By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics The Brunswick High Pirates sailed into the second round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs with a convincing 43-13 victory over Villa Rica Friday night at Glynn County Stadium. The Pirates have now won first-round games in five of their six straight trips to the playoffs. The win also was the 10th in a row for Brunswick, which entered the postseason ranked eighth in the state after winning Region 1-AAAAA. The Pirates have not lost since falling at home in the season opener to Camden County. “I’m glad it’s over. Congratulations to our guys and coaches who prepared well,” said Brunswick coach Garrett Grady. “We won the game and guys played great on both sides of the ball.” Villa Rica, the No. 4 seed from Region 5, ended its season with a 5-6 record. Brunswick will be at home again next week in round two against Coffee, a 31-7 winner at Jackson County in its opening-round game on Friday night. The Trojans (9-2) won the state title last season in Class AAAAA when Georgia had seven classifications and finished third in Region 2 this season while losing only to Lee County and Thomas County Central, the top two seeds from the region. All three teams spent the season ranked in the top 10. Coffee entered the playoffs ranked No. 7 in the state. The Pirates never trailed in Friday’s game as they opened up a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and would hold a 27-0 advantage at halftime. Brunswick dominated the opening half as they gained 268 yards in the first two quarters while limiting the Wildcats to only 61 yards before the halftime break. The Pirates finished the night with a balanced offensive effort, totaling 431 yards with 231 yards through the air and 200 on the ground. Brunswick had only 57 yards rushing in the first half as the Wildcats did a good job defending the run, but BHS got its usually-potent ground attack going after halftime and gained 143 yards via the rush over the final two quarters. BHS junior quarterback Grant Moore was 11-of-20 passing for all of the team’s passing yards while throwing for three touchdowns. Senior running back William Heck, the team’s leading rusher, ended up going over the 100-yard mark again with 17 carries for 117 yards after having 42 yards on nine attempts at the half. Cam Bolton provided the bulk of the Villa Rica offense. He carried for 153 yards and a touchdown on 18 tries. The Wildcats finished with 199 net yards against the Pirates. BHS won the toss and elected to take the ball to start the game. The Pirates, who are among the highest-scoring teams in the state, covered 77 yards in 11 plays to grab the lead from the start. Heze Kent, the large junior tight end for the Pirates, took a direct snap and scored from a yard out to get the Pirates on the board. The Pirates got the ball again after the defense forced a three-and-out by Villa Rica on its first possession, and BHS would march 64 yards in eight plays to go up 14-0 after the Landon Etheridge point-after kick. The second BHS score came on a fourth-and-goal play from the Villa Rica 5-yard line. Moore rolled right and hit Heck out of the backfield with the touchdown pass in the far corner. Also on the scoring drive, Moore found Kent along the BHS sideline for a 29-yard gain to the Villa Rica 40 before throwing a long ball to the opposite sideline where Murray came off his feet for a highlight-reel catch and a 39-yard pickup to the 3-yard line, setting up a first-and-goal for the Pirates. Early in the second stanza, the Pirates started their third possession at their own 10 and would need only four plays to go the 90 yards for a commanding 21-0 cushion. Moore tossed a 69-yard scoring strike to Murray over the top of the defense for a third BHS touchdown. It looked like that would be the score at halftime, but the Pirates got the ball back with 21 seconds to go in the half after their defense forced a Villa Rica punt by dropping the quarterback for consecutive losses prior to an incomplete pass on third down. Starting at midfield, the Pirates faced third-and-8 with only six seconds left in the half. Moore was flushed from the pocket and rolled to his right. Just before he reached the Brunswick sideline, the signal-caller lofted a pass toward a crowd down the field as he was about to take a hit. The high pass was batted back toward the line of scrimmage, but Brunswick running back Josiah Gibbons was there to catch it and took it in for a fourth score and the 27-0 cushion for the Pirates at intermission. When the second half started, the Wildcats got a good kick return to the BHS 41 and would punch home its first score eight plays later. The Pirates immediately answered on a dazzling run by sophomore Nigel Gardner. He took a handoff going right and slipped a tackle before reversing field and outrunning the defense to the BHS sideline. Gardner slipped another tackle after turning the corner, and with Moore out in front as a lead blocker, he dashed to paydirt for a 52-yard touchdown run that will make the season highlight-film. The Wildcats scored the next time they had the ball, too, going 80 yards in 10 plays and getting a 10-yard TD run from Bolton. The Pirates went up 36-13 when a sack by Jeremiah Robbins in the end zone resulted in a safety late in the third period. The Pirates were deep in Villa Rica territory in the final seconds of the quarter when a fight broke out suddenly in the end zone following a play. Coaches from both teams rushed the field to jump into the middle of the fray to keep the situation from escalating further and possibly spiraling totally out of control. Punches were thrown by players from both sides. Two BHS players were ejected from the game, and by rule will have to sit out next week’s game as well. Two Villa Rica players also were ejected. BHS ended up finishing off the drive with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter as Kent barreled into the end zone from 2 yards away on the other end of the field. Etheridge added the PAT. After the game, Grady took the blame for his players’ part in the altercation in the third quarter. “We got some guys ejected in a playoff game, and that’s not what you want to see,” he said. “We have to do a better job of teaching composure, that’s the biggest thing. We had everything to gain, and they had nothing to lose. We were playing for next week. We have to keep our composure in tough situations, and we have to be mentally-tough. We weren’t. We showed that weakness, and I take full responsibility for that.” Grady said the BHS coaches talked to the team in the locker room at halftime after things got a bit chippy toward the end of the first half. He reminded the Pirates again about controlling their emotions the rest of the way in a team huddle before play resumed after the tussle on the field. The next time Villa Rica got the ball, BHS was penalized for unsporstmanlike conduct as several Brunswick players were trying to take the ball away from a Wildcats player. The home fans disagreed with the call and let the game officials know it with a collective chorus of boos from the stands. A few plays later, Grady called a timeout and walked onto the field specifically to talk to the referee. He told reporters after the game he was addressing derogatory remarks being made toward his players from the opposing team. “I was just trying to take up for my players,” Grady said. Following the game, the two head coaches did meet up on the field, but the players did not form lines and cross the field to shake hands. The Brunswick players were directed by school officials and coaches to head straight to the locker room beyond the South end zone to avoid any other possible incidents.