By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics The Glynn Academy Red Terrors pulled out a come-from-behind victory in another exciting City Championship Game Friday night as they knocked off the Brunswick High Pirates 22-15 in overtime at Glynn County Stadium. The Terrors overcame a 12-0 halftime deficit and outscored the Pirates 22-3 over the final two quarters and the overtime to win the Region 2-AAAAAA opener between the crosstown rivals that was played in front of 9,000 fans on a gorgeous late-September evening for a high-school football game. “When we went to overtime, I knew we were gonna win this game,” said GA head coach Rocky Hidalgo. “We had all the momentum, the energy. You could tell by everybody’s body-language in this place. The Red Terrors were walking outta here a winner. I had no doubt.I was confident with our kids, that they were gonna come away with the win.” Glynn (4-1) ended a three-game losing skid in the series with the thrilling victory and now has won the local rivalry game seven times in 10 seasons under head coach Rocky Hidalgo who led the Terrors to six consecutive wins in the series before the Pirates won the 2020 game. Brunswick fell to 2-2 with the loss. The Pirates had perfect regular seasons the last two years, but have lost two of their last three games since opening the season with an impressive 21-17 victory over Camden County which has won its last four games by large margins since that loss including its game at GC Stadium against Glynn. In the 80th meeting between the Terrors and Pirates on Friday, the local rivals were deadlocked at 15-15 on the scoreboard at the end of regulation. Brunswick won the coin toss prior to overtime and elected to play defense first, meaning Glynn started out on offense from the 15-yard line going in by rule. The Terrors scored on third-and-9 from the 12 when junior Jayden Ellis carried around the right end and scored in the corner after dropping the ball while running and grabbing it off the bounce as he headed to the goal line. Tuck Tucker added the extra-point for the 22-15 lead. Prior to the scoring run, Ellis, one of the team’s best athletes who played quarterback in the second half and proved to be a difference-maker for the Terrors, gained 5 yards on first down. Glynn was penalized back to the 15 before a second-down run by Ellis failed to gain. On third down, he took a shot-gun snap and made a quick drop before keeping to the 10. Glynn was penalized for a block in the back, but BHS was also flagged for a late-hit on Ellis. When the penalties were marked off, the ball was spotted on the 12 and third down was replayed. Ellis, who carried 19 times for 115 yards after halftime and was named the Glynn County Sports Hall of Fame Player of the Game, scored on Glynn’s ensuing play which was actually a passing play called in from the sidelines. “When you have a guy like that back there, he can take off and run with it if the play is not there. That’s what he did,” Hidalgo said. Brunswick still had a chance to tie the game or possibly even try for two points and the win as it got the ball in overtime at the 15-yard line after the Glynn score. But after senior receiver Terry Mitchell picked up 5 yards running the ball on first down, the Terrors dropped BHS senior quarterback J.R. Elkins three straight times in the backfield to close out their comeback-win. The Pirates also were flagged for holding on that final play which of course was declined by the Terrors who had already stormed the field in celebration. Brunswick was penalized 17 times in the game for 89 yards. Glynn took advantage of a muffed punt by the Pirates at their own 30 to tie the score early in the fourth quarter. The Terrors picked up a first down after two running plays to the 12. Glynn gained 2 yards on a rush and then another yard on another run, but BHS also got flagged for a face-mask infraction and a late hit which gave the Terrors the ball with first-and-goal from the 2. Back-to-back runs by junior tailback Greg Peacock netted a yard, but with Glynn in the I-formation, the Terrors called fullback Mike Torello’s number on third down and he powered through the middle of the line for the touchdown that made it a 15-13 game with 7:59 left to play. Glynn kept its offense on the field for a tying two-point try, and starting quarterback Ryan Schueneman threw a pass to Peacock who came out of the backfield on the right side of the formation for the conversion. Peacock caught the pass below his knees in stride and stayed on his feet to complete the play. The Pirates went on offense at midfield on their next possession after Daron Monroe returned a short kick from his 24 to the 50. Brunswick reached the Glynn 21 before turning over the ball on downs. Glynn couldn’t move and actually lost yardage back to the 13 while getting a 5-yard penalty before their second-down snap. Forced to punt, GA sent Tucker out to boot it away. Kicking rugby-style as he had been, he pulled in the snap to take off and run, but kicked it at the last minute. Thing is, he crossed the line of scrimmage near the Glynn sideline and the nearest official threw the flag on the play. The officiating crew, from an Atlanta-area association, called illegal kicking on Glynn and marked off a half-the-distance to the goal penalty and awarded the ball to the Pirates at the GA 8 with only 2:12 to go now. Operating from their “Pirate Package” with the 250-pound Heze Kent in the backfield, the huge sophomore who plays tight end gained a yard on first down. BHS was whistled for another 5-yard penalty on second down, and now with the ball back at the 12, freshman running back Waseem Murray carried 8 yards to the 4. On third down, Glynn stuffed a run by Kent up the middle for no gain, bringing up fourth down. The Pirates brought their field-goal unit onto the field for the go-ahead try inside the final minute from 21 yards, but Glynn appeared to overpower the Pirates up front and their blocking specialist, senior Ryan Young, blocked the attempt to keep the score tied. Young was named the Farm Bureau Defensive MVP after the game. “Defensively, our kids play hard,” Hidalgo said, talking about the defensive stand by Glynn. “They played their tails off. Brunswick’s got a good football team. I’m not taking anything away from them, but our kids played their tails off.” Glynn kneeled on the ball after taking over to run off the remaining time and send the game into overtime. The game got off to a nightmarish start for the Terrors. They lost a fumble right from the get-go after a short opening kick hit the turf and bounced hard off the leg of Peacock who was about to field it off the hop. Brunswick pounced on the loose ball and immediately had possession at Glynn’s 25. On a third-down play, Elkins threw a strike to Kent over the middle that went for a 14-yard score and Brunswick was on the scoreboard less than two minutes into the action. The extra-point try was no good, so the score remained 6-0. Glynn then lost a fumble on the very first play of its next possession, giving BHS the ball at the GA 36. The Pirates called for a deep ball right away, and Elkins lofted a pass to Mitchell for a touchdown, but the score was wiped out by a motion infraction. Brunswick ended up punting the ball back to the Terrors. Glynn missed a field-goal attempt early in the second quarter, but would get the ball back just inside BHS territory after a fumble by the Pirates. The Terrors couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, though, as a Schueneman pass was picked off by Zion Rauls. The Pirates would have to punt again as would Glynn on its next series, giving the ball back to Brunswick at its own 17 late in the half. The Pirates, who came into the night averaging just shy of 40 points a game, showed their explosiveness while covering the 83 yards in five plays to extend its lead to 12-0 before the halftime break. Elkins tossed a pass to Kent over the top of the defense, and the big tight end broke loose from a tackler and nearly scored. He was tackled at the Glynn 5 after a 65-yard gain to give BHS first-and-goal. Murray scored by reversing field on a handoff from 4 yards away two plays later. This time, it was Young blocking the extra-point try to keep it a 12-0 score. Brunswick started the third quarter with a bang, getting a 58-yark kick return by Jashawn Towns, a starting linebacker, to the Glynn 11 after a short kick by the Terrors. The Glynn defense kept BHS out of the end zone, though, forcing a 34-yard field goal by Landon Etheridge that moved the score to 15-0. Glynn would start to work on cutting into that deficit behind the running of Peacock and Ellis who was inserted at quarterback by the GA coaches coming out of halftime. Ellis starts in the defensive secondary and broke up some BHS passes earlier in the game, but he also plays running back, returns punts and kicks for Glynn and works regularly at quarterback. “I’ve been at quarterback in practice the last three weeks,” Ellis said. “We’ve been preparing for this. I was the X-factor tonight, but I didn’t expect this kind of night to be honest. But, we just executed the game plan. My (offensive) line, they blocked well for me. I just executed the plays. Coach Rock told me before the game that they’re gonna get up the field, and we’re gonna run right underneath them. And that’s what we did. That’s what happened.” The Terrors would finish with 201 net rushing yards and 263 total yards as Ellis got all of his 100-plus after halftime to go with 90 yards by Peacock who has been slowed by injuries since the start of the season. Peacock had 19 rushing attempts on the night and was selected as the Farm Bureau Offensive MVP for Glynn post-game. Ellis carried five times on Glynn’s first second-half drive for 55 yards and a 5-yard scoring run to complete the 80-yard, 13-play march that got GA within 15-7 midway through the third after the extra-point kick. Glynn was actually set to punt the ball from its 23, but consecutive encroachment penalties against BHS resulted in a new set of downs for the Terrors who took full advantage by going in for the score on the continued drive which also included a 17-yard pass play. “He’s a really good athlete, a hard-nosed kid,” Hidalgo said of Ellis. “He’s as good a player as anyone on this field.” The teams exchanged punts on their next two series, but BHS wasted a 61-yard return by Mitchell to the GA 28 as it gave up the ball on downs when its fourth-down pass fell incomplete on the first play of the fourth quarter. Glynn had to punt again on its next possession, and this kick was the one the Terrors recovered and turned into the tying score. For the night, Brunswick finished with 222 total yards, rushing for 97 net yards and passing for 125. Elkins finished 8-for-18 for all of the team’s passing yards. Kent had three catches for 92 yards and the touchdown while also running for 31 yards on nine carries. Mitchell had four receptions for 33 yards. William Heck and Jamarious Towns, both juniors, each rushed for 40 yards in the loss. Heck carried 11 times while Towns had six carries. Glynn sacked Elkins four times for 27 yards in losses. The Terrors will go to Effingham next Friday. The Rebels blasted South Effingham 42-7 in their region opener Friday night. Brunswick will be back at GC Stadium for a region game against Grovetown which lost 27-6 to Evans Friday in its region opener.