By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics The Brunswick High Pirates moved into the second round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs Friday night as they posted a 78-30 victory over Winder-Barrow at Glynn County Stadium. The Pirates (9-2), who have one of the highest-scoring offenses in the 5A ranks, set a new team single-game scoring record in Friday’s game. They surpassed the previous high mark of 70 points which was held by both the 1998 and 1999 Brunswick teams that played in the state quartefinals and state championship, respectively. “We had good field-position to start drives, with them onside kicking,” said Brunswick coach Garrett Grady when asked about the big night by the offense. “The execution was there. I thought our offensive line played well, opening up running lanes and doing a good job with our pass protection.” Brunswick, the Region 1 champion and league’s top seed, came into the game averaging 44.7 points and had scored as much as 65 points in the regular season. Brunswick already had 54 at halftime against a Winder-Barrow team that gave up 34 or more points in six of its 10 games in the regular season and had allowed 57 in a loss to Region 8 winner Jackson County and 59 to the league’s third seed Clarke-Central in its previous two games. Jackson County defeated Glynn Academy 50-7 Friday in a round-one game and Clarke-Central nipped Effingham 34-33 in a first-round contest. Thing is, the Bulldoggs (4-7), the No. 4 seed from Region 8, were actually within 30-22 of the Pirates in the first half after the home squad played some lackluster defense as well. They also were within 38-30 a little later, but the Pirates would pull away before halftime for a 54-30 advantage at the half following the offensive shootout between the bricks in the opening two quarters. While the teams combined for 84 points, they also combined for 790 yards in the game’s first two quarters. The Pirates had 437 yards with 297 through the air and another 140 on the ground. Winder-Barrow had 195 passing yards and 98 rushing yards for 293 total yards. The second half was a different story, though. Brunswick kept scoring as the Pirates put the ball in the end zone three more times while also adding three two-point conversions and would outscore the Bulldoggs 24-0 over the final two periods to win going away. “Hats off to Winder-Barrow. They didn’t lay down and gave us a challenge,” Grady said. “We made some good halftime adjustments. It went back-and-forth there at the beginning. Our guys really buckled down in the second half. It was just getting lined up, tackling better and doing your job, not trying to do too much and just letting the game come to you.” The fourth quarter was played with a running clock per state rules with the Pirates up by more than 30 points going into the final 12 minutes. BHS led 70-30 after the third quarter. BHS intercepted Winder-Barrow quarterback Westley Booth three times after halftime and four times for the night. “Our guys responded to coaching in the second half,” Grady said. The Pirates finished the game with a whopping 619 total yards. Senior quarterback Grant Moore threw for 344 yards and five touchdowns, going 12-for-14 while completing passes to five different receivers. Moore entered the playoff opener three touchdown passes shy of the single-season school record and established a new mark when he threw for four scores in the first half. Moore now has 29 TD passes for the season. He has now thrown for 2,620 yards this fall and is 99 yards away from setting a new single-season passing record as well. Moore is already Brunswick’s career leader for passing yards and touchdowns throws. “Individual records and accomplishments will come as long as we put the team first and do what we are supposed to do,” Grady said, noting that the Pirates were simply playing to win and not post record numbers against the Bulldoggs who forced only two punts by the Pirates. For BHS, Waseem Murray had three catches for 133 yards including a 77-yard touchdown grab. Senior tight end and Florida commit Heze Kent caught three passes - all touchdowns - that added up to 71 yards. His catches covered 22, 39 and 10 yards. Also, Dontre Butler hauled in a 43-yard scoring catch. Brunswick’s running tandem of Josiah Gibbons and Nigel Gardner - both 1,000-yard rushers during the regular season, went for more than 100 yards each Friday night. Gardner rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries with his scoring runs covering 24 and 35 yards. Gibbons carried for 102 yards on six attempts and scored three times on runs of 9, 10 and 53 yards. Winder-Barrow finished with 353 yards in defeat, passing for 260 and rushing for 93 net yards. Demetrius Dowdy, the leading rusher in Class AAAAA with an average of 184.2 yards per game, ended the game with 110 yards on 31 carries. Dowdy had 98 yards in the first half on 23 attempts. Booth was 14-of-31 passing for 260 yards, but was picked off four times. Zi’Yan Rankin had two of the interceptions for BHS while Samir Dobbins and Rakeim McCaster also had picks. Brunswick’s longest drive of the night was 80 yards and that was late in the first half after Rankin’s first interception in the end zone ended a scoring threat by the Bulldoggs. BHS covered the 80 yards in two snaps with Moore tossing a short pass to Murray who raced pass the defense along the home sideline to complete a 77-yard scoring play that extended the team’s lead to 54-30 before intermission. The Bulldoggs started the game with an onside kick and would continue to do that after their first-half scores. It looked like it would be a total runaway for the Pirates as they went up 30-7 in the final seconds of the opening quarter. But Winder-Barrow scored on a long pass, would recover an onside kick and then quickly score again on another pass to make it a 30-22 game early in the second quarter. The Pirates went back up 16 with another quick score and another two-point play as they went for two all game and also tried onside kicks and pooch-kicks all game with their kickers nursing injuries. Winder-Barrow punched back with another score before the Pirates put the final 16 points on the board before the half for the 54-30 cushion at the break. The Pirates will take on Gainesville next Friday at home in round two. The Red Elephants (9-2), who were ranked fourth in the state in the final regular-season poll, are the No. 2 seed from Region 7. They defeated Dunwoody 48-3 in their playoff opener on Friday. Their losses this season were to Carrollton, a title contender in Class AAAAAA, and Roswell, who won their region and is ranked third in the state coming into the playoffs. “They’re a really good team with a lot of good athletes and coaches,” Grady said. “They’ll be ready to play. We gotta come ready to work on Monday and get ready to play a really good team.”