SPRINGFIELD -- Effingham County Middle School continues to make the Coastal Empire Region its personal playground.

The Panthers completed their second straight unbeaten season by thrashing Southeast Bulloch 50-22  in Wednesday's region championship game. It was their eighth victory this season and 17th straight overall.

In quite an understatement, Effingham County coach Mark Smith said, "We're a very hard team to stop."

The Panthers, who led 34-14 at halftime, only punted twice all season. Both punts were quick kicks out of an offensive formation.

"We have a philosophy that we don't punt," Smith said. "We firmly believe that if we get the matchups we want from an offensive standpoint that we can't be stopped. We believe, basically, that we can score on every play, and we did have a lot of one- and two-play drives this year."

Tyler Griffin paced the Panthers with five touchdowns, including a 64-yard run.

"You can't say enough about his effort today," Smith said. "Without Jakobe (Gadsden), he put the whole team on his back.

Gadsden, Effingham County's leading rusher, injured his knee in last week's semifinal victory over Burke County. 

See the Nov. 8 edition of the Effingham Herald for more details.