GUYTON, Ga. – No one is talking about last year anymore. The future is now for South Effingham, and a shot at the postseason is within reach after the Mustangs held off Bradwell Institute 26-21 Friday night at the Corral.

“I know 0-10 was hard to overcome, but it’s a distant memory now,” SEHS coach Loren Purvis said.

The Mustangs (4-4, 4-2 Region 1-5A) trailed Bradwell (2-5, 2-4) at halftime, but freshman quarterback Liam Coburn’s 80-yard touchdown pass to Hayden Still and Maddox Vasquez’s 50-yard TD run provided a second-half cushion.

“That was crazy. I knew I had to do it for my team. The game was on the line,” Maddox said. “We’re feeling good. We feel like we have a great chance of making the playoffs this year.”

Defense and discipline key

Bradwell, one of the most potent offenses in the region, stood in the way, and the Tigers had their own postseason aspirations with a favorable schedule down the stretch.

But the Mustangs had a plan.

“Our whole game plan was to keep them in front of us on defense and then just grind the clock,” Purvis said. “We wanted to put the pressure on them. Make them feel like they had to score on every possession.”

Grinding out the win

Doing most of South’s grinding was running back Khyran White, who carried 22 times for 151 yards and two touchdowns. White had 142 yards and both scores in the first half.

“A guy who’s been your leader all year, you can trust him,” Purvis said.

The Mustangs limited the big-play Tigers to just three full possessions in the first half. White carried 14 of South’s 18 plays on one drive, scoring the first touchdown on an 8-yard run after taking a direct snap to cap a six-play, 58-yard drive. He added a key 50-yard TD run with 1:38 left in the half to slice Bradwell’s 14-6 lead to two.

Tiger running back Jacobi Pasley, a state champion in the 400-meter run last track season, showed his speed on 16-yard and 72-yard TD runs in the first half. He finished with 96 yards on 12 carries.

Bradwell quarterback Jahbari Felix completed 10 of 16 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown but threw two key interceptions.

Big plays decide the game

South’s Coburn attempted only two passes, but the strike to Still, a senior making a big play on Senior Night, and Coburn’s two-point conversion pass to Benja Crofts put the Mustangs ahead 20-14 midway through the third quarter.

Late in the game, on fourth-and-6 from its own 43, SEHS drew a Bradwell lineman offside for a five-yard penalty and then converted fourth-and-1 on Coburn’s quarterback sneak. Maddox followed with a run into the Bradwell secondary, tip-toeing down the sidelines to the end zone for the insurance touchdown.

The win sets the stage for South Effingham’s key game against Statesboro next Friday.

“The kids are playing their tails off. Coaches are coaching their tails off,” Purvis said. “We were down in this game, but we were never out of the fight.”