Kickoff: A look at Brunswick High’s next game: Opponent: Lakeside-Evans When: 7:30 p.m. Friday Where: Panther Stadium, Evans Records: BHS 6-2, 5-1 Region 1-AAAAA; LE 0-8, 0-6 Region 1-AAAAA Last week: BHS lost 28-21 at Statesboro. Lakeside-Evans lost 21-14 at Greenbrier. Last year/All-time: BHS won 61-34. BHS leads all-time series 5-1. Game Preview Brunswick High will be looking to rebound from last week’s surprising loss at Statesboro. The loss to the Blue Devils ended the Pirates’ six-game winning streak and was their first loss in region play since the 2023 season. BHS is now tied for first in the league standings with Statesboro and Effingham with one region loss. Brunswick has beaten Effingham head-to-head and would win the tiebreaker over the Rebels if they were to end up tied for the top spot in the standings, but the Pirates would lose the tiebreaker to the Blue Devils if they were to finish tied for first with them. To win the region title and get the top seed for the state playoffs, the Pirates need to win their final two games and hope for a Statesboro loss in one of its final three games. Brunswick closes the season with league games against Lakeside-Evans and South Effingham in two weeks. The Pirates are off next week. Statesboro plays Evans this week, South Effingham next week and then Effingham the following week. Effingham finishes with Greenbrier this week, Glynn Academy next week and then faces Statesboro. Lakeside-Evans is struggling big-time this season after losing a talented senior class from a year ago that led the Panthers to a runner-up finish behind the Pirates in the region and a victory in the opening round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs. The Panthers also lost their head coach who took another job following the 2024 season. This season, their head coach is Brett Johnson who had been serving as the team’s defensive coordinator previously. The Panthers are 0-8 and have lost all six of their region games. Last week, they fell 21-14 at Greenbrier. The previous week, they lost in overtime to Statesboro, 36-29. Brunswick’s senior quarterback Grant Moore has thrown for 1,900 yards and 20 touchdowns with four interceptions. One of those interceptions came late in last week’s game with the Pirates trying to pull out a come-from-behind victory. BHS running backs Josiah Gibbons and Nigel Gardner are both closing in on 1,000 yards rushing. Gibbons has carried for 903 yards while Gardner has rushed for 904 yards. Gardner has 11 rushing scores while Gibbons has six. Five different BHS receivers have more than 250 yards catching the ball including Heze Kent (512), Waseem Murray (484), Dontre Butler (342), Gibbons (277) and Isreal Henry (263). Kent and Butler both have five TD catches while Murray has four. Junior linebacker Braylen Johnson leads BHS with 107 tackles while averaging 13.4 tackles per game. ---- Compiled by Kevin Price for GCS Athletics