By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics The Brunswick High Pirates are the Region 1-AAAAA champions in the 2024 football season. The Pirates clinched the title with a 57-20 victory Friday night over South Effingham in Guyton. Brunswick needed only to win one of its final two games on the schedule to lock down the region championship for the third time in four seasons. The Pirates gained sole possession of first-place in the region standings two weeks ago when they blew out Lakeside-Evans 61-34 at Glynn County Stadium in a battle between the two unbeaten teams in the region. The win was the eighth in a row for the eighth-ranked Pirates (8-1) who have not lost since falling to Camden County in the season opener. BHS, now 7-0 in the region, will close out its schedule next Friday at Bradwell Institute. The Pirates can finish an perfect run through the league with a victory over the Tigers. They also went unbeaten in region play in 2021 and 2022 when they won back-to-back region titles. The Pirates will be at home in the first-round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs as the No. 1 seed from the region, and an opening-round win would guarantee the Pirates a home game in the second round as well. In Guyton on Friday, the Pirates jumped ahead 7-0 with a 9-yard touchdown run by Jemarious Towns to cap a nine-play opening drive. The Pirates also converted a two-point play for an 8-0 lead. The Mustangs (0-9, 0-7), who have been shut own four times this season, answered the Brunswick score with a touchdown on their first possession to quickly make it 8-7. Josiah Gibbons gave BHS a 15-7 lead with his 14-yard TD on the team’ next offensive series. Brunswick would get a 63-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior linebacker J’Shawn Towns early in the second quarter to build a double-digit cushion. Towns would make some more big plays before this game was done. A scoring run by senior William Heck gave the Pirates a 28-7 advantage before a BHS turnover gave the Mustangs the ball with a short field. They capitalized by scoring their second touchdown to pull within 29-13. South Effingham would recover an onside kick to get the ball right back with a chance to draw closer. Instead, Towns came through on defense again for the Pirates. The senior standout took a fumble recovery 67 yards for his second score of the night and a 36-13 lead for BHS with just over a minute remaining until halftime. Towns would also intercept a South Effingham pass on the final play of the first half. The Mustangs scored to start the second half, but the Pirates would keep them at bay and win going away. Brunswick scored a touchdown in the third quarter and added two more in the final period to run away from the Mustangs. One of the highest scoring teams in Class AAAAA, the 57 points the Pirates posted at the Corral on Friday were the second-most the team has scored this season behind the 61 against Lakeside-Evans two weeks ago.