BROOKLET — When Jared Zito arrived in Brooklet four years ago, he took over a team deep with senior talent and proceeded to have one of the best seasons in the program’s recent history, with the Yellow Jackets earning their first state playoff win in nearly 50 years.

After two seasons in Class AAAA with a young squad that saw the team struggle to replicate the success of Zito’s first season, the Yellow Jackets now find themselves back in Class AAA and again have a deep roster looking to make another run at a region title.

“The biggest thing for us is that we’re a much older, more experienced team than we have been,” Zito said. “My first year here, we were very successful, and we had a very large and talented senior class. The next two years we were talented, but didn’t have the experience. Now we’re coming to the end of that cycle, where the players have gotten older, and we can benefit from that experience.”

The Yellow Jackets missed the playoffs in 2023, eliminated after falling in their final game to Burke County. Late in the year, starting quarterback Will Nelson was injured, and SEB turned to freshman Rhett Morgan.

“Our kids were self-aware. They could look at our team the last two years and see that we were very young,” Zito said. “But if you look now, both in terms of experience and … (players’) tremendous gains in the weight room, this is one of the strongest teams I’ve had. So, if you’ll pardon me, I think our biggest strengths are our experience and our strength.”

Offense

While the Yellow Jackets ended up missing the playoffs in 2023, Zito said the experience Morgan gained while playing quarterback as a freshman will have a big impact on the 2024 season.

“Heading into the offseason, one good thing is that Morgan is an experienced sophomore now,” Zito said. “He’s a talented, smart, tough kid, and we believe we’ll have a lot of success with him.”

Helping Morgan transition to starting quarterback will be an experienced group of offensive linemen and tight ends returning up front, including Michael Dixon, Jotavion Gaines and Deacon Craig. 

Seniors Easton Phillips and Gavin Ivey will hold down the wide receiver spots, while another senior, Quentin Reed, is expected to see the majority of carries at running back for the Yellow Jackets on offense. 

Reed ran for more than 500 yards and scored six touchdowns in 2023, averaging 6.0 yards per carry on the year.

Defense

Defensively, Zito highlighted defensive lineman Forest Fretwell, linebacker Kyle Obrien and defensive back Chris Jones as players he expects to lead the SEB defense that gave up 21.3 points per game last season.

“Our key guys on both sides of the ball bring a lot of experience,” he said.

Schedule

The Yellow Jackets open the season hosting cross-county rival Statesboro before jumping right in to region play, as SEB will play a nine-game region schedule in 2024.

“I don’t think we’d ever played (Statesboro) before I got here, which made sense because of the size difference. But as we grew and they didn’t grow as much, I thought we needed a rival, and it made sense to play (Statesboro),” Zito said. “We haven’t beaten them yet, so I’m not sure it’s a rivalry until we win.

“It’s exciting for our kids,” he said. “Our community likes it, and it’d be a great boost to get a win against a rival. Either way, it gets our kids’ attention.”

Zito said there are both benefits and challenges to playing nine region games. One thing he likes about the change is that, essentially, every game matters. In previous years, he said, he might have a squad playing at full strength early in the season for non-region games. But as the season progressed, players would get hurt, and when the region schedule came around, the team wasn’t as healthy as it was at the beginning of the season.

“Early in the year, you might have your best night, and while it would count for the win-loss record, it wouldn’t matter for the playoffs,” Zito said. “I prefer it this way. I want every game to count when it comes to the playoffs.” 

New region

The new region for Southeast Bulloch has some familiar foes from the Savannah area, including Calvary Day, Beach and Groves, but adds Liberty County, Long County and Jenkins into region 3-AAA.

“We’re familiar with some of these teams from before,” Zito said. “There are some talented, well-coached teams that we’ll play.”

For Zito, one of those teams stands out as the team to beat.

“Calvary Day is the best team we’ll play,” he said. “If we want to win our region, we have to go through them.”

With such an experienced squad, the goals are high for the Yellow Jackets as they look to 2024.

“We want to try to win championships. We want to win the region and get into the playoffs and host playoff games,” he said. “That’s important if you’re going to have success in the postseason.” 

While region and state titles are the overall goals, Zito said the team is also “chasing perfection” in everything they do, as he wants his players to get better and better each time out.

“That isn’t necessarily going 10-0,” he said. “But with us being an older and more experienced team, for me and our staff’s vision, that means being more detailed and consistent. Some of the games we lost last year were because we weren’t always consistent. 

“As an older team, we can raise the level of expectations for our players,” he continued. “Our players understand that, and we want them to strive to be perfect in everything they do.”

In addition to experience and strength, Zito believes one other factor will lead Southeast Bulloch to a successful 2024 campaign.

“Last year — and I feel the same way about the team this year — the guys were just enjoyable to be around,” he said. “That’s important. Some of the best teams I’ve been a part of were talented, we had a good scheme and a good coaching staff, but it’s important to be around guys with the same goals as the coaching staff. They get me excited about being a football coach.”

The Yellow Jackets open their season on Aug. 16, hosting Statesboro at Fred Shaver Field. 

2024 Southeast Bulloch football schedule

Aug. 16                Statesboro

Aug. 30                Islands

Sept. 6                 at Calvary Day

Sept. 13               Johnson-Savannah

Sept. 20               at Windsor Forest

Sept. 27               Liberty County

Oct. 4                   Groves

Oct. 11                  at Jenkins

Oct. 25                 at Long County

Nov. 1                   Beach