BEARVILLE — Top-ranked Pierce County has one more hurdle to clear in its non-region schedule to enter Region 3AA play perfect.
The Bears (5-0), who have been ranked for 79 consecutive polls (seventh longest in the state), enter Friday’s matchup with Class A DI Vidalia (3-2) on a schoolrecord 14-game winning streak. They escaped 17-14 at Brooks County on Garrett Stevenson’s 47-yard field goal on the last play of the game. The streak surpassed the 13 game run during the 2018 season and first semifinal appearance. The Bears’ 17 points ended a streak of 12 consecutive games scoring 35-plus points.
Friday’s meeting is the 13th between the schools dating to 1981. PCHS has won the past three encounters to pull to within 7-5 in the series standings.
Three of Pierce County’s wins have come when ranked. They won 23-6 at home in the Region 2AA playoffs in 1982 when ranked fourth, 42-12 in 2022 (there) ranked 6th and 35-7 at home as the No. 3 team in 2023.
The teams have one common opponent being Brantley County. The Bears notched a 42-7 home victory one week before Vidalia posted a 30-0 road decision.
The Indians, who had an open date last week, lost their season-opener 20-10 at Long County and fell 13-7 at Dodge County. In between Vidalia won three straight games beating Screven County 28-7, Tattnall County 43-6 and the Herons.
PCHS’s unblemished record through five games is the third straight such start for head coach Ryan Herring’s program. It marks the fourth time in his six years at the helm and fifth in seven seasons dating to 2018.
Pierce County’s offense will try to get back on track against the Indians’ base even look. The Bears piled up a season- high 507 yards against New Hamps tead two weeks ago followed by a season-low 250 at Brooks County.
“That was the most physical game we’ve played in by far,” said Herring referencing the matchup with Brooks County. “We’ve got to do a better job of staying on our blocks and just be more physcial on both sides of the ball.
“We prepared for what we thought Brooks was going to do and they some things a little bit different. We preparing for what we’ve seen Vidalia do defensively, but who knows what we might see. Everybody we face does something different — we see everything under the sun.”
The PCHS defense will line up against a Vidalia offense in run mode. The Indians’ scheme is similar to that Georgia Southern once ran.
“They run the wing-T and do a little more in the option game than what we faced last year,” Herring said. “They are going to run veer, belly, hard dives, power sweeps and read option. They’ve got a big, strong fullback.
“The key is stopping the fullback, who they are going to pound to get three and four yards at a time. We’ve got to do a better job of squeezing down to take the dive away. If we run up field they will have a field day.”
Senior wingback A.J. McClendon (5-foot-7, 150), senior quarterback Jackson Berry (6-foot, 175) and senior fullback Jamarion Phillips (6-2, 210) are key players.
Brooks County’s Chris Cole became the first opposing running back to reach the 100-yard mark last week piling up 137 yards on 26 carries.
