Southeast Bulloch defensive effort knocks off defending state flag football champ Calvary

It was literally a journey for both Southeast Bulloch and Calvary Day when it came to their semifinal matchup in the GHSA Class 1A-4A state flag football playoffs.

The game was originally set to be played Monday in Atlanta, but inclement weather forced a postponement and the game was moved to Tuesday night at Calvary Day, home of the defending state champion.

But Southeast Bulloch came to Savannah and played with a purpose, handing Calvary its first loss of the season behind a stellar defensive performance in a 12-0 victory.

SEB (18-0) will face Portal at 11 a.m. Thursday in the championship game at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets have a chance to be the first SEB girls team in any sport to win a state championship.

It was the first loss ever for Calvary Day (16-1). The Cavs went 7-0-2 last year, in the first season the GHSA sanctioned the sport, to win the 1A-5A title with a 6-0 win over Portal in the finals.

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SEB went up 6-0 early in the second half on a short scoring pass from Korine Talkington to Abigail Morgan. Talkington caught a touchdown pass with less than a minute left to put the game away.

But it was the defense that made the difference for SEB, shutting out a Calvary squad that came in averaging 28 points per game.

"Their offense is explosive; I wish we could run the option like they do," SEB coach Marci Cochran said. "But our defense hung in there, pulled flags, and did what we told them to do, and it paid off today."

It was the 10th shutout of the season for the Yellow Jackets, who have posted four in a row since the playoffs started.

Alana Barnard, a standout softball player who hit .534 with 13 homers this year to lead her team to the Elite Eight before signing with Georgia Southern, had a huge game defensively.

"She's a go-getter, she can read the defense really well," Cochran said. "She's our leader on defense. You can always count on her to be where she needs to be and pull that flag."

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Calvary was disappointed with the outcome but proud of another excellent season in a sport that is growing throughout the state.

"We had some huge miscues and had a couple of pitches that hit the ground that could have been beautiful," Calvary coach Nick Grassi said. "You can't shoot yourself in the foot like that and expect to win against a good team like Southeast Bulloch. But I'm really proud of the girls. We lose five senior starters, but we have a lot coming back including five freshmen on offense and three freshmen on defense."

The Cavs will have their star quarterback and safety Hannah Cail back next season. Now the junior is focused on another season of success on the basketball court.

"We're going to miss our seniors who have meant so much to the team," Cail said. "Our offense didn't execute like we wanted to tonight. We had our chances but didn't take advantage of them. But Southeast Bulloch is a great team and they played well tonight."

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The Cavs will miss senior Mahkayla Premo, who scored a team-high 22 touchdowns on the season. She is also a star guard on the basketball team.

"We haven't faced much adversity this year and hadn't been in this type of game all season," Premo said. "We had blown everyone out of the water, but Southeast Bulloch played us tough. I feel like we had the best team, but they just wanted it more tonight and rose up to the challenge."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Southeast Bulloch beats state flag football champion Calvary Day