QUITMAN, Ga. — As Brooks County head coach Maurice Freeman stood with a hammer in hand, greeting friends, family and fans, only one number was on his mind: four.

Four wins is the magic number for Brooks County (9-2) to bring home a state title for the first time since 1994 — Freeman’s first season as a head coach. 

Freeman’s Trojans dominated Screven County in a 47-0 win where the coach earned his 200th career win and the Trojans scored 40 first-half points in their opening-round matchup of the GHSA Class 2A state playoffs. 

Freeman is in his second stretch as coach of the Trojans after leaving the program in 1998. He returned in 2008 after coaching at Brunswick and Southwest Macon.

The 146 wins as head coach of the Trojans is the most by more than 70 wins. The next closest coach is Max Milligan with 67 wins during a 10-season stint from 1979-88.

“I tried to block it out but now it makes me a little jittery now that I have it,” Freeman said of the milestone. ”I’m happier with the way my guys played than I am with the 200, though. I’m thankful, definitely. I’m glad that my guys are healthy and playing hard and we’ve got a chance to play next week.”

The Trojans have scored a combined 96 points in their last two games and have allowed no points in return. 

“We’re just doing what we’ve been doing all year,” Freeman said. “We finally got healthy. We wanted to be aggressive and see how many points we could put on the board.” 

The Trojans were aggressive out of the gate. They scored the night’s first points in less than a minute after sophomore quarterback Nitavion Burrus threw a 58-yard touchdown pass.

The Trojan defense matched that aggressiveness by forcing turnovers against the Gamecocks (6-5). Fumbles and interceptions alike plagued the Gamecocks but that was the least of their offensive woes.

Darryl Gallon and TaeAviion Gray menaced the Gamecocks all night. Every play the tandem seemed to have an impact and either had a solo tackle or stopped Screven’s offense by committee.

“It’s our last year and our last ride,” Gray said. “As it winds down to three more, two more, it’ll keep making us push harder.”

It didn’t help that the Gamecocks couldn’t get out of their own way. Multiple false start penalties stalled drives before they even began and they had troubles punting the ball which set the Trojans up with good field position.

The team is playing as well as it has all season and is finally healthy, as Freeman noted. This would give many coaches optimism about the final stretch, but the Trojans are still only concerned about one game at a time.

“We’ve been down this road quite a bit,” Freeman said. “We refuse to look ahead. We’re taking it one game at a time.”

The Trojans and Freeman won’t have long to savor this win. They’ll be facing Washington County (9-2) at Veterans Stadium in Quitman next Friday in Round 2 of the state playoffs.