Brookwood weathers transfers, early-season losses and is peaking at the right time

Despite losing four big-time recruits to North Cobb in the preseason, the Dylan Lonergan-led Broncos are humming along.

By David Friedlander | Photos by Zach Edmondson

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — If there were any doubts about whether Brookwood would be ready to play in its opening-round game of the Class 7A state playoffs, the Broncos put them to rest early on.

The No. 12-ranked Broncos scored twice in the opening 6:04 of the game, and a rapid-fire scoring binge of 21 points on three consecutive snaps in the second quarter paved the way for a 56-7 rout of Newnan on Friday night.

Dylan Lonergan amassed 337 of total offense and accounted for six touchdowns — five through the air and one on the ground — while Stone Bonner hauled in four receptions for 140 yards and two scores as Brookwood (9-2) punched its ticket into the second round, where it will welcome North Gwinnett to Brookwood Community Stadium next week.

“They've earned this opportunity to host a home playoff game,” Brookwood coach Philip Jones said after the Broncos posted their first state playoff win since a state quarterfinal victory over Tift County in 2017. “We hadn't won a playoff game since 2017, so we harped on the opportunity and how big it was. We're not looking beyond just this opportunity right here. (The players) were certainly focused."

The win also reflected just how far the Broncos have come considering all the obstacles they've had to overcome since preseason practice began in August.

First, there was the transfer of four-star prospects De'Nylon Morrissette, Marquis Groves-Killebrew and Samuel Mbake — the former two Georgia commits — and three-star prospect Andre Stewart to North Cobb in early August.

With Morrissette and Mbake both being prime receiving targets and Groves-Killebrew contributing as a two-way threat on offense and defense, those moves were expected by analysts throughout the country to be devastating to Brookwood's passing game.

But four-star junior quarterback Lonergan, who boasts more than two dozen college offers from Power Five conference programs and is also a big-time baseball prospect as a pitcher, has had no problem finding new targets.

And as Jones points out, the Broncos' surge goes beyond their quarterback.

In addition to the offensive output, the Broncos defense has turned a corner, having allowed just 51 points over the past six games behind contributors like defensive back Michael Haynes, who had two interceptions with a combined 76 return yards in Friday's win.

“When those guys left, I think the consensus from (around) the state and the media was that we weren't going to be very good because we lost some Division I (college) players," Jones said. "In reality, our team bonded closer than ever because … they got a chip on their shoulder to prove (to) everybody that we had a special group of guys."

Lonergan — who was 9 of 15 for 233 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 104 yards on six carries, including a 72-yard TD run, in Friday's win — has had little trouble developing a bond with a group of receivers that was perhaps underestimated from the beginning of the season.

Bonner has been a reliable mainstay for Lonergan, while Alexander Diggs and Jumal Prothro have also been weapons out of the backfield and as slot receivers, while Patrick Campbell has been a solid deep threat.

But Lonergan's favorite thing about his receivers is the bond and trust they share.

“We've definitely been doubted, especially when those (transfers left),” said Lonergan, who has thrown for 2,834 yards and 30 touchdowns against just three interceptions on 194-of-296 passing, and run for 586 yards and six TDs on 79 carries this season. “But I wouldn't want anyone else here. We've built a chemistry together that I wouldn't have gotten with anybody else.”

Still, Brookwood went through some hiccups early in the 2021 campaign.

A season-opening 36-10 loss to nationally ranked Collins Hill in the Corky Kell Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was definitely a learning experience.

However, it was a 35-33 loss on Sept. 17 to a North Paulding team that didn't make the playoffs that proved to be a wake-up call for the Broncos.

“That was definitely a motivator for everybody,” Lonergan said. “We're just more together as a team. We weren't going to let anybody beat us like that again.”

Jones agrees, and adds that the North Paulding loss turned out to be one of the best things that happened for his team in the long run.

“That was a good night … to prove to us that if we don't prepare well and take every opponent seriously, that we can get beat,” Jones said. “It took away a little bit of our invincibility that our guys might've thought we had. It brought us down to earth a little bit.”