Southeast Bulloch claims state flag football title

ATLANTA, Ga. (WTOC) - Southeast Bulloch is the GHSA Class A-AAAA state flag football champion, winning the title in their first year of competition.

“This week has been a challenge in itself, coming to Atlanta, going back home, going to Calvary, coming back to Atlanta, so just this week by itself has been crazy, but they wanted this more than anybody, so they took it to heart, came home and brought it to us,” said SEB Head Coach Marci Cochran.

The Yellow Jackets shut out fellow Bulloch County program Portal 20-0 Thursday at Atlanta’s Center Parc Stadium.

“Countless hours of practice,” said SEB junior, Delanie Thames. “We practiced on Halloween. We practiced on Thanksgiving break. Like we practiced on holiday weeks when we were supposed to have time off, so we’ve worked a lot to get to where we are right now, so I think we really deserve it.”

SEB picked off four Panther passes en route to the victory, and led 13-0 at halftime.

2021 was the Yellow Jackets’ first season of competition in flag football. The Jackets finish the season a perfect 19-0. 11 of those wins were shut-outs.

“This is a new sport to us,” Thames explained. “This was the first year of us having it at our school, so it was new to everybody and everybody was trying to get the hang of things, but as the season kept going on we just kept playing games, kept getting better and better and better, and this was to win it. To have the championship, this is a great game.”

“It’s awesome. If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year, I knew we were going to be good. I didn’t know we were going to be that good . It’s a great feeling,” Cochran added.

For Portal, it’s the second straight state runner-up finish.