By Michael A. Lough

The Central Georgia Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

There’s supposed to be some stress in state championship games.

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And there was, for a little while. Then came halftime, and Brentwood was done with the stress.

The War Eagles took a 10-0 lead at halftime into the locker room, and didn’t need a whole lot of time – thanks to a running clock – to take a trophy back to the locker room after hammering Southwest Georgia 38-6 Saturday in the GIAA Class AA title game at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

GIAA AA championship: Brentwood started the season atop the mountain, and is prepared to stay there

“The best thing about it is everybody got in the game,” Brentwood head coach Adam Lord said after the War Eagles repeated. “This year, we’ve been very fortunate. For me personally, I love the win, but when they all get to play, it’s a blessing for everybody involved.”

And when everybody gets to play in a championship game, and more than a few plays in the final minute, a serious thrashing has taken place.

Brentwood (12-1) dispensed a serious thrashing.

The War Eagles led 10-0 at the half, having to settle for a field goal on their first drive after eating up half of the first quarter. Defenses were in control for a portion of the battle of physical teams. Unsurprisingly, defense led to the next points, an unexpected part of the defense.

Southwest Georgia rarely throws, and it didn’t serve as a surprise, because an interception was the result. The War Eagles followed a fourth-down conversion with Abe Williams’ 8-yard score, and Brentwood – despite seven penalties in the first 24 minutes – led 10-0 at the half, surviving some mistakes that Southwest Georgia didn’t capitalize on.

“I thought defensively we held our own,” Lord said. “I was a little nervous they'd be able to put together some small runs, and our guys kind of bowed their neck early on first down, put them in some second longs and we just kept fighting defensively.”

Lord uncorked no huge halftime speech, for whatever happened at halftime preceded a one-dimensional second half.

Quarterback Baylor Cobb went in from short yardage three minutes into the third quarter, and Tristan Robinson got into the act less than two minutes later on a 10-yarder, and the War Eagles had rolled to a 24-0 lead.

“Tonight, we kind of kept just doing what we do,” Lord said. “We were physical against a really physical team.”

Depth and freshness, a main reason the War Eagles were here in the first place, began to show itself in the second half.

“I think the number of people that we play, I knew if we could get late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter,” Lord said, “we could kind of wear them down with depth, and that's what we were able to do.”

Williams made it 31-0 late in the third and Jones Sheppard went in from the 3 less than four minutes into the fourth. The Warriors broke the shutout midway through the fourth quarter.

The second half was one of Brentwood’s most complete of the season, and perhaps most impressive, considering the circumstances. The first-team defense turned in a shutout, Southwest Georgia’s score coming against backups.

“It's hard for me to call out one (defensive unit) because we talk about ‘team’,” Lord said. “We talked about connectivity this week, and I think we're good because we we play 11 men to the football. I'm just proud of the whole group as a whole.”

Southwest Georgia finished 9-4, with the first three losses coming to the Class AAA runner-up (Deerfield-Windsor, 28-8), the Class 4A runner-up (Brookstone, 35-14), and an 8-1 Class A GHSA team (Atkinson County, 50-30) ineligible for the playoffs.

Brentwood outgained Southwest Georgia 289-147, the majority of the Warriors’ stats coming with the game out of reach. Cobb passed for 63 yards and ran for 79, and Brentwood held Southwest Georgia standout Colt Williams to 62 yards on 14 carries.

Lord just couldn’t stop smiling at the end of a season that went stunningly close to what he and his staff projected back in August.

“Being a graduate of ‘98 of Brentwood, I bleed blue.” He said. “I'm glad to be back home. My family, my son was on the sideline tonight. My dad was on on the sideline. He's been involved with the program for a long time. There's a lot of blood ties that go back for a long way.

“Two years ago, this group went 5-6. They followed it up with the championship last year, again this year. They dominated all year, and I’m just really proud of that group and the maturity.”