Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2011
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3B
Friday Night Countdown
Region 8-AA
REGION 8-AA SOUTH
Team
Subregion
Overall
Elbert Co.
2-0
5-0
North Oconee
2-0
5-0
Jeffeison
1-1
41
Oglethorpe Co.
1-2
3-3
Halt Co.
1-2
3-3
East Jackson
1-2
3-3
Jackson Co.
1-2
24
REGION 8-AA NORTH
Team
Subregion
Overall
East Hall
1-0
3-2
Banks Co.
1-0
3-2
Dawson Co.
1-0
2-3
Fannin Co.
0-1
3-2
Rabun Co.
0-1
1-3
Union Co.
0-1
14
Region 8-AA: This week
Jefferson at Oglethorpe Co.
Jackson Co. at North Oconee
East Hall at Union Co.
Dawson Co. at Banks Co.
Fannin Co. at Rabun Co.
Hart Co. at Elbert Co.
East Jackson is off
Region 8-AA: Last week
North Oconee 38, Jefferson 28
Hart Co. 30, East Jackson 10
Jackson Co. 30, Oglethorpe Co. 13
East Hall 35, Rabun Co. 14
Banks Co. 16, Union Co. 14
Dawson Co. 35, Fannin Co. 30
Elbert Co. was off
Last week's leaders
•Passing — Bryant Shirreffs,
Jefferson, 20-33,242,4 TDs
•Rushing —Dustin Scott, Jackson
County, 22 carries, 126 yards, 3 TDs
•Receiving — Xavier Harper,
Jackson County, 2 recep
tions, 81 yards, 1 TD
• Defense — Kody McDonald,
17 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack,
1 caused fumble
Class AA rankings
1. Buford(7-0)
2. Calhoun (5-0)
3. Carver, Columbus (4-1)
4. Greater Atlanta Christian (5-0)
5. Brooks County (5-1)
6. Elbert County (5-0)
7. Lovett (4-1)
8. Fitzgerald (5-1)
9. Dublin (5-0)
10. Appling County (5-0)
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MOVING ON
Cain Finch returns a punt Friday night in Jefferson’s 38-28 loss to
North Oconee. The Dragons return to action this Friday against
Oglethorpe County. Photo by Ben Munro
Friday night capsules
Jackson Co. at North Oconee
•When: Friday, 7:30 p.m
•Where: Bogart
•Last year: North Oconee 37, Jackson Co. 0
•Records: North Oconee 5-0,2-0; Jackson Co. 2-4,1-2
•Last week: North Oconee 38, Jefferson 28; Jackson Co.
30, Oglethorpe Co. 10
• North Oconee's coach: Terr/ Tuley 47-13 at North Oconee;
99-90-2 overall, 19th season
•Jackson County's coach: Billy Kirk, 11-34-1 at Jackson
Co., fifth season
•Series: North Oconee leads 1-0
•What else: Despite the relative closeness of the two
schools, this is only the second meeting between the Panthers
and Titans ... North Oconee coach Terry Tuley is going for his
100th career coaching victor/ in Georgia ... North Oconee is
averaging 40 points a contest and giving up just over 12.
Jefferson at Oglethorpe Co.
•When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
•Where: Patriot Stadium, Oglethorpe Co.
•Last year: Jefferson 34, Oglethorpe Co. 7
•Records:
•Last week:
•Oglethorpe County's coach: Larry Milligan, 8-18 at
Oglethorpe Co, third season; overall, 76-70,14th season
•Jefferson's coach: T. McFerrin (21-6 at Jefferson, third
season; 322-99-4 overall, 37* season)
•Series: Jefferson leads 29-8
•What else: Jefferson has won nine in a row over the
Patriots... Oglethorpe County's last win over Jefferson came
in 1997 (21-12)... Oglethorpe County has been one of the
Dragons most frequent opponents over the years. This series
dates back to 1952. With 37 meetings, Jefferson has played
only Commerce more times.
Dragons continued from page IB
Scott continued from page IB
“Because without them, I wouldn’t have been
able to have done any of it,” Scott said.
Of course, Scott has worked hard himself. He
has successfully battled his way back from a bro
ken leg in 2010 to put up big numbers this year.
“(It was) kind of hard coming back, but I
feel that I’ve improved a lot since then,” Scott
said. “I’ve gotten a lot stronger in the leg and
had no problems out of it since then.”
Jackson County coach Billy Kirk said that Scott “has
made a commitment to
working hard.” So much in
fact, it’s not just confined
to practice. Kirk notes that
Scott travels to Gwinnett
County three times a week
after practice to work
with a personal trainer.
And all of the hard
work is showing up on
the football field and the
stat sheet for Scott.
“Dustin is by far the
best football player on our team right now” Kirk said.
But, like Scott, Kirk is equally impressed by the
play of the offensive line gashing open holes.
“Dustin wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing if
it weren’t for those guys up front,” Kirk said.
Scott’s running — as well as that of fellow tailback
Daivon Ledford — and the play off the offensive
line make for a running game that wears opponents
down and also sets up the pass effectively. In fact,
Jackson County’s other offensive score Friday came
on a 31-yard screen pass from Kyle Daniel to Xavier
Harper. Harper also had a 49-yard reception. Daniel
finished the night 5-of-6 with 133 yards passing.
Offense aside, it was an all-around great night in
general for Jackson County, which held Oglethorpe
County’s potent triple option attack to just 92 yards.
“As a team, we’re clicking,” Scott said.
“The defense is getting after them. They have
improved so much. They take everything seri
ously. Offensively, we’ve taken care of some prob
lems and we’re still working on a few things.”
Which brings Scott and his Panther teammates
to their colossal challenge this Friday when they
must face 5-0 North Oconee. Scott, however, is
confident heading into this matchup with the sub-
region co-leaders as long as Jackson County keeps
playing its brand of smash mouth football.
“They present a pretty big challenge,” Scott said.
“But I think we can shock them if we come in
and do like we did with Oglethorpe and just pop
them in the mouth and keep going. I think that we
can maybe, possibly, I believe, make an upset.”
JACKSON CO. 30,
OGLETHORPE CO. 13
Jackson Co. 30
Oglethorpe Co. 13
JCCHS team totals
Rushes-yards 40-162
Passing yards 133
Comp.-att.-INT 5-6-0
Individual statistics leaders
Rushing — Scott 22-126-3,
Banks 7-15, Ledford 6-8
Passing — Daniel 5-6-0,133,1 TD
Receiving — Harper 2-81-1 TD
“You’ve got to play dis
ciplined defense and we
haven’t been very disci
plined on defense so far”
McFerrin said.
McFerrin added that
Oglethorpe County has
lots of athletes and pointed
to Patriot running back
Casey Davenport, who ran
for 184 yards two weeks
ago against East Jackson.
“He’s a load,” McFerrin
said.
While plenty went
wrong in the Dragons’
last showing, Jefferson’s
resolve impressed
McFerrin despite the loss.
Down 35-28, the Dragons
put themselves in a posi
tion to tie the game in the
fourth quarter — only to
be undone by a late turn
over. But the energy and
fight were there.
“Based on what I saw
Friday, we’ve got a chance
to win our next five
games,” McFerrin said of
the team’s effort. “At least
we have a chance. I told
them let’s go play our guts
out and see if we can’t pull
this thing out.”
•NORTH OCONEE
38, JEFFERSON 28: A
match-up of the two most
prolific offenses in the
region produced plenty of
points Friday, but turnovers
proved to be the difference-
maker in Jefferson’s 38-28
loss to North Oconee.
The Dragons’ Bryant
Shirreffs threw for 242
yards and four touchdowns
but Jefferson (4-1, 1-1)
couldn’t overcome three
fumbles — two of which
came on special teams —
in its first setback of the
season.
“We all played hard, but
we didn’t play necessar
ily our best,” Puckett said.
“But we played hard. It’s
just a tough loss.”
Puckett had a huge night
nevertheless, catching three
touchdown passes from
Shirreffs and totaling 67
yards receiving in the los
ing effort. Donnie Hatfield
also hauled in a touchdown
reception and finished with
62 yards receiving.
Jefferson’s defense
came up with some key
stops late, which could
have given the Dragons a
chance to tie the game in
the fourth quarter. Trailing
35-28 with eight minutes
left to play, the Dragons
forced a North Oconee
punt and had seemingly
seized the momentum. But
Jefferson fumbled the ball
away on the punt return,
and the Titans (5-0, 2-0)
cashed in with a field goal
to provide the final margin
of victory.
The game started in
similar fashion for the
Dragons.
Jefferson gave up a cost
ly first-quarter turnover on
special teams when North
Oconee picked up a fum
ble on a botched Dragon
punt attempt and raced in
for a score to take a 7-0
lead.
The Dragons recovered,
however, with Shirreffs
tossing touchdown pass
es to Hatfield (12 yards)
and Puckett (10 yards) to
take a 14-7 second quarter
lead. But North Oconee
answered with three
straight scores between the
second and third quarters
to lead 28-14 with 10:09
left in the third quarter.
Shirreffs and Puckett
struck again, though, con
necting for a 15-yard scor
ing strike with 7:53 left in
the third quarter to cut the
lead to 28-21. After the
Titans went ahead 35-21
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NORTH OCONEE 38,
JEFFERSON 28
North Oconee 7 14 14 3 — 38
Jefferson 7 111 — 28
JHS team totals
Rushes-yards 22-143
Passing yards 242
Comp.-att.-INT 20-33-0
Individual statistics leaders
Rushing — Jackson
8-97, Shirreffs 10-51
Passing — Shirreffs 20-33-0,242
Receiving — Puckett
Defense—McDonald 17 tack
les (2 TFL, 1 sack), Simonton
15 tackles (1 TFL, 1 sack)
with another third-quar
ter touchdown, Puckett
grabbed his third touch
down reception of the
game when he caught a
four-yarder from Shirreffs
with 10:39 left in the game.
That touchdown was set
up by a 40-yard recep
tion at the North Oconee
five-yard line by McKay
Dickens.
•NORTH OCONEE GAME NOTES: Jackson
County coach Billy Kirk said that there’s a good reason
that this Friday’s opponent, North Oconee, is 5-0. Kirk
said the Titans are an all-around great football team.
“They’re in the same mold as Elbert County as far as
having great players on both sides of the ball,” Kirk said.
North Oconee’s per-game averages are stag
gering, scoring 40 points a contest and sur
rendering just 12.2 points a contest.
“They do a good job offensively with that scheme
they run,” Kirk said. “Defensively, they’re unorthodox,
but effective. And they score points on special teams.”
At the same time, Jackson County is coming off
a 30-13 whipping of Oglethorpe County in which
it held the Patriots to just 92 yards of offense.
“(Oglethorpe County) coach (Larry) Milligan
told me Friday night, ‘you’re not a 2-4 team,’
and I proudly agreed with him,” Kirk said.
Kirk was particularly proud of the Panther
defense and pointed to his team’s disruption of
Oglethorpe County’s triple option game which
is difficult to prepare for on short notice.
“(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Jay) Reid and
the defense has done a great job,” Kirk said.
Jackson County will have to play this game
without standout tight end River Bryant who
is out indefinitely with a knee injury.
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