The Briarwood Academy junior varsity football Buccaneers ended an outstanding 2005 season last Thursday at Briarwood with a 13-6 win over Augusta Christian School.
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Briarwood's Matthew McElveen cuts back against Augusta Christian last week.
Photo by Staff
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"We had a wonderful season," Coach Kenny Haney said of the JV Bucs. "I've never enjoyed coaching more. You couldn't ask for a better group of kids or a more coachable group of kids."
Led by an outstanding class of eighth graders, the JV Bucs finished the season at 5-2-1 overall with their two losses by only two points each.
Matthew McElveen, Eric Johnson, Cody Ewest, Hunter Gray, Luke Cochran, Thomas Lynam, Saul Smith, Adam Hardy, Trey Stadler, Carson Wiley, and Jackson Lyons should help the varsity out next season as freshmen, according to Coach Haney.
"We'll be missing a lot of good kids, but the cupboard won't be bare," Coach Haney said.
Key players returning to next year's JV squad include quarterback Garrett Mohr, center Steven Gunn and wide receiver Ryan Nelson, all seventh graders.
Other seventh graders who Coach Haney expects to step up and fill in the shoes of the departing eighth graders, especially the linemen, are Tyler Edwards, Jonathan Douglas, Jackson Douglas, Brandon Brewer, Blake Sowell, Rhett Hinesley, Joseph Palmer and Walker Hargrove.
A number of sixth graders contributed to this year's winning season, according to Coach Haney, Sixth graders included Dalton Reese, Michael Kent, Russell Burdette, Price Simpkins, Spencer Hadden, Brett Allen Jenkins, Tyler Daniel and Ashton Wiley.
The JV Bucs, bolstered by the return of injured eighth grader Cody Ewest, played a "hard hitting, back and forth game" against the AAA Lions.
"We drove a little bit and had to punt, and then they'd drive a little bit and have to punt," Coach Haney said.
The JV Bucs finally got a break early in the second quarter when the defense held the Lions on fourth down and took over the ball on the Lions' 40-yard line.
The Bucs moved swiftly. After a few short gains, quarterback Garrett Mohr performed the option flawlessly with running back Matthew McElveen who gained 30 yards to the Lions' three.
Mohr scored on a quarterback sneak on the next play. Seventh grader Steven Gunn ably filled in for the injured Ewest and kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The game was "back and forth" through the remainder of the second quarter and well into the third when the Bucs struck again. Sprung by a "pancake" block on the Lions' cornerback by Eric Johnson, sixth grader Michael Kent streaked, untouched, down the far sideline for six points. The PAT attempt failed for a 13-0 lead.
Augusta Christian scored their only points well into the fourth quarter when a Lions' back broke loose for a long TD run. The Lions tried for the two point PAT, but failed.
The JV Bucs took the kickoff, and then quarterback Mohr took a knee until time ran out on the JV Bucs' 13-6 season win in their final game of the season.
