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PAGE 4B
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017
Football summaries
Jefferson 44, North Oconee 0
Passing attack sparks Dragons on homecoming
LOCKED IN
Jefferson quarterback Bryce Moore threw for 286 yards and three touch
downs in the Dragons’ 44-0 win over North Oconee. Photo by Ben Munro
Franklin Co. 38,
East Jackson 6
Swift runs wild
in Franklin Co.
win over Eagles
By Chris Hamby
Correspondent
If Friday night was any
indication of the season
East Jackson was going
to have it all came to fru
ition as Franklin County
defeated the Eagles 38-6.
Just like the Eagles’
season, it has been start,
stop, start and stop again.
“We didn’t sustain
anything, didn’t tack
le well and gave up big
plays and that’s been our
achilles heel all season,”
East Jackson coach Scott
Wilkins said.
Those big plays came
from Franklin County
running back Cale Swift
who had 17 rushes for 221
yards before leaving the
game with 6:39 to play in
the third quarter with an
ankle injury.
Franklin County got
on the board with 1:38
to play first quarter when
Swift skirted free for a
31-yard touchdown run.
Swift wasn’t the only
show in town as Myri-
an Craft added a 37-yard
touchdown of his own
with 6:02 to play in the
second quarter putting
Franklin County up 14-0
and that would hold up to
halftime.
Franklin County
received the second half
kickoff and returned it 96
yards for a touchdown
to increase its lead to
21-0. After an East Jack-
son punt, it became the
Swift and Craft show as
Franklin County ground
out an 8-play, 3-minute
44 second drive before the
Eagles defense stiffened
forcing a field goal with
6:52 to play in the third
quarter which gave Frank
lin County a 24-0 lead.
On East Jackson’s
ensuing possession Caleb
Adair fumbled on the first
play from scrimmage,
Franklin County recov
ered and three plays later
Swift found the end zone
with a 9-yard run before
being injured, and leav
ing the game for good as
Franklin County lead East
Jackson 31-0.
East Jackson finally got
into the end zone late in
the third quarter when
Greg Huggs found Kobe
Haley wide-open for a
49-yard touchdown pass.
The PAT was no good on
the mishandled snap.
The final score of the
night came on a 31-yard
touchdown run by Craft
with 9:01 to play in the
fourth quarter that put
Franklin County up 38-6.
This week. East Jack-
son travels to Haralson
County for an out-of-re-
gion contest before facing
cross-county rival Jackson
County and then finishing
the season at Hart County.
By Ben Munro
On a night when Jeffer
son High School retired two
jerseys and named its home
coming queen, the football
team made time for some
on-the-field highlights, too.
With North Oconee keying
to stop the Dragons’ running
game, senior quarterback
Bryce Moore torched the
Titans for 286 passing yards
and three touchdowns as
Jefferson romped past North
Oconee 44-0 on Friday at
home.
“We’re turning into more
of a balanced offense,” Moore
said. “Guys are playing off
(tailback) Colby (Wood),
which everybody should. It’s
fun turning into a balanced
offense. It’s going well.”
Jefferson scored on each
of its seven possessions in
topping the 40-point mark for
the fourth time this year.
“In terms of offense, I think
we may have scored every
possession,” coach Gene
Cathcart said. “That’s a very
productive night.”
Moore threw touchdown
passes to Zac Corbin (19
yards), Colby Wood (13
yards) and Justin Cole (6
yards) on a 20-of-25 night
through the air as Jefferson
won its fourth straight game.
Sammy Elegreet led all
Jefferson receivers with four
catches for 86 yards.
“Our guys got open when
they had to — Sammy, Sun
shine (Zac Corbin), Colby
and even Justin, our fullback,”
Moore said. “They’re getting
open in space, so it’s helping
me out a lot.”
“He did a great job,” Cath
cart said of Moore. “We tried
to mix it up a little bit and
spread it around. He did a
good job. Them having an
open week, they gave us
some different looks that we
kind of were expecting.”
Wood had a solid night,
too, in his first action since
the first half of the Sept. 22
Gainesville game, running for
107 yards and a touchdown
and catching a touchdown
pass.
Meanwhile, the Dragon
defense notched its second
consecutive shutout and third
of the season. North Oconee’s
best chance of scoring came
in the first quarter when it
drove to the Dragon 17, but
Jefferson’s defense recorded
back-to-back tackles-for-loss,
forcing a field goal attempt,
which the Titans botched.
North Oconee moved to the
Dragon 35 in the second
quarter, but Corbin ended the
drive with an interception.
“Our defense pitched
another shutout,” Moore said.
“Defense wins champion
ships. Offense just puts up
points.”
Cathcart credited defensive
coordinator Tom Parker and
his staff.
“That staff, we're so well
prepared defensively, and our
kids are in such good posi
tion,” Cathcart said.
Jefferson built up a 24-0
lead by halftime with Wood
scoring on a five-yard run,
Moore throwing touchdown
passes to Corbin and Wood
and Hayden Kilgore kicking
a 25-yard field goal.
The Dragons then opened
the second half with their
most interesting scoring drive
of the night. Jefferson faced
a 1st and 51 after an offen
sive pass interference call,
followed by back-to-back
15-yard penalties on Cathcart
who had voiced his displea
sure.
“I acted like a spoiled
12-year-old kid with the
officials, and I apologize for
that,” Cathcart said. “I didn’t
set a very good example for
our guys.”
Still, Jefferson managed
to knock out a first down
— with Elegreet snagging a
key 31-yard pass on the drive
— and scored with Moore
throwing a 6-yard touchdown
pass to Cole to up the lead
to 30-0.
Cathcart said he’s actually
faced worse than lst-and-51
in his coaching career.
“Actually, I'm embar
rassed to tell you I’ve faced
a 3rd-and-56 before ... I kept
putting our kids in a bind
and they kept responding," he
said. “So, I was very proud
of them."
Donsha Gaither added
a 7-yard touchdown in the
third quarter and Colby Clark
tacked on a 2-yard touchdown
in the fourth as the Dragons
completed the rout.
“It’s nice to have Donsha
and Colby Clark to come in,
and Justin," Cathcart said.
“Justin Cole played an out
standing game."
It was a festive night over
all for Jefferson. In addition
to homecoming, the school
retired the jerseys of former
Jefferson baseball star Chris
Beck, who now pitches for
the Chicago White Sox, and
former football standout
Brandon Mosley, who played
three seasons in the NFL.
Jefferson also won its ninth
consecutive home game and
remained in a first-place tie
in Region 8-AAAA with St.
Pius X — which it plays this
week — with the victory.
“It was a good night, home
coming night,” Cathcart said.
“I'm just glad to see it in the
rear view mirror.”
Tigers ••• continued from page IB
players that were really good.
And with our kids, we just start
ed off slow and we seemed to
find a little bit of a groove there
in the second quarter, but had
that fumble right before the half,
and it seemed from that point on
they (Riverside) were playing
above their heads and we were
just kind of slopping around,”
Brown continued. “That goes
back to me. That goes back to
having the kids ready and that
lands on my desk. So, obviously
there was something I didn’t do
and or something I did wrong
last week in preparing our kids,
because we were not ready to
play a football game on Friday
night.”
Easley Smith scored three
touchdowns in the victory. Dylan
Deaton and Kyre Ware scored
two touchdowns apiece.
Brown knew going into this
season that the region was “going
to be tougher.”
“The gap between the top-tier
teams and the lower-tier teams is
closing,” he explained, “and it’s
closing fast.
“What I tell our kids, and I
truly believe this, is every Fri
day night is an assessment of
where you are. There’s always
something to learn from your
Friday night performance. We
always want to take what we
did on Friday night and use it
in a positive manner to make us
better. There were a ton of les
sons not only for the players but
for us as coaches. The task is to
not get frustrated and not come
back with the wrong attitude,
but to come back with a positive
attitude and go back to work.”
Brown continued, “and in the
process of identifying the issues
and fixing them.”
Brown added his team’s atti
tude coming back to practice
on Monday was one where they
know they didn’t play “their
best” last Friday.
The Tigers are averaging just
under 40 points per game on
offense. The defense is giving
up just over 15 points per game.
Opponents have broken the
20-point threshold four times
this season against the Tigers.
The Tigers are 3-1 in those
games with wins coming against
Riverside, Lakeview and Hebron
Christian. The Tigers’ only loss
this season was to Prince Ave
nue Christian on Sept. 29.
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THE HANDOFF
Commerce quarterback Nate Ray reads the Riverside defense
to decipher whether to hand the ball off or keep it on a play
during last Friday’s game. Photo by Amy Flint
Hart Co. 44, Jackson Co. 14
Jackson County offense sputters without Venable
By Kyle Funderburk
All season long. Jackson County
has relied on senior running back
Noah Venable to lead their offense.
So, it’s no surprise that without
him, their offense struggles.
The Panthers couldn't muster
much more than Len Hilbert’s 91
yards in a 41-14 loss to Hart Coun
ty Friday night.
“As a team, we didn’t play very
fast. It didn’t matter if Venable or
Payne were out here, we have to
play faster as a team and stop wor
rying about making mistakes, that’s
what it comes down to,” said head
coach Brandon Worley. “We put
our defense in some bad situations,
had the ball on their side of the field
and didn't capitalize, we can’t do
that. Those opportunities we have,
we have to score.”
Jackson County (4-4, 1-2) took
several hard shots from Hart Coun
ty early in the game. The Bulldogs
marched down field in almost six
minutes to score on their opening
possession. Their second touch
down drive was much quicker with
a 64-yard ran up the middle by
their quarterback O’Neal Ander
son. Their other quarterback, Luke
Lee, added another score with an
18-yard pass late in the first quarter
to put Hart County ahead 21-0.
The Panthers found some suc
cess throughout the second quarter
offensively and defensively, but not
enough to put any points on the
board. But late in the second quar
ter, Hart County used a 47-yard ran
to reenergize their offense. They
punched it in a few plays later to go
ahead 28-0 at halftime.
After Hart County pinned Jack-
son County at the one-yard fine
on a punt, they intercepted a pass
to take possession at the Panthers
four-yard fine. They scored three
plays later to extend their lead to
35-0.
Jackson County finally found
some offensive success late in the
third quarter after making a change
at quarterback from Grey Akins to
Landon Youngblood. He complet
ed a 25-yard pass to Drew Osteen
to get the offense moving. Then
Hilbert scored from four yards out
a few plays later to give Jackson
County their first touchdown of
the night.
Youngblood hooked up with
Osteen again for a 36-yard touch
down pass early in the fourth quar
ter, cutting the lead to 35-14.
“In the second half, we started
doing some things better, in the first
half we had to learn some things
up front and in the backfield, and
through the game we got a little
better.”
After that however, Jackson
County's offense fell apart. On
their next possession, a snap flew
over Youngblood’s head into the
end zone for a safety. Hart County
intercepted Youngblood late in the
game and returned the ball 61 yards
to the end zone to increase the lead
to 44-14.
Youngblood added 72 yards on
five completions with one touch
down. The rest of the Panthers
offense combined for just 55 yards.