Rebels win scrimmage over North Augusta behind Weaver, Segarra

Byrnes’ Armoni Weaver celebrates after returning a punt 60 yards for a touchdown in the Rebels’ 21-0 scrimmage win over North Augusta.

The second Byrnes wide receiver Armoni Weaver saw the North Augusta punt fly up into the night sky, his brain began calculating. 

Weaver looked at the space in front of him. He noticed an abundance of running room on the right side of the field.

“I looked over and saw that there was only one person, I think, coming towards me from the right side,” said Weaver. “I knew I was going to take advantage of that.”

It was Weaver’s first touch of the game, his first game action in weeks after recovering from a concussion.

He made the most of the moment.

Weaver caught the punt at his own 40 and immediately darted down the right side of the field. He juked out the first defender going left, then made another slip by juking to his right. Weaver reached the North Augusta 15-yard line before stopping on a dime and cutting back at the right sideline, making yet another defender miss. Finally, he stumbled over the goal line.

A packed-out Nixon Field went ballistic. Weaver smiled wide and danced in unison with teammates.

His touchdown put Byrnes up 7-0 just four minutes into the game. 

The Rebels didn’t look back on their way to a 21-0 win at Friday night’s McDonald’s Kickoff Classic.

“I had just been itching to get back out there,” said Weaver. “I’d been asking Coach [Reggie Shaw] for weeks, ‘Can I play? Can I please play?’ So that first play back, I felt like that was how it needs to be every week.”

“Every time he touches the football, it’s just electric,” Byrnes head coach Reggie Shaw said of Weaver. “On offense, defense, and special teams, he’s just a special player.”

A PROPER INTRODUCTION

On all sides of the ball, the Rebels dominated North Augusta from the opening kickoff. 

The defense pitched a shutout, while junior defensive back Josh Lee even came down with an interception. Special teams put points on the board via Weaver’s punt return, and kicker/punter Jacob Coman looked sharp. Offensively, the Rebels put a complete game together.

Led by senior quarterback Andrew Stevens, the passing game clicked for Byrnes as seamlessly as it had all offseason. 

For Byrnes’ second touchdown of the game, Stevens found Dreson Evans streaking down the right sideline for a 30-yard score. Evans easily beat North Augusta’s man coverage on a go-route, and a perfect ball from Stevens helped the junior wide receiver walk into the end zone untouched.

While not quite fully healthy, Friday’s scrimmage was the closest Byrnes had come to a full arsenal of weapons in a while. 

“We’d been missing guys like Armoni Weaver, Chamarryus Bomar, Caleb Williams,” said Shaw. “We’ve had a bunch of receivers out. Those are weapons on our offense who can take the ball and score anytime they touch it.”

Fortunately, a new weapon is emerging for the Rebels heading into 2023.

Running back Tre’ Segarra—just a 14-year-old freshman—introduced himself to Rebel faithful Friday night after a stellar few months of offseason work.

Freshman running back Tre’ Segarra introduced himself to Rebel faithful with a stellar night on the ground.

Segarra broke off a 45-yard run up the middle in the second half.

“My tackle did a great job sealing the defensive end on that play,” said Segarra of the run. “The linebacker was coming down, but once I cut up past the linebacker, it was basically just grass in front of me. The defensive back was catching up to me, so I had to put both hands on the ball to protect it, which slowed me down.”

No worries for Segarra, though. He’d plunge over the goal line from four yards out just a few plays later. His touchdown capped the game’s scoring.

“It’s an amazing feeling, scoring my first rushing touchdown,” he said. “But really, I’ve got to thank my boys up front for creating the gap for me. It was a beautiful, beautiful hole, an easy run.”

“Tre’, He’s so big and fast for his age,” Shaw said of his freshman back. “He’s got a high football IQ and is an elite athlete. He’s a special kid. We’re very excited about his future here.”

Segarra—who also plays soccer for the Rebels—says he’s thankful for the trust the coaching staff has put in him as a first-year player.

“It’s a huge deal that they trust me to have the ball and pick up yards at such a young age,” said Segarra. “It means a lot to me.”

PREACHING DISCIPLINE

In the team’s postgame huddle, head coach Reggie Shaw didn’t have many negatives to harp on. There was one word that kept coming up, however.

Discipline.

During the first half of Friday’s game, the Rebels had their discipline tested in a major way. 

A late, arguably over-aggressive, hit out of bounds by the Yellow Jackets against the Rebels caused a dust-up on the Byrnes sideline. Players from both teams pushed and shoved and got in each other’s faces. 

“You know, they came over on our sideline and all that, but we can’t worry about what they do,” said Shaw. “We’ve got to take care of us. We’ve got to learn to maintain our composure. That’s what I talked about with them after the game. We’ve got to make sure we don’t react to something like that out of control.

“I tell these guys all the time, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. I only worry about us every week. Because the only people who can beat us are us.”

Discipline remains paramount for Byrnes heading into week 0, where the Rebels are set to take on Hough at American Legion Memorial Stadium (capacity 10,500) in Charlotte. Shaw says his team is “jacked” to go out and play the North Carolina powerhouse on such a big stage.

“These guys are ready to go. You want to play great opposition early to evaluate what you have and to prepare you for region play,” said Shaw. “It’ll be a great test for us. It’s going to be a unique situation for us up in Charlotte, on the road and out of the confines of our home stadium. It’ll probably be a pretty hostile environment up there with more Hough fans than our fans.”

“You’ve got to love the energy in a game like that, being under the lights in such a big stadium against a great opponent,” said Segarra. “But you’ve also got to understand, when you get a moment and opportunity like that, you’ve got to show out.”

Byrnes will face Hough in Charlotte on Saturday, Aug. 19 as part of the TurfKings Invitational. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. but subject to change.