By Jeff Whitten
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – South Effingham overcame a late start in more ways than one to grind out a 15-12 comeback win over Johnson in a preseason scrimmage Aug. 9 at The Corral.
After the opening kickoff was delayed an hour by lighting, the Mustangs struggled to find offense and trailed for most of three quarters against an opponent not on the schedule until Tropical Storm Debby dumped record amounts of rain on the area, flooding roads and homes and pushing back school start dates.
Screven County, the team South Effingham was scheduled to play, had to cancel due to flooding. Same for Portal, the team Johnson was supposed to face.
“It took a lot to make this game happen,” SEHS Coach Loren Purvis said. “With the weather, with the cancellations, picking up a new team to play, our kids couldn’t practice; some of them may not have been able to get out of the house. But they came out tonight and fought very hard and I’m proud of them.”
South Effingham’s junior varsity played the entire first quarter, which ended with the Mustangs trailing 6-0 after Johnson’s Isaiah Scott broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run with 9:28 left in the quarter. The Atom Smashers went up 12-0 on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Hurst to Treshawn Robinson with seconds to go in the first half.
Both teams were plagued by miscues and penalties, the Mustangs eventually put together a pair of scoring drives in the second half.
Sophomore Khyren White scored on a one-yard run around left end and added a two-point conversion run to trim Johnson’s lead to 12-8 with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Kadin Ward stormed into the endzone on a 13-yard tackle-breaking run for the game-winning score with 4:35 left. Kicker Donato Urbino added the extra point.
Ward finished with 13 carries for 35 yards and a touchdown. White led the Mustangs with 79 yards and a score.
Lawton Bowen added four carries for 27 yards and Judah Walker had 32 yards on six carries. Bowen completed one pass for six yards while tossing two of the Mustangs three interceptions.
Linebacker Silas Certo recovered a pair of first-half fumbles for South Effingham.
Purvis said the scrimmage will help the Mustangs prepare for Thursday’s season opener at New Hampstead at 7 p.m. at Pooler Stadium.
“It showed us a lot of what we need to clean up offensively and defensively,” he said. “It gave our kids a taste of the real action again. Our kids want to play, I’m proud of how they responded in the second half. I wish we could have had a little more time with the varsity but all of those kids needed work.
