PEMBROKE — The South Effingham Mustangs relied on a fourth-down stand and their relentless ground game to pull
out a 17-8 win over Bryan County on Friday night.

In a game delayed by an hour and 17 minutes by lightning, the Mustangs scored 10 fourth quarter points to erase the Redskins’ one-point lead and go to 3-0 on the season.

The Mustangs got on the board first, going 71 yards in 11 plays in the final minutes of the opening half. Jeff Hamilton’s 27-yard completion to Frank Manker with less than a minute to go gave South Effingham first-and-goal at  the Redskins 10, and Hamilton finished off the drive one play later with a 3-yard run.

The Redskins had eaten up nearly 10 and a half minutes on their previous possession, going 40 yards in 16 plays before getting stopped on fourth down.

The Mustangs bottled up Ivey Mutcherson, who ran for more than 300 yards a week ago against Long County, for much of the night. Mutcherson was held to 22 yards on nine carries in the first half. But he squirted
through the Mustangs defense on a 19-yard TD run with 5:18 to go in the third quarter, after the Redskins’ Willie Harris recovered Jace Daley’s fumble at the Mustangs 33.

Mutcherson ran in the two-point conversion to give Bryan County an 8-7 lead.

The Mustangs went back in front early in the fourth quarter as Chris Zittrouer connected on a 25-yard field goal with 10:02 remaining, capping an eight-play drive.

Bryan County appeared to regain momentum with just more than 4 minutes to go, as Mike Mitchell pounced on
Frank Manker’s fumble at the Redskins 43. But on fourth-and-3 at midfield, the Mustangs stuffed Mutcherson and gave the ball back to the offense.

Gage Marks and the ground game took over from there as the senior fullback led a seven-play, 51-yard drive that Manker ended with a 6-yard run with 26 seconds to go.

Marks ran for 124 yards in the game, 65 coming in the second half, as the Mustangs piled
up 197 rushing yards. Hamilton was 3-for-6 for 40 yards passing.

Mutcherson was held to 51 yards rushing and the Redskins (0-3) were held to 51 yards of offense
in the second half. They finished with 157 yards for the game.

The yardstick

SEHS    BCHS
First downs    15    8
Rushes-Yards    41-197    37-139
Passing Yards    40    10
Passes    3-5    2-6
Total Yards    237    149
Penalties    6-30    4-30
Punts    2-36.5    3-30.3
Fumbles/lost    4/2    2/0

Score by quarters

        1st    2nd    3rd    4th    Tot.
SEHS    0    7    0    10    17
BCHS    0    0    8    0    8

Scoring summary
Second quarter
South Effingham — Jeff Hamilton 3 run (Chris Zittrouer kick)
Third quarter
Bryan County — Ivey Mutcherson 19 run (Mutcherson run)
Fourth quarter
SE — Zittrouer 25 field goal
SE — Frank Manker 6 run (Zittrouer kick)

Individual statistics
Rushing
SE — Gage Marks 18-124, Manker 15-45, Jace Daley 4-22, Hamilton 6-(-10); BC — Justin Bostick 6-69, Mutcherson 21-50, Willie Harris 4-5, Joseph Jenkins 2-13, Deandre Walker 1-7.
Passing
SE — Hamilton 3-6, 40; BC — D.J. McElroy 2-6, 10
Receiving
SE — Manker 1-27, Michael Hamilton 1-7, Daley 1-6; BC — Mutcherson 1-9, Walker 1-1.