The Silver Bluff Bulldogs take their unbeaten streak to Columbia Friday in hopes of recording a perfect season, and if any year is one to do it, then it’s this one.
“I have 17 seniors and 12 of those have been playing with me since their sophomore year,” said Coach De’Angelo Bryant.
Silver Bluff will take on Gray Collegiate Academy of West Columbia for the AA title.
Bryant said he’s proud of his squad who handily won many of the season’s match-ups, blanking six teams on the year. The closest game for the Bulldogs was the 42-35 defeat of Barnwell on Nov. 26.
While a lot of players accumulated high individual stats for the year, Bryant said what means the most to him that it wasn’t a one man show by any means. All the team members put forth the effort and it showed.
“Our team stats are really good,” he said.
Other numbers he considers are turnover ratios. While the team forced a lot of turnovers, members didn’t give up many.
Bryant said this season has been especially satisfying after last year’s COVID shortened season.
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The team finished 4-2 last year, but the two losses were by a total of three points – losing by one point in one game and two in the other.
Looking ahead to Friday’s game, Bryant said the Bulldogs need to shut down Gray’s running game early on.
Gray Collegiate Academy’s War Eagles are 13-1 overall.
“The War Eagles defeated Newberry 35-28 in a hard-fought Upper State Championship this past Friday,” according to the charter school’s website. “They will look to capture their first state championship in school history.”
The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at a neutral site – Benedict College in Columbia.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
