SPRINGFIELD, Ga. – With key offensive starters returning, putting points on the board wasn’t much of a concern for Effingham County.

Stopping opponents, however, has been another story.

The Rebels’ defense has struggled at times but has shown improvement with experience. Now, midway through the season, Effingham County is finding ways to slow down opposing offenses. The Rebels turned in their best defensive performance of the season during a 48-10 victory over Lakeside at Rebel Field on Friday night.

ECHS (4-2, 3-1 Region 1-5A) won its third straight game and moved into second place in the region standings, a game behind Brunswick.

“We’re playing together, we’re communicating and we’re having fun playing. That’s it,” said Rebels defensive lineman Marshawn Monroe. “We trust our coaches too. They have a job for us to do, and if we do it and we compete, we can go 1-0 every week.”

D shows signs of life

The defense, with only three returning starters, made big plays – including nine tackles for loss in the first half – and kept the Panthers out of the end zone while contributing to a 34-3 halftime lead.

Linebackers Jackson Eubanks and Collin Koger each had two tackles for loss and a sack. Eubanks’ third-down sack inside the Rebel 10-yard line forced a field goal after Lakeside’s drive started at the 4.

Monroe and Landon Carter combined for 1½ tackles for loss and shared a sack. Duff Davis and John Davis also recorded stops behind the line.

“When you can make a team play off schedule, it makes it that much easier,” ECHS coach John Ford said. “We didn’t fit some blitzes correctly, and Lakeside made some third-and-longs early, but once we got that cleaned up, the defense played really well.

“To be fair, it was Houston County (56 points), Brunswick (42 points) and Bradwell (35 points) scoring on everybody. We played three really good offenses with a bunch of young kids. They’re getting better. The coaches are working their tails off. I’ve never been down on them.”

Offense dominates from start

Friday’s game was delayed 30 minutes at the start because of inclement weather, but the Rebels started fast on Jmere Doe-Davis’ 55-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game.

Doe-Davis made the most of limited offensive time while filling in on defense for safety Jernard Albright. He ran for 119 yards on four carries, including a 60-yard TD run, and caught two passes for 22 yards, including an 11-yard score.

Quarterback Tucker Perkins led an attack that gained 390 yards on only 39 plays – an average of 10 yards per play – and scored touchdowns on its first six full possessions.

Perkins completed 10 of 12 passes for 152 yards and two TDs in the first half. His first scoring pass, a 35-yarder to Isaiah Brown on fourth down, extended the lead to 13-0 in the first quarter.

JR McKenzie’s first of two touchdown runs, Doe-Davis’ TD catch and Trayvis Hunter’s 43-yard punt return highlighted a 21-point burst in 4½ minutes of the second quarter that put the game out of reach.

McKenzie added a 2-yard TD run, and Doe-Davis’ 60-yard run in the third quarter closed out the scoring.

Looking ahead

“We’ll get some guys healthy and do some self-scouting. We’ll try to work some pieces in for other guys and see where they fit,” Ford said. “We’ll analyze down the stretch. All four remaining games will be critical for postseason positioning in the region standings.”