By Patrick Donahue
Special for the Effingham Herald
HINESVILLE – The South Effingham Mustangs kept trying to mount comebacks last Friday night. The Bradwell Institute Tigers kept fending them off.
The Tigers held on for a 39-27 win at Olvey Field/Hokey Jackson Stadium, notching just their second win of the season and their first in Region 1-5A play. The Mustangs fell to 0-7, 0-5 in the region.
South Effingham scored for the first time in three games when Jayden Hair returned a kickoff 85 yards to tie the score at 6-6, but Bradwell reeled off 19 straight points to take a 25-6 halftime lead.
Undaunted, the Mustangs fought back to start the second half. They gambled on a fourth-down play at their own 34-yard line and quarterback Corbin McGuire’s heave was caught by Khyran White for a 66-yard touchdown.
After a three-and-out, SEHS embarked on a 10-play, 42-yard drive, ending in McGuire’s 8-yard touchdown run with 1:06 left to play in the third quarter. Lawton Bowen ran in the two-point conversion, cutting Bradwell’s lead to 25-21.
“The talk at halftime was it was 0-0,” Mustangs coach Loren Purvis said. “Just play football. Make this half our half. We came out and fought hard. I was proud of their second-half fight. The third quarter, we owned it and then we got a few penalties that didn’t go our way.”
Bradwell regained control by making some big plays. Jacoby Pasley, who had two long touchdown runs called back on penalties, burst down the Tigers’ sideline for a 35-yard TD run on the second play of the fourth quarter, extending Bradwell’s lead to 31-21.
And quarterback Carlito Savea connected with Tyon Jones for a 23-yard touchdown pass and hit Wade Cobb on the conversion to push the Tigers’ lead to 39-21.
McGuire was hurt on the first play of the next drive, and J.T. Barkley stepped in, completing four straight passes to set up Kadin Ward’s 12-yard touchdown run with 5:52 left in the game.
“Corbin McGuire took a heckuva beating tonight,” Purvis said. “I was proud of our guys all over the board. We may not have played the cleanest of games, but they fought hard and didn’t quit.”
Bowen leaped to get the ensuing onside kick, but the drive and South Effingham’s hopes of a comeback ended when Kevin Irving picked off Barkley’s pass at the Bradwell 2 with 3:43 to go.
The Mustangs picked off Savea twice but also lost two fumbles. The teams combined for 27 accepted penalties, resulting in 230 yards of infractions.
SEHS will be back in action against Statesboro on Oct. 25 at The Corral.
