Southeast Bulloch continued its flag football dynasty on Monday, but it wasn’t easy.
The Yellow Jackets rallied with a late score and beat Columbus 13-6 in overtime to claim the GHSA Division 1 championship and win their fourth straight state championship. Southeast has lost only one game during their four-year run.
“They just made history,” Southeast Bulloch coach Marci Cochran said. “I don’t know if any other team will be able to win four in a row. These seniors have only lost one game in their career. They came in as freshmen and finished it out with us. They’re a special group.”
Southeast (21-1) had its offense shut down by a quick Columbus team and found themselves in a tight spot after the Blue Devils scored with 7:31 left to play. Serenity Hickman threw an 8-yard touchdown to Harmony Franklin to put Columbus in the lead.
Southeast responded under duress with its best drive of the game, traveling 66 yards in 10 plays and scoring when Paige Nelson punched it in from the 1 with only 1:13 remaining. The extra point failed, which forced overtime.
“We just had to play our game that we know how to play,” quarterback Emma Cate Barron said. “That’s all it took was for us to just play.”
Southeast had the ball first in overtime and Barron scored on the first play, a 10-yard hip twisting run. Chloe Cochran scored the extra point for a 13-6 lead.
“Just put it all on the line,” Barron said. “We had four downs, might as well just try to score on the first one.”
Columbus couldn’t match the score and a completion on fourth down to Alexandria Lofton was stopped short. That set off cheers of “SEB, SEB” -- sort of like “SEC, SEC” only with several hundred fans wearing Yellow Jacket gear who had made the three-plus hour drive from Brooklet in middle Georgia.
Barron ran six times for 30 yards and completed 9 of 15 passes for 69 yards. Natalya Odom and Jaci Kitchings both had three receptions. Kayla Adams intercepted a pass.
Columbus (22-7) was led by Hickman, who completed 19 of 32 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown. She also led the team with 23 rushing yards. Franklin caught nine passes for 67 yards and Lofton caught eight passes for 71 yards and intercepted a pass.
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