By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics The Brunswick High Pirates celebrated another City Championship after edging Glynn Academy in another classic game between the rivals at Glynn County Stadium. The seventh-ranked Pirates (5-0) won the 78th meeting between the teams 17-14 on a 29-yard field goal in overtime to turn back the Terrors who gave an inspired effort in perhaps their best overall performance of the season to that point considering the stage and the magnitude of the game. “It was a hard-fought battle and we knew it would be a hard-fought battle,” said BHS head coach Sean Pender who resigned to take a different coaching job following the season. “The kids on both sides were giving it their all. We had a lot of mistakes and injuries that we had to overcome, but I’m happy with the way we responded.” In the 2020 game, the Pirates ended a six-year losing streak to the Terrors (1-3-1) when they won in dramatic fashion, throwing a long touchdown pass in the final moments to pull out a 24-21 victory in a game that has been tagged the Miracle Between the Bricks. The year prior, Brunswick dropped a heart-breaker when the Terrors kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired in regulation to win 24-21. In that game, senior Chase Gabriel kicked the game-winner for the Terrors from 26 yards and won one of the Player of the Game honors presented by Farm Bureau Insurance. Last year, the Pirates turned to sophomore McClain Fineran to kick the 29-yard field goal in the extra session to give them the victory. He split the uprights with his kick and the Brunswick sideline erupted as the fireworks went off above the Athletic Center beyond the South end zone where Fineran’s kick sailed through the posts moments earlier for another thrilling triumph by the Blue and Gold charges. Fineran was chosen as the Glynn County Sports Hall of Fame Player of the Game after making the game-winning kick. “I knew he could do it. I know he’s a young sophomore, but the kid works hard and he’s a clutch kid. I had no doubt he was going to make it,” Pender said. Fineran had been preparing himself all day for that moment, he said, and he was ready when called on. “I’m just glad Coach Pender had the faith to put me out there,” Fineran said. “He wouldn’t put me out there for something I couldn’t do. I knew I had the opportunity to do it, so I just went out there and did my best. The snap was perfect, the hold was perfect and the kick was good.” The Pirates went on offense in overtime just needing a score to win after the Brunswick defense stuffed a running play by Glynn on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line to stop the Terrors from scoring as they had the ball first in overtime. BHS nose tackle Ka’Shawn Thomas, a major-college prospect as a junior, led the stop by the Pirates just short of the goal line on a rushing attempt by Zech Ellis off the right side of the line of scrimmage. Glynn actually had the ball first-and-goal at the 4, and the Terrors were on the 2 after their first-down play. But on second-and-goal, they were called for a false start which pushed them back to the 7. An Ellis carry to the 6 and then another Ellis rush to the 1 led to fourth down. Brunswick went on offense from the 15 following the turnover on downs. The Pirates were penalized 5 yards for a delay of game before taking a snap. From the 20, BHS senior running back Chuckobe Hill raced around right end for 19 yards to the Glynn 1, but the Pirates were whistled for a holding infraction at the 7-yard line which negated the huge run. Now back on the 17, Hill rushed for 3 yards on first down. Then, the Pirates were hit for penalties that took them back to the 24. After an incomplete pass on second down, the Pirates went to the air again on third down from the 29 after another delay penalty. The pass was incomplete again, but the Terrors were called for pass interference against BHS receiver Kevin Thomas who tried to make a diving catch along the BHS sideline with the Glynn defensive back running stride for stride with him. On third-and-9 from the 14 after the 15-yard markoff against the Terrors, BHS gave the ball to Pat Leggett who gained 2 yards to the 12 to set up the field-goal attempt for the win. GA head coach Rocky Hidalgo was furious about the pass interference call against the Terrors after the game. “I do not think that was pass interference,” Hidalgo said. “We had great position on the inside. That didn’t look like pass interference to me. Our kid did everything he was coached to do. He did it correctly.” Coach Rock added, though, that one play didn’t cost the Terrors the game. “We shouldn’t have jumped offsides on the 2-yard line,” he said, referring to Glynn’s offensive possession in overtime. “We didn’t do this or this and we didn’t do this. There were 20 other things like that that lost the game for us.” With the victory, the Pirates kept their perfect record intact and won the opening game on the Region 2-AAAAAA schedule for both local teams. The consecutive wins for the Pirates against the Terrors were their first in back-to-back victories in the rivalry series since the 2012-13 seasons. Brunswick scored first in the game after its senior linebacker Adam Mweemba intercepted a pass on the game’s first possession by the Terrors to give the Pirates the ball at the Glynn 30. The Pirates scored in six plays with Leggett, one of their senior running backs, taking a handoff and going through a big hole on the left side of the line for the 14-yard score. BHS scored from the 1 on its previous play, but a holding call wiped out the touchdown. Leggett, who had some other key runs for the Pirates later in the night, was named the Farm Bureau Player of the Game for the Pirates. “I had to step up tonight, play my game and take the team on my shoulders,” Leggett said. Glynn also got on the scoreboard in the opening frame on a 32-yard field goal by senior Jonathan Sasser. The Terrors began the scoring drive at their own 24, and on second down, Tyler Devlin threw a beautiful long ball to Tyson Rooks that went for 56 yards to the BHS 20. Both teams came up empty deep in the other guy’s territory in the second quarter, thus keeping the score 7-3 at the halftime break. Brunswick got the ball to start the second half and drove 65 yards in six snaps to go up 14-3. A 39-yard run by Leggett put the Pirates on the Glynn 4, and Hill blasted into the end zone from there to extend the lead on the next play. The Terrors answered with a 15-play, 59-yard drive that ate up more than seven minutes, settling for a 23-yard field goal by Sasser to make the score 14-6 with 2:16 to go in the third. The Pirates had to punt on their next possession after having a 40-yard run to the Glynn 20 brought back by penalty. BHS also had a 15-yard pass a few plays later negated by a penalty. BHS ended up having to punt, and that’s when Glynn gained the momentum early in the final stanza. Senior linebacker Colton Seay broke through the Brunswick line to block the kick, and Tate Rhodes scooped up the ball and ran into the South end zone for a touchdown. Ellis pounded his way across the goal stripe on Glynn’s two-point conversion run to deadlock the score at 14-14 with 11:53 to play in the game, setting the stage for another thrilling finish in the crosstown showdown. The Pirates had to punt again on their next possession as did Glynn when it got the ball again. On Glynn’s kick, sophomore speedster Terry Mitchell returned the punt inside the GA 20 for Brunswick, but both teams committed penalties on the play and the offsetting infractions led to the Terrors punting again. Glynn was flagged for a procedure infraction and Brunswick was penalized for holding. On the do-over punt, Brunswick muffed the kick and Glynn’s David Stanphill recovered the ball at the BHS 30 with just under five minutes remaining. A false start penalty hurt the Terrors from the beginning, and then after not being able to pick up a first down, they were preparing to attempt a 54-yard field goal when a delay of game penalty cost them five yards and forced Glynn to then send its punt team onto the field once more. “You can’t jump offsides five times,” Hidalgo said. “We pushed them around, but made too many mistakes. We killed drives. We had the ball after the turnover and didn’t line up right on the line of scrimmage, so we had first-and-15. Then, we didn’t execute two plays in a row. So instead of kicking a field goal within field-goal range to go up 17-14, we end up having to punt the ball back to them.” BHS would start its final drive in regulation from its own 25 with just over a minute to go. The Pirates did get to the GA 34, but the time ran out in the closing quarter and the game went to overtime. And in the extra frame, the Pirates got it done in dramatic fashion for the second year in a row to cap another festive night in the local prep football showcase. “We’re excited for the win. We got this one,” said Brunswick’s Pender. “One day, I would like to win without it being so dramatic. “One thing our kids did the whole time was believe we could win. They were upset we weren’t pulling away and frustrated by the penalties, but they didn’t give up because of it. They kept battling.”