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ECHS QB Perkins hurt in region loss to Brunswick
Kyzer DeLoach
Rebels quarterback Kyzer DeLoach (No. 17) completed 14-of-19 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown in relief of starter Tucker Perkins who suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter against Brunswick. (Mark Lastinger for the Effingham Herald.)

By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

SPRINGFIELD – Effingham County football coach John Ford doesn’t expect any sympathy. Friday night, his defending region champions were overmatched defensively for the third straight week and the offense took a huge blow when junior quarterback Tucker Perkins suffered a shoulder injury.

And in football, two negatives don’t make a positive.

The Rebels (0-3) fell behind early, lost Perkins on their second offensive possession and couldn’t hold off Brunswick 42-20 on a drizzly, dreary night at Rebel Field.

The Region 1-5A season-opener for both teams was a rematch of squads that played for the region championship in the regular-season finale the past three years. Three points decided each game with ECHS coming out on top last season for its first region title since 1995.

This time, Brunswick’s running back William Heck ran for scores of 35, 10 and 11 yards and caught an 18-yard back-breaking touchdown pass as time expired in the first half.

Perkins, who rallied the Rebels despite losses to Houston County (44-41) and New Hampstead (47-44), came out of the game against Brunswick after throwing an interception into the endzone on ECHS’ second possession in the first quarter.

He took a hit on a 3-yard run two plays earlier and was hit while throwing the ill-advised pass into the endzone with ECHS trailing 7-0.

After the game, Perkins, with his left arm in a sling, said he had an AC joint injury in his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

The extent of the injury wasn’t known immediately, but he’ll most likely miss ECHS’ next game on Friday night with Bradwell Institute.

Perkins had thrown for 787 yards and six touchdowns in his first two games of the season.

“He’s a great player coming into his own, but no player is ever guaranteed the next play,” Ford said. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves because no one is going to feel sorry for us.”

Size disadvantage
The Rebels couldn't quite overcome Brunswick's size advantage during a 42-20 loss to the Pirates on Friday night at Rebel Field. (Mark Lastinger for the Effingham Herald.)
Backup Kyzer DeLoach replaced Perkins and directed the Rebels to 20 points. DeLoach completed 14-of-19 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.

DeLoach engineered a touchdown drive on his second possession, finishing the six-play, 57-yard march with a 26-yard strike to Q King to cut Brunswick’s lead to 14-6.

The Rebels (0-3, 0-1) remained close at 21-13 midway through the third quarter after Jmere Doe-Davis’ 1-yard TD dive.

“Kyzer is a great young man who works every day. He came in and did some good things,” Ford said.

Doe-Davis carried 20 times for 78 yards and had touchdown runs of 1 and 5 yards. He also caught four passes for 42 yards.

King had six catches for 89 yards.

But the ECHS defense couldn’t slow down the big-play Pirates, who ran for 321 yards on 34 carries (an average of more than nine yards a play).

Heck scored first on a 35-yard run. Then, with third-and-23 from the 9, Jeremiah Robbins broke a run off the left side for a 91-yard TD to make it 14-0.

On the final play of the half, Heck caught an 18-yard TD pass to make it 21-6.

“We’ve played three good teams. Brunswick’s a good team with highly explosive players. We have to work harder to get better,” Ford said.