Brunswick News Article
Posted April 6, 2012
Local Sports
By BUDDY HUGHES The Brunswick News
Success is nothing new to the Glynn County Revolution. The semipro football team based in Brunswick has amassed an 32-8-1 record since it began play in 2009.
That success has been taken to a different level this season. The Revolution, members of the National Developmental Football League, are 6-0 on the season heading into Saturday's 7 p.m. game against the Charleston Commanders at Lanier Field.
Head coach and owner Jeffrey Waters attributes the undefeated record to improvements on the offensive side of the ball.
"Our offense has really caught up with our defense this year," Waters said. "Mike Willis has come on to help the offense. We could always keep people from scoring but couldn't always score."
The Revolution have picked up home wins over the Blackshear Knights (14-6), Valdosta Hawks (16-0) and South Georgia Bombers (6-0) out of Hinesville. The results have been the same on the road with victories at the Bombers (20-14), Moultrie's South Georgia Rams (36-12) and the Savannah Raiders (14-0).
"We beat Valdosta and Moultrie, both of which were big games," Waters said. "The Commanders are going to be a big test for us. They're a good organization that's been around for a while. We're really geared up for it, and if we can get by them, I think we can run the table."
Willis, son of former Brunswick High football coach John Willis, was familiar with a lot of the Revolution players from his days with the Pirates.
"I knew coming into it they were a talented group," Mike Willis said. "A lot of them I had coached already when I was at Brunswick High. Some of the stuff we're running now is the same stuff we ran when I was coaching with my daddy at Brunswick High. A lot of the terminology was the same, and they picked up on it right away."
The offense has a wealth of talent at the skill positions including wide receiver Robert Thomas, running backs Stephen Prevatt and Richard Cash and quarterback Jonathan Dixon. Thomas, Cash and Dixon all starred at Brunswick, while Prevatt was a standout at Brantley County High.
"We've got so many weapons back there, they don't have enough defenders to take care of all of them," Waters said. "Dixon is getting the ball to our playmakers."
The Revolution is averaging 17.7 points per game while only giving up 5.3 points per contest under Waters, Willis, assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Shawn Brown, special teams coach Al Manley and Cornelious Richardson, who coaches the offense along with Willis.
Cash, who also plays linebacker, said it's the defense's ferocity that makes it so good.
"Everybody on our defense really knows how to hit," Cash said.
Added Waters: "Everyone in this league knows when you come to play the Revolution, you had better have your chin strapped up tight."
The team has also benefitted from having players who have played together or known each other since they were kids playing at the recreation fields in Brunswick and Glynn County. That familiarity is an advantage on and off the field.
"I think we've been with each other for so long, everybody pretty much knows what each other is capable of doing," said Richardson, who started as a player with the Revolution in seasons one and two.
Waters and his players are focused on closing out the regular season with a perfect record to get home-field advantage for the NDFL playoffs, which start May 19. After that, the goal is to turn a season of hard work into the Revolution's first championship.
"It would be good to bring (the title) back to Brunswick," Thomas said. "We would be one of the first teams from Brunswick to win a championship."
"We own one football championship, and that's from GA," said Cash, referencing the 1964 Glynn Academy football team that won the Class AAA state title. "To have another one on a higher level would mean everything."
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