Brunswick wallops Grovetown through the air, on the ground
By Cooper Brady | Sports writer
GROVETOWN—Brunswick battered Grovetown High School 38-14 on Friday, Sept. 18, behind a strong passing game from its senior signal caller and a dynamic running game.
The Pirates (1-0, 2-2) were led through the air by senior quarterback Keygan Walker, who went 7-for-14 on his passing attempts for 189 yards and three touchdowns.
The Pirates’ dominant ground attack was led by senior running backs Josiah Gibbons and Nigel Gardner. Gibbons rushed for 152 yards and a touchdown, while Gardner had 70 yards and found the end zone once himself.
The Warriors (0-1, 0-4) saw quarterback Nahjee Pollard Jr. lead their passing and ground attacks, tallying 154 yards through the air (17 completions on 27 attempts) with and the team’s only two scores while also producing 18 yards on the ground. Only Ashtin Brown had more rushing yards with 46 on 12 touches.
After winning the coin toss and choosing to receive the opening kickoff, the Warriors looked poised and ready to control play. After a muffed punt by the Pirates return man, the Warriors scored on a beauty of a 39-yard pass by Pollard to Cameron Wilkerson to give Grovetown an early lead.
The Pirates were stalled at midfield and punted, but this second possession saw the trouble begin for the Warriors. Already having used a timeout to avoid a delay of game on their first drive and their second to adjust coverage on Brunswick’s first push, they’d burn their last timeout with just under three minutes left in the first quarter.
Still, Grovetown pushed to its own 40-yardline before punting, and the Pirates took full advantage, scoring in just three plays and tying the game at 7-7.
Both teams would punt on their next drives, and Grovetown looked to gain momentum, reaching inside the Pirates 30-yard line before turning it over on downs with 55 seconds left in the half.
In another short drive, a chunk run by Gibbons for 26 yards would set Walker up to find Waseem Murray for a 36-yard touchdown in just 32 seconds, and the score at half was 14-7 in favor of Brunswick.
The momentum firmly in their favor, the Pirates scored in just seven plays on the first drive of the second half, capped by another great pass from Walker, this one a 34-yarder to Zi’yan Rankin.
Now behind by 14, the Warriors still couldn’t find an answer, punting it back and allowing Pirates’ kicker Braxton Davis to make a 20-yard field goal on the subsequent drive.
Grovetown burned all three timeouts on the next drive, struggling to find rhythm and gave the ball back on downs at midfield.
Two more big passes by Walker, one a gain of 26 to Murray and the other a 24-yard score to senior Isreal Henry, would make it 31-7 and effectively seal the game with a little over nine minutes left.
The Warriors received a glimmer of hope from a 25-yard touchdown pass by Pollard to Jabari Cook to make it 31-14, but it was immediately extinguished by a 61-yard touchdown run by Gibbons to cap off his spectacular night, and the game would end with a 24-point Pirate win.
Bryon Slack, coach for the Pirates, was extremely complimentary of his running back duo of Gardner and Gibbons.
“They are as explosive a duo as I’ve ever coached,” Slack said. “As a tandem, I’d put them up against anybody.”
The Pirate coach credited the win to his team’s resilience.
“Our kids are still learning how to play full games,” he said. “They struggled early with ball security and penalties, but they handled that adversity in a way some of our previous teams might not have and kept playing,”
Grovetown coach Dedrick Mayo expressed admiration for the Pirates’ program, while explaining that the difference in experience played a big role in their game tonight.
“They’re the team that’s been in the playoffs, been there and done that, a proven commodity and championship level,” Mayo said. “That’s where we want to get to. We dress about half the number of seniors they do, and in a game like this, we need our young roster to get the best looks possible. The timeouts and delay of game penalties come with the territory. We’re going to be at that level, though, hopefully sooner than later.”
Brunswick will play the Greenbrier Wolfpack at home next Friday, looking to get their record over .500 for the first time this year. Meanwhile, the Warriors will look to pick up their first victory of the year at home against South Effingham, next Friday as well.
(Note: A version of this story appeared in Augusta Good News.)
Contact Cooper Brady at coobrady@augusta.edu.
Brunswick’s Josiah Gibbons (5) tries to make Warriors' cornerback Darin Postell (24) miss in the open field. At the top of the page, Brunswick running back Nigel Gardner (10) celebrates a touchdown with teammate Tripp Rowell (52) in the Pirates' win at Grovetown. (photos by Brelynn Crewe/the Bell Ringer)
