Tommy Brown’s phone kept ringing Saturday.

One by one, his Orangeburg-Wilkinson football players called up to hear the news from their coach. There will be no playoffs for the Bruins this year.

“It’s tough, it’s tough (to tell the kids),” Brown said.. “Especially, we had some kids that were really committed. When you have a change of coaches and come in and try to make changes it’s very difficult for the kids, but they did a good job of adjusting.”

There was some speculation that even with a loss Friday night, O-W would be able to slip into the playoffs on points. A win would have guaranteed a playoff spot. In the end, Richland Northeast pulled out a 35-34 victory that brought Brown’s return season to the Bruins’ sideline to a disappointing close.

“The kids are disappointed,” Brown said. “They wanted to make it. They wanted a chance. It’s one of those things in life where you get chances and sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

The Bruins started the season with five straight wins before losing a 33-27 shootout to Irmo. The following week O-W defeated Dutch Fork 30-15. That would be the team’s only region victory as the Bruins went on to lose to Lexington, North Augusta, Aiken, White Knoll and RNE to finish with a 6-6 overall record, 1-5 in region 5-AAAA.

“I am thankful and blessed to be here,” Brown said. “We brought in a new staff, and we made a lot of changes. We were asking a team to make adjustments over a year, and we had our ups and downs. That is the way life is. The kids bounced back. They showed a lot of character. I’m sorry that we weren’t able to get over the top like we wanted to, but most cases we asked them to give their best and they did.”

n T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553. Check out his blog, Welcome to Linderland, at www.thetandd.com.

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