Friday’s dramatic 28-21 overtime win by #6 ranked Burke County (class 4A) over #6 Oconee County (3A) headlined another exciting week in high school football. During a Saturday morning phone interview, Burke County head coach Eric Parker described the play of the game, an overtime forcing 25-yard touchdown completion from Marshall Flowers to Kohen Rogers in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Flowers fit a perfectly placed ball into the hands of his longtime teammate, who had one defender draped over his shoulders even before the ball arrived, and another just in front of him.
“We had a play where we wanted to take a shot, but when we make our passing plays, very, very, very seldom is there a design where it’s gonna go to one person,” Parker explained after a short night’s sleep. “We’re asking Marshall to read coverages, read safety’s and go opposite where they are. And I think he kind of made up his mind before the snap that if Kohen got a chance at all, he was gonna give him a chance to make a play. And you know, what may have been almost as amazing as Kohen’s catch was Marshall’s throw. He put it absolutely in a perfect spot, where nobody had a chance to play with it except for Kohen.”
The win was the second for Burke County already this season against a ranked opponent after the Bears topped #5 Thomson (2A) on the road in dramatic fashion in week one. Parker, the dean of area coaches, talked about the special environment his players were lucky enough to taste Friday night, a hardly rare experience for the Bears because Burke County has earned a place among the state’s most successful programs.
“It was a great atmosphere. It was a packed house, a homecoming crowd,” Parker said. “You know, right there when that thing got down to the wire, that’s probably as pumped as I’ve seen our crowd in a while. And our team fed off of it. I always tell our guys… They don’t understand this. They take it for granted. There are some kids that play high school football for four years and never get an opportunity to play one time in an atmosphere like that. And it’s hard to get them to see how blessed they are. But man, don’t take it for granted, because there are some people that never get to experience that, with the Thomson game, and last night with the Oconee game.”
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With the win, Burke County became the only Georgia High School Association team in the area to reach 4-0. But things won’t get any easier for the Bears, who will travel to Statesboro this Fridaybefore opening region play with two more road games against #10 Wayne County (4A) the following Friday, and #7 Benedictine the Thursday after that.
Burke County is off to its best start in five years, which most observers wouldn’t have predicted, given the quality of opponents the team has faced so far.
“We’re excited about the start,” Parker said. “Going into this thing before we ever played game one, we knew that our non-region schedule probably would be as tough as we’ve played in a long time. So to be 4-0 at this point with one non-region game left… Yeah, we’re pretty pumped up about that.”
Every facet of Burke County’s attack, including the special teams, have had moments of brilliance. So far this season, six different players have rushed for a touchdown, and an additional five have caught a touchdown pass. And when it comes to game experience, at least four of the team’s key skilled players (Flowers, Rogers, Jordan Franklin and Charlie Dorsey) have started since their sophomore season.
I asked Coach Parker specifically about the team’s plethora of playmakers, and about its unusually seasoned senior class.
“If we had our way, every year would be like this, where we just have a bunch of kids that can make plays,” Parker explained. “Now we have some really good players. But we don’t have that one kid that people come in saying, ‘This is the guy. You stop him, then you pretty much stop the offense.’ So that’s part of our philosophy, to be able to spread the ball around the field. And in order to do that, you have to use multiple guys. Now, this year we’re blessed because we just probably have about 14 kids that can actually touch the ball. That’s not to say that they’re all these college prospects, but they do a good job with it when they get it in their hands. So our thing is, our strength is in the numbers.”
Examples include juniors Ronderius Gray (2 receiving touchdowns on 5 receptions this season, as well as a TD on a punt return) and Noah Boynton (2 receiving touchdowns on only 3 receptions) and Donta Williams (1 receiving touchdown on only 2 receptions).
Meanwhile Flowers has blossomed into the most productive, and the most clutch, quarterback in the area. The senior hurler (Flowers also pitches in the Spring and he led Burke County in strikeouts and wins while sporting a 1.68 ERA) has passed for 656 yards (16.4 per completion) and 8 touchdowns. Against Oconee County, Flowers completed 13 of 22 passes for 183 yards and 2 touchdowns. Parker was particularly pleased about the way he handled himself under pressure.
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“Marshall was as clutch as I’ve seen him ever,” said Parker. “And that’s what you want from your senior.”
Leadership has also come from Rogers, who leads the team in receptions and receiving yards; from Dorsey, who leads in rushing yards; and from Franklin, who has scored a rushing touchdown and returned a kickoff for a score to go along with a strong showing on defense. That quartet of seniors took its lumps as sophomores while starting for the only Burke County squad to finish the season with a losing record during Parker’s 16-year tenure in Waynesboro. The now legendary coach reflected on how that experience, which was made even more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic’s role in severely limiting practice and game time that season, shaped this year’s senior class and prepared them to lead.
“Well it’s kind of hard to operate when you have to try to bypass the senior class, meaning that if you don’t have great leadership in your senior class, it’s just almost the natural pecking order,” Parker explained. “The juniors just don’t tend to step over the seniors to become leaders. And certainly you don’t expect the freshmen and sophomores to do it.
“So having a group of guys that kind of cut their teeth as sophomores, as starters… that’s what happened two years ago, with this senior group when they were sophomores. And we took some lumps. Now the lumps that we took were from some good programs. The schedule that we play still required us to play good people. And if you go back and look at the people that we lost to, we lost to some people that probably would’ve beaten most. So I just think that experience, and the number of games, just forced those guys to grow up in a hurry. You saw it a little bit last year as juniors. And now you’re really seeing it this year as seniors, because this senior group is just doing a great job of not only playing, but they’re doing a great job in the locker room as leaders. Just kind of reinforcing our tradition about how we’re gonna work, how we’re gonna prepare, how we’re gonna be business-like, how we’re gonna be disciplined. And all that stuff usually works in your favor.”
Week 6 Schedule and Picks
#6 Burke County (4-0) at Statesboro (1-3)
Pick: Burke County
Washington County at #5 Thomson – Region
Pick: Thomson
Butler (2-2) at Laney (3-0) – Region (Saturday)
Pick: Laney
After what was shaping up to be a wonderful region opening game between Laney and Thomson was ruined and suspended until a later date by a legitimate tragedy last Friday, both teams will likely shake off that experience and get back on the winning track this weekend.
North Augusta (1-4) at Strom Thurmond (2-2)
Pick: North Augusta
South Aiken (1-4) at #4 Clinton (5-0)
Pick: Clinton
The Sept. 30 region opener between North Augusta and defending region champion South Aiken at the Stomping Grounds has been circled throughout the entire season. The losing records for the two rivals is a by-product of a brutal non-region schedule that has included a combined seven ranked opponents during the season’s first five weeks.
South AIken will likely take another hit in the loss column this Friday against #4 Clinton, and I’ll pick North Augusta to knock off another of its rivals on the road at Strom Thurmond. But the Rebels became a much more worrisome opponent for the Yellow Jackets when junior quarterback Quan Edmond took the field for the first time last week against Evans to lead Thurmond to a 29-21 win. Edmond completed 26 of 36 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. Both scoring strikes went to senior Gregory Bryant, who caught seven passes for 93 yards.
#5 Barnwell (5-0) at Silver Bluff (1-3)
Pick: Barnwell
The War Horses will be out for revenge against arch rival Silver Bluff after dropping two contests last season against the Bulldogs, one in the playoffs. And Barnwell has just the ingredients to do it in style because Tyler Smith has posted eye popping rushing numbers for a season-and-a-half. The 6-foot-1-inch and 207-pound senior has already surpassed 1,000 yards this season, and he has reached the end zone 16 times while averaging 8.9 yards per carry.
Silver Bluff’s record can be misleading. Last season’s class 2A runner up has “played up” every game so far this season in recording losses to Socastee (5A), South Aiken and Midland Valley (4A), to go along with last Friday’s 14-7 win over Orangeburg-Wilkinson (3A). But as is the case in any rivalry game, records and stats won’t matter when these teams meet this Friday.
Grovetown (3-1) at Evans (2-2) – Region
Pick: Evans
Speaking of rivalry games, Evans won’t be thinking about the losses taken in the last two weeks against Burke County and Strom Thurmond when Columbia County rival Grovetown visits this Friday for the region opener for both teams. And Grovetown will do its best by forgetting the 49-27 pounding it delivered to Jefferson County last Friday.
An interesting development for the Warriors in that game, though, was the fact that senior Joseph Jean, who entered the season as the area’s premier two-way player, seemed to have taken a considerable amount of reps on both sides of the ball for the first time this season. After a limited number of carries during the first three games, Jean rushed 14 times for 165 yards and four touchdowns. And he kept up his high rate of production on defense by making 11 tackles. More of the same from Jean this Friday can easily make my prediction above wrong.
Greenbrier (0-4) at #9 Aquinas (3-1)
Pick: Aquinas
Speaking of two-way players, Aquinas star junior Clark Jackson continued to show last Friday that he belongs on the same short list of the area’s best as Jean and Harlem senior Johnathan Howard. In a loss to Harlem, Jackson stuffed the stat sheet with 10 receptions for 117 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed 22 times for 150 yards, and on defense he made 11 solo tackles!
Harlem, which beat the Fightin’ Irish 27-20 to improve to 4-1 for the season, is off this week. But to finish recognizing the best players who rarely leave the field, I’ll say Howard’s line was a beauty too. The senior snagged 5 passes for 129 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown reception. And he nabbed an interception in the end zone in the final minute that shut the door on an Aquinas comeback attempt.
Aquinas will get back on the winning track Friday before region play begins the following week for the Fightin’ Irish.
More Games and Picks
Lincoln County (2-2) at Richmond Academy (3-1)
Pick: Richmond
Southeast Bulloch (1-3) at Hephzibah (2-2)
Pick: Southeast Bulloch
#5 Washington-Wilkes (3-1) at Hancock Central (1-3)
Pick: Washington-Wilkes
#10 Elbert County (4-0) at Jefferson County (1-3)
Pick: Elbert County
Midland Valley (2-3) at Swansea (3-1)
Pick: Midland Valley
Josey (2-2, 1-1) at #7 Putnam County (3-1, 1-0) – Region
Pick: Putnam County
Thomas Jefferson Academy (4-0) at Edmund Burke (3-0)
Pick: Thomas Jefferson Academy
Augusta Prep (2-2) at Glascock County (0-4)
Pick: Augusta Prep
Screven County (4-0) at Warren County (2-2)
Pick: Screven County
Westside (1-3, 1-0) at Glenn Hills (1-4, 0-2) – Region
Pick: Westside
Westminster (2-2) at Young Americans Christian (3-1)
Pick: Westminster
Wagener-Salley (2-3, 1-0) at Blackville-Hilda (0-4, 0-1) – Region
Pick: Wagener-Salley
Heathwood Hall (3-2) at Augusta Christian (2-2)
Pick: Augusta Christian
Trinity Christian (2-3) at Briarwood (2-2)
Pick: Briarwood
Williston-Elko (0-4) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (0-4)
Pick: Ridge Spring-Monetta
GISC (0-4) at Fox Creek (0-4)
Pick: Fox Creek
Cross Creek (1-3) at Hart County (2-2)
Pick: Hart County
