Mingle’s big night leads BA past Warriors

Published 11:54 pm Friday, November 9, 2018

STATESBORO, Ga. — The Bulloch Academy Gators put a quick punch in the mouth from Brookwood behind them on way to a 49-27 victory in the first round of the GISA Class AAA playoffs Friday night at Gator Alley.

With the win, the Gators move on in the GISA AAA playoffs and will travel to John Milledge next Friday.

The Gators controlled the clock and picked up big yardage with ease, led by senior running back Ty Mingle, who went for 260 yards and a touchdown in his final game on home turf. Though BA was able to win by more than three touchdowns, it wasn’t until the second half that it was able to break away.

Bulloch couldn’t have had a worse start to the game. The Warriors drove down on a three-play opening drive to take a 7-0 lead in just 45 seconds.

It looked like senior cornerback Matt Childers would tie the game on the next kickoff after he took it all the way, but a holding call negated the would-be game-tying score.

Four plays later, the Gators fumbled the ball at midfield to set the visitors up nicely for their second drive of the night.

But the sloppiness carried over into Brookwood’s hands as Joe Parker lobbed a ball right to BA’s freshman cornerback Rodney Hill on the BA 10-yard line.

Then the Gator offense went to work, methodically running the ball all over a struggling Brookwood line. Eight straight running plays capped a 90-yard drive with senior running back Jake Nelson’s first touchdown of the night.

Both defenses hunkered down, forcing its opponents to punt after short stints. Following just a 2-yard punt from BA, helped by the rainy conditions, Parker hit a wide open Nick Knifer for the visitors’ second score.

BA responded with a quick scoring drive of its own, with Mingle scoring his first touchdown of the evening. Rather than go for the tie, veteran head coach Pat Collins rolled the dice and kept the ball in Mingle’s hands to take a one-point lead.

By scoring the two-point conversion, the Gators put the Warriors on edge the rest of the game, starting with Brookwood going for and failing to convert a two-point conversion of its own the other two times it scored.

Another Nelson touchdown gave BA a 21-20 lead. 

With a one-point difference in the game, both teams exchanged fumbles before Mingle added to the Gator lead with a 4-yard run to the left with two minutes before halftime.

Parker threw three straight incompletions just prior to half to kill any Brookwood momentum.

Coming out of the locker room, it seemed like if BA could get a quick score, Brookwood wouldn’t be able to recover.

And Mingle did just that. Set up on the Brookwood 45, the senior took it straight up the middle and kept running through the end zone to give his team a 15-point lead.

On Brookwood’s ensuing drive, things were clicking. The Warriors were able to set up the screens while maintaining the run game.

Then Parker threw his second pick of the game.

It seemed as if all hope was lost for Brookwood, but BA couldn’t quite slam the door. Two plays after the interception, Don Aaron hit Thomas Childs for a quick screen. As soon as Childs turned, a slew of Warriors stripped the ball and Marcus West scooped up the free pigskin and walked into the end zone.

Adamant to put the Warriors away, Mingle and Nelson grounded and pounded for another BA four-minute scoring drive.