Southeast Bulloch has set standards for flag football that may prove to be unreachable. The Yellow Jackets beat North Oconee 14-0 to win the Division 1 title, its third straight championship, and sends this group of seniors out with a 62-0 record.
“It’s pretty special,” Southeast Bulloch coach Marci Cochran said. “We’re a little school in Brooklet (near Statesboro) and we have one caution light, but it’s pretty impressive. Nobody knows where Brooklet is but they do now.”
The physical game was scoreless at halftime after North Oconee’s Taylor Dillard intercepted a pass in the end zone late in the second quarter.
But Southeast Bulloch broke through with 4:00 left in the third quarter on a 9-yard pass from Korine Talkington to Ava King. Talkington ran for the conversion to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead.
Southeast put it away on a 23-yard pass from Talkington to Ava King, with Jaci Kitchings scoring the conversion with 4:40 left.
King had an interception to put the game away for Southeast.
“At halftime we had a little meeting and said, ‘Hey, we’re the best team here. We’re 61-0 for a reason. We’ve got to play through that contact and show them that we are the best team.’ My girls came out and met the challenge and we pulled it out.”
Talkington completed 7 of 19 passes for 73 yards, two touchdowns and one interception and rushed for 16 yards. Kitchings ran eight times for 57 yards. Chloe Cochran caught four passes for 34 yards and Odom and King both caught two passes. Kelsey Johnson led the defense with seven tackles.
“Three in a row. It’s unbelievable,” Talkington said. “We’re making history and it’s just an amazing feeling. The first half was kind of a mental game but we fought through it. Our coach tells us we’re always going to have adversity, it’s just whoever fights through it and we fought through it.”
North Oconee (14-3) reached the state final in only the program’s second season. Titans quarterback Catherine Cooper completed 17 of 30 passes for 115 yards and one interception. Reese Riddle was the top rusher with 22 yards. Grace Maddox caught seven passes for 45 yards and Alexis Favreau and Olivia Dickerson each caught two passes. Favreau, Dickerson and Tatum Lunsford each had four tackles.
“It’s been very difficult,” King said. “The first year was amazing, the second year it got a little hard and this year it was a lot harder. It’s been super difficult but we just pushed all the way through the adversity to get it done.”
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