By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics The Brunswick High Pirates knew they weren’t going to be the Region 2-AAAAAA champion and also the region’s top seed for the state playoffs a third straight time early in Friday night’s game at Effingham. But still, the Pirates battled to the finish in the final game of the regular season in Springfield before suffering a tough 31-28 loss to the Rebels who kicked a game-winning field goal from 25 yards out as time expired. The Rebels (7-3) finished the season with a perfect 6-0 record in the region to claim their first league championship since 1995 while the Pirates (6-3) ended up going 4-2 in the region and will now be the No. 3 seed for the Class AAAAAA state playoffs which start next week. Brunswick defeated Effingham the last two years in the final regular-season contest which also decided the league crown. BHS won 21-18 two years ago in Springfield before prevailing 31-28 last fall at home. Going into Friday’s game, the Pirates knew they could only forge a possible three-way tie for first in the standings with the Rebels and also Glynn Academy with a win in Springfield if the Red Terrors also won their game at home over Lakeside-Evans as anticipated. A three-way tie would have forced the tiebreaker procedures put in place by the region to decide the champion and top seed. Under that tiebreaker, BHS had to win by 19 points over the Rebels while also holding them to six or fewer points. The Rebels were assured of winning the region championship using the tiebreaker if needed when they took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after getting possession following a BHS turnover near the red zone. Meantime, Glynn jumped on Lakeside-Evans from the opening kick at Glynn County Stadium and led by the 50-7 final score at halftime. Thus, it became clear that Brunswick couldn’t win the region crown outright with a victory only as it also needed a loss by the Terrors to do that. Before halftime in Springfield, the Pirates knew they were headed to the postseason as the region’s No. 3 seed no matter the final outcome. BHS would tie the game at 7-7, but went into the halftime break trailing the Rebels 21-7 after losing a fumble at the Effingham 2-yard line which was the Pirates’ third fumble in the first half. The Rebels scored after the first two Brunswick turnovers. The Pirates made a game of it in the second half, however. BHS quarterback Grant Moore got a rally started by the Pirates early in the third quarter when he ran 51 yards on a keeper to pull the team within 21-14 barely more than a minute into the third quarter. Brunswick appeared to tie the score on its next possession when Moore hit Heze Kent with a pass for a touchdown, but the Pirates were penalized for an illegal formation which took the score off the board. Effingham came right back with a drive for a touchdown that put the Rebels back up by double-digits at 28-14 late in the third period, but the Pirates wouldn’t go away. The Pirates faked a punt on fourth-and-4 when still trailing by that 14-point margin with just over 8 minutes left and gained a first down. They snapped the ball to up-man Kent who flipped the ball to Waseem Murray, a fast freshman runner who picked up the first down. Later on the drive, BHS went for it again on fourth-and-6. Moore scrambled before flipping the ball to Murray who would find the end zone to pull the Pirates within 28-21 with 6:37 to go. Brunswick regained possession on a turnover by Effingham, and again the Pirates would find themselves in a fourth-down situation. This time, they faced fourth-and-14, and this time Moore hooked up with sophomore running back Jamarious Towns for a 48-yard score that tied the game at 28-28 with only 3:31 to play in regulation. The BHS defense would force a three-and-out, but the Brunswick offense couldn’t muster up a game-winning drive. Given another chance with the ball in regulation, the Rebels did produce the winning drive. A big pass play and runs by senior quarteback Nate Hayes put the Rebels in close range for their field-goal try for the win. Effingham head coach John Ford, who is in his third season with the program, let the clock dwindle to a precious few seconds before calling a timeout to send out his kicking team. The field-goal attempt split the uprights and the Rebels stormed onto the field to begin celebrating a region title that had been a long time coming. The Pirates will play at Mundy’s Mill, the No. 2 seed from Region 3, in the opening round of the playoffs. Effingham will host Lovejoy, the No. 4 seed from Region 3, in the first-round.