lead to 56-7 late in the third when Walker teamed up with Eli Overton for a 51-yard TD pass.
The Pirates punctuated with their runaway-win with Walker hitting Murray for a 57-yard scoring pass at the start of the fourth quarter.
Unofficially, Walker finished the night with 318 yards passing while throwing for the three touchdowns.