Kickoff: A look at Brunswick High’s first-round game in the Class AAAAA state playoffs: Opponent: Winder-Barrow When: 7:30 p.m. Friday Where: Glynn County Stadium Records: BHS 8-2, 7-1 Region 1-AAAAA, No. 1 seed; WB 4-6, 3-3 Region 8-AAAAA, No. 4 seed Last Game: BHS won 46-19 at home vs. South Effingham; WB lost 59-24 at Clarke-Central At Stake: Winner advances to second round to face Gainesville-Dunwoody winner Game Preview Brunswick High is set to make its seventh straight playoff appearance and will be looking to move past the first round for the third straight season. This is the second straight trip to the playoffs for Winder-Barrow. The Bulldoggs lost in the opening round last year to Thomas County Central which went on to play for the state championship. The Pirates are the top seed from Region 1 and would be at home again next week if they can win this one. Brunswick needed to win its season finale against South Effingham to have a chance for the region championship, and of course the Pirates did that. They also needed help from Effingham which had to defeat Statesboro that same night, and the Rebels knocked off the Blue Devils 42-41 in overtime. That left the Pirates and Rebels tied atop the Region 1 standings, and Brunswick defeated Effingham during region play, so BHS won the tiebreaker over the Rebels for the region crown and the No. 1 seed for the playoffs. Winder-Barrow and Clarke-Central met the final week of the regular season in Region 8, knowing the winner would be the No. 3 seed from their league and the loser would be the No. 4. Clarke-Central won big, so the Bulldoggs became the fourth seed and thus became the opponent for the Region 1 champion which ended up being Brunswick. This is a favorable matchup for the Pirates who finished the regular schedule with one of the highest-scoring offenses in Class AAAAA, averaging 44.7 points per game. Winder-Barrow allows 31.8 points a game and gave up 34 points or more in six of its 10 games. The Pirates have two 1,000-yard rushers in their backfield in junior running backs Josiah Gibbons and Nigel Gardner. Gibbons has carried for 1,165 yards while Gardner has rushed for 1,077 yards. Also for the Pirates, senior quarterback Grant Moore has passed for 2,276 yards and 24 touchdowns. Moore, who already owns the school’s career passing yardage and touchdown records, is 443 yards away from the single-season passing mark and needs three more touchdown passes to break the single-season record. Five different Brunswick pass-catchers have more than 280 receiving yards. Senior tight end Heze Kent leads all BHS receivers with 591 yards while junior receiver Waseem Murray follows closely with 569 yards. The task for the Brunswick defense will be to slow down Winder-Barrow senior running back Demetrius Dowdy. Dowdy is Class AAAAA’s leading rusher and he ranks fourth in the state in rushing with 1,842 yards (184.2 per-game average). He has scored 20 touchdowns for the Bulldoggs. ---- Compiled by Kevin Price for GCS Athletics