ATLANTA — While this Burke County team may have been a bit ahead of schedule, the pain of a state championship loss doesn’t sting any less.
The Bears (13-2) came into Mercedes-Benz Stadum riding high off wins over rival Thomson and top-seeded Rockmart, but that wave crested as Carver-Columbus (14-1) played nearly-flawless football en route to a 52-14 win. The trip to the GHSA state championship game was the third in program history and first since 2011.
While emotions were high after the game clock hit zeroes, Burke County coach Franklin Stephens’ message to his team was one that only a seasoned football coach could give.
“Tomorrow morning, I’m pretty sure the sun is going to come up,” he said.
Now, don’t get Stephens wrong. A win was the ultimate goal and that remains a Burke County football constant, but the truth is there are so many more things to be taken from Tuesday’s result than the final number on a scoreboard.
“I’m very excited about what our guys accomplished this year,” Stephens said. “I think our guys gave our community something they could be proud of, they gave our school system something they could be proud of and they gave their family something to be proud of. There’s nothing but proud coming out of the Burke County community.”
The game opened up with both teams trading touchdowns in the opening period and Carver taking a 10-7 lead at the end of the first via a 17-yard field goal. Things turned disastrous when a Sean Vandiver pass was intercepted and taken to the house, giving the Tigers a 17-7 lead.
Carver would score twice more to take a 31-7 lead into the locker room. Save for a long touchdown pass to Joshua Arroyo in the third quarter, it was all Tigers from that point on. Before putting the backups in, Carver’s final score was a 54-yard strike to Kei’Mauri Miles, who finished the game with a team-high 179 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Tiger quarterback Matthew Mungin was an astonishing 19-for-20 with 327 yards and four touchdowns. Vandiver finished the game 4-for-13 passing 94 yards, a touchdown and the pick-six.
“This game didn’t turn the way we wanted it to turn tonight and a lot of that had to do with Carver. They had some people. We don’t have those guys, so I knew coming into this game that we were going to have to play an almost-perfect game. We’d have to have great intensity, great execution,” Stephens said. “Looking back on it, you talk about ‘Bear Built,’ I think our guys are Bear Built. Nothing but determination, discipline, the effort they give, all those things, our guys gave it to us this year. They played the last game of the season. They got all they could out of this season.”
When the buses return to Waynesboro, there will be time for the team to reminisce about this season before hitting the weight room in January. While it’s easy to point as this experience on the biggest stage as a motivational factor for next season, there’s another side effect from this deep playoff run that Burke County’s coaches are focused on carrying the offseason.
“Experience is big, but what’s really big is the practices they got over the past couple of weeks,” Stephens said. “They actually got five weeks worth of practice, so some of those tenth graders will be juniors, some of those ninth graders will be sophomores. Coming into the dome, this experience is very important, but those extra weeks of practice was important to get those guys ready for next year.”
While the drive from Waynesboro to Atlanta isn’t a short one by any stretch of the imagination, the Bear contingent in Mercedes-Benz was hard to miss. It seemed like nearly a quarter of the stadium was donned in the blue and white, confirmed by the classic “Come on, Burke County” chants throughout the contest.
“Our support has been unbelievable,” Stephens said.
