Football in Bulloch County is back, and to start this 2025 season off, we have the ole faithful matchups: The Statesboro Blue Devils will host the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets on Friday, August 15, at 7:30pm on Womack Field, and the Bulloch Academy Gators will take on the Portal Panthers at the annual Erk Russell Classic in Paulson Stadium on Saturday, August 16, at 9pm.
SOUTHEAST BULLOCH YELLOW JACKETS
The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets will open their 2025 season on the road against Statesboro, seeking to prove that their historic 23-18 victory last year—a win sealed by a clutch fourth-down run in the final minute—was not a fluke.
The Yellow Jackets are spending this week not only preparing for this intra-county rivalry, but also just working on getting game-ready for the 2025 season. Head coach Jared Zito had a lot to say in regard to his team preparing for the 2025 season and the season opener against the Blue Devils.
From an offensive standpoint, Zito would like for his team to focus on:
- Execution on plays
- Blocking the right guys
- Taking the right first steps
Defensively, Zito wants his team to focus on:
- Finishing tackles
- Playing game speed
For his team as a whole, he wants them to focus on three main points of emphasis if they want to play. They need to know what to do in-game, play with great effort, and be physical.
“This rivalry matchup against the Blue Devils gives an almost playoff-like atmosphere,” Zito said. “Obviously both sides want to win for their team, their school, and their community, but it also gives you an idea of what those games feel like and having our guys play in an environment like that and learning how to function with the stress and the crowd noise and the pressure will be a great testing challenge.”
STATESBORO BLUE DEVILS
Gearing up for this cross-county rival matchup, the Statesboro Blue Devils are locked in. After their first loss in school history to the Yellow Jackets in the 2024 season opener, the Blue Devils look to bounce back and start their 2025 season in the win column.
Head coach Matt Dobson said his guys have been focused this week and are excited to start play.
Coach Dobson said that this game means a lot to his players from a pride perspective and for gaining bragging rights. To prepare for this exciting matchup, the Blue Devils have been working on multiple aspects of the game on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the Blue Devils have been focusing on:
- Ball security; last year a big issue for the Blue Devils was turnovers,and that showed a little in the scrimmages of this season so far, as well.
Defensively, the Blue Devils have been focusing on:
- Eliminating big plays; in the last two seasons, when many of the Blue Devils opponents would score or had touchdown drives, it was because of big plays that the Blue Devils gave up on.
Last season the Blue Devils dealt with a lot of injuries that may have hurt them last season, but the bright side of that is that a lot of guys got some meaningful snaps. This season the Blue Devils are returning at least eight players on both sides of the ball. Coach Dobson seemed very optimistic that his team would come out with great energy.
“I know they’re excited about the opportunity to play at home in front of our fans and in front of a good crowd,” Dobson said.
The Blue Devils are inviting the community to a new pre-game tradition for the 2025 season called the "Blue Devil Walk." Before every home game, the community can gather at the ticket booth on Blue Devil Alley at 5:20pm to welcome the team as they enter the stadium.
BULLOCH ACADEMY GATORS
The Bulloch Academy Gators are coming off their most successful season in school history since 1997. It was the perfect 12-0 season with the Gators defeating most of its opponents by 10 or more points. Only returning four seniors this season, the Gators are on the prowl for another historic season, but that could prove to be difficult with a mostly young team who hasn’t seen real game play as of yet.
According to head coach Aaron Phillips, it’s up to this new squad to create their own identity. His motto for this year is “If it ain’t broke, break it, and do it better.” After last season's state championship win on Saturday night, Phillips and his coaching staff were in a coaches meeting on that following Monday figuring out how to make this season better than the latter.
From the head of the gator to the tail, they changed everything up. Over the summer, he had his team change up how they lift, run, condition, and eat.
“We graduated a ton of guys, and we have a lot of young, hungry guys that kind of feel like they have something to prove and that is the kind of standard they wanted to live up to,” Phillips stated in an interview.
In regard to the Erk Russell Classic, this is not new territory for the Gators, and every time they play this matchup against the Portal Panthers, it's a dog fight where there is always a small one- to three-point margin of victory or margin of error. With a young, passionate team like this one, the Gators have to focus on all the small details that can make a huge difference, according to Coach Phillips.
“You’ve never been bit by an elephant, but you have a mosquito, so it’s the little things that will come back and bite you,” Phillips said. “A lot of these guys haven’t had the hundreds of reps that we’ve had in the past as far as experience goes, so until we get to four or five games in, we have to be clean.”
PORTAL PANTHERS
The Portal Panthers may be small in numbers, but are known for their scrappy mentality that keeps them in the big games against the big teams. Last year, despite a valiant effort at the 2024 Erk Russell Classic, the Portal Panthers suffered a narrow 19-18 defeat to the Gators, with turnovers and missed chances ultimately costing them the win.
Head coach Jason McEachin was asked what has been the thought process for his team this go around just going into the game. He said he wants his team to just start faster. Last season, the Panthers struggled starting slow at times which became costly with being able to come back in many games, especially region play.
For this rivalry matchup against the Gators, McEachin and his Panther team have been focusing on very specific details on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Panthers are focused on being more efficient in their run game. They have spent a majority of their Spring and Summer season cleaning up the little details of their run game. They have a lot of guys this season who are talented enough to get carries on Friday nights, so they want to make sure they are keeping everyone involved.
Defensively, they have focused on stopping the run. Specifically with this matchup, the Panthers know that the Gators do well with their flex bomb and triple option schemes, so they have had a big emphasis on stopping the run defensively.
Coming from a rebuilding phase last season, the Panthers are amped up for this rivalry matchup and the 2025 season as a whole. They are returning a lot of starters and other guys that had significant playing time last season, so McEachin feels as if experience and team camaraderie will play a huge role in that this year and be a plus for them, especially in between the lines of scrimmage.
“Every coach wants to bring back a lot of guys that play, and it’s especially a bonus for us this year,” McEachin said. “We have a group of kids that are easy to coach, work hard, and care about each other. There’s a lot of really good teammates on this team and we feel like that will be a difference maker for us this season.”
Tickets for the Erk Russell Classic are $10 in advance, available at the office at BA or PMHS, or $15 at the gate the night of the game.