The Bulloch Academy Gators are coming off an electric 11-1 overall season and 3-0 region season last year. Their ultimate goal was to bring a state championship to Statesboro, but they fell short of that goal right before the finish line losing to Brookstone 24-22 in the semifinal matchup.
This year, the Gators are on the hunt for that state title and are willing to get it by any means necessary.
“This group of guys have to make their own mark,” head coach Aaron Phillips said. “We’re telling them that it’s all great what we did last year and I’m glad those seniors paved the way for where we're going, but we’re not satisfied with what we did last year. We want to hunt and that’s our team motto this year.”
The Gators May have graduated 13 seniors last year, but with 14 seniors this year the Gators are ready to hit the ground running on the season. “Be On The Hunt” is the motto that his 2024 seniors picked out and the definition of that means so much to them.
“We’re going to work hard and be united,” Phillips said. “We’re going to play nonstop football and we’re going to play tough.”
Some areas that the Gators are focused on coming into this season were breaking in new Quarterbacks. They have two talented athletes in Sophomores JB Roach and Sam Hubbard who are stepping up to fill the shoes of All-State Quarterback Ben Aaron who threw for 900 yards and rushed for 900 yards.
“We can’t replace a guy like Ben Aaron, but we can take those two guys [JB Roach and Sam Hubbard] and enhance their skill sets and take pressure off of them with some of our other guys to try and break them in, but the upside is real high for both of them,” Coach Phillips said.
Last season the Gators were offensively strong averaging almost 40 points per game, and the hope is they have the right pieces again to do that again this season.
“Offensively we’re huge upfront,” Phillips mentioned. “We’re going to average 6”2’, 270 across the board and they’re strong so we’re going to lean on those guys, and lean on junior Fullback Danye Garvin and Senior Running back Shemar Jenkins to put points up on the board for us.”
Defensively the Gators are returning a lot of players.
“We have an All-Region Linebacker in Parker Chance who’s coming back to lead our defense,” said Phillips. “He had 112 tackles last year.”
The Gators feel good about what they are bringing to the table, but the only worry is that they are untested so their first matchup is a game that counts and it’s also a rivalry game.
It’ll be a challenge for both the Gators and the Panthers to see who will come out on top and kick start their season with a Bulloch County rivalry win.
The Bulloch Academy Gators will try to put the chomp on the Portal Panthers Saturday, August 17, at 9 pm at the Erk Russell Classic.
