THOMASVILLE — The Brookwood Warriors finished up their season on Friday night with an intense, shootout loss in the first round of the playoffs. The early playoff exit may be a disappointment for the Warriors, but it caps off what was a solid season.
Brookwood finished the season with a 6-5 record, 4-1 in region play and an appearance in the region title game vs. Valwood.
“I’m really proud of how our kids continued to believe and just fought for each other,” said Brookwood head coach Shane Boggs. “Whether it be the way we started in game one and kind of kept fighting throughout that game, some of those games in the middle where we came out on top and took that belief and fought throughout to make it happen.”
The Brookwood offense had a particularly successful year. Led by seniors Rodge Waldrop and TJ Thomas, the Warriors put up an average of 41.5 points per game. Inarguably the best moment of the season was Brookwood’s shootout with Deerfield-Windsor. That game saw the Warriors set multiple single game state and school records. Waldrop threw for 698 yards and nine touchdowns. Freshman Seth Boggs had 297 yards receiving and Rex Schofill broke state and school records with his 25 catches for 369 yards. Both Boggs and Schofill had four touchdowns on the night.
The end of the 2023 football season marks the end of an era for Brookwood. Two of the most electric Warriors to ever take the field in blue and white, Waldrop and Thomas, are graduating and have played their last game on the gridiron for the Warriors.
“I could say so many things about him (Waldrop),” Boggs said about his quarterback. “He’s one of those kids, he’s really really really competitive. He wants to be great and he wants those around him to be great. He does what’s necessary to make those things happen.”
Boggs also made sure to praise his number one ball carrier in Thomas, not just on the field, but also in the locker room.
“When I’m selling him to Elon or whoever, the thing that is so easy to say is he will be the greatest kid in your locker room,” Boggs said. “For us he had 6,488 all-purpose yards over those four years and 75 touchdowns. The guy runs a 4.37 and all of that speaks for itself, but I can tell you he’ll be the best teammate in that locker room at Elon. You know, we’re going to miss the yards, we’re going to miss the catches and the interceptions and the 80 yard runs, but we’re going to miss the teammate. He’s an amazing kid.”
Brookwood will also be losing key players Chapman Wolsfelt and Nic Clark to graduation.
“A lot of those kids, I got to coach in the eighth grade,” Boggs said about the Warriors seniors. “Just a really neat group in terms of how long and how hard they’ve worked to make themselves better and working for each other. Just really going to miss them.”
However, all is not lost. Rex Schofill was arguably the best receiver on the field for Brookwood this season and will be returning as a senior. The future of the receiving core is bright as freshman Seth Boggs and sophomore Briggs Daniel both emerged as a top targets in Brookwood’s pass heavy offense.
There are a lot of questions for this Warriors team to answer in the next nine months. However, there are a lot of answers and things to look forward to for the Warrior faithful.