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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 THE JACKSON HERALD PAGE 3B Photo by Kyle Funderburk Trey Ransom breaks free for what was a touchdown catch to give Jackson County a fourth quarter lead over Walnut Grove. However, a penalty negated the score and the Panthers ultimately lost 16-14. Panthers continued from IB position when we do punt to give our defense a long field. The key defensively is to keep getting them to snap instead of making big plays.” However, before Jackson County (2-2, 0-1 Region 8-AAAAA) can think about upsetting Clarke Central, it has to “stop doing things that hurt Jackson Coun ty,” as McWhorter put it. The Panthers have allowed games to slip away due to turnovers and penalties which have put the team be hind the sticks. “The thing about our play ers that I’m always proud of is their effort, and that was no different last week,” he said. ‘‘They brought great effort, they brought great energy. It was just mistakes, and it seems like when we make mistakes it’s in the worst time. That’s on both sides of the ball. ‘‘I think offensively, more than any phase of the game, is the side we have to clean up the most. Our defense has really played great all year long. Giving up two touchdowns and a field goal, in today’s time of spread of fenses, isn’t bad. You have to feel, offensively, that you have to try to at least score one touchdown a quarter somehow.” McWhorter made note of recent performances of receivers Jaden Cofer and Anthony Finley as evidence of growth on offense. Cofer scored both of Jackson County’s touchdowns last week. He started the game with a 12-yard zip into the end zone, then in the fourth quarter he caught a long touchdown pass to cut the score to 16-14. Once Jackson County figures itself out, then it’s time to focus on perhaps the most talented football team Region 8-AAAAA has to offer. Clarke Central (1-2, 1-0 Region 8-AAAAA), has grown accustomed to win ning region titles and mak ing post-season runs with championships in 2019 and 2020. The Gladiators ended 2020 in the second round of the AAAAA State Playoffs, and finished in the quar ter-finals in 2019. Clarke Central is at its best on defense. The Gladi ators haven’t allowed more than 21 points in a game this season. They’re a three-man front, they will bring a lot of pres sure,” McWhorter said. “They will play some press coverage which gives peo ple some problems. Every one has had trouble scoring on them. Their defensive line is very active... They’ve got a good football team, a team that’s able to repeat as region champions.” The Gladiators have struggled on offense, how ever. They scored their first touchdowns of the season last week in a 31-17 win over Apalachee. They were limited to a field goal against Buford, and the defense scored their only points in a 21-2 loss to Oconee County. McWhorter is more con cerned about what Clarke Central is capable of doing, more so than what it was done. They’re a shotgun spread team,” he said. “They’re running more of an option look than what we saw from last year’s team. The quar terback is definitely a du al-threat guy who can hurt you either way. The offen sive line is a big, physical group. On all three levels on defense they’re really good, and on offense.” That quarterback is Lu cian Anderson III. He has 188 passing yards and 89 rushing yards this sea son. although he also has thrown four interceptions. He’s dishing the ball to a plethora of offensive weap ons. Running back William Richardson has 186 yards of offense with one touch down. Antonio Jewell Jr. has eight catches for 98 yards with a score. Jewell also has 17 rushing yards on five car ries. Besides them, running backs Jadayvion Adkins and Kendrick Curry, and wide receivers Sean Leahy, Kendall Dunn and Eli War rington will be a factor in the offense. Dragons continued from IB I know they had a dis appointing loss to a really good Gainesville team,” Cathcart said. “But every one starts over when you start region play. That loss to Gainesville, and frankly our wins, really don’t get them any further or us any closer to being the No. 1 seed in the region, that all starts Fri day night. “Last year, we played exceptionally well against [Flowery Branch], Those guys and North Oconee were teams that won playoff games and did a great job. We certainly know we have our work cut out for us this Friday.” Flowery Branch (3-1. 0-0 Region 8-AAAA) is led by a familiar face to Jefferson fans, head coach Ben Hall. Hall coached the Dragons from 2013-to-2016, leading them to region titles in 2014 and 2016. Since 2017, Hall has smoothly implemented his balanced offensive at tack at Flowery Branch. Leading that attack is quarterback David Renard. He’s coming off a season in which he passed for 2,655 yards, ran for 467 yards and scored 28 total touchdowns. As a senior, he’s even more of a hand full for defens es. Last week. Renard only needed 72 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead Flowery Branch to a 56-7 win over Hiram. That’s be cause he’s far from the Fal cons only star on offense. Flowery Branch has a flock of offensive weap ons. Running backs Malik Dryden and Myles Ivey are perhaps the best rushing duo the Dragons will face all year. Both soared over 100 rushing yards last week, while scoring two touch downs each. Despite losing it’s four leading receivers. Flowery Branch is still pro ductive in the passing game. Sophomore Seth Larson has stepped up with several big plays in the passing game this year, including a 40- yard catch against Hiram. Senior Jaheim Hayes is an other receiver Jefferson has to contend with. “Flowery Branch is well coached, Ben [Hall] and his staff do an incredible job,” Cathcart said. “[David] Re nard is a returning all-re gion quarterback and a great player. They’ve really got some really physical line men and they run the foot ball very well. So, they’re balanced which makes them tough to defend... Certainly, Rabun County in their own right is an outstanding of fensive team, but this Flow ery Branch team is every bit as high profile and high scoring as that bunch.” “It’s not just the ability to claim you’e balanced, it’s the ability to do what needs to be done in that moment. When they have to throw the football, they’re able to. When they have to run the football, they’re able to run the football. They’re most comfortable dictating which one they do. A sign of a good team is when folks know what you have to try to do and you’re still able to do it. They’ve moved the ball, they’re averaging maybe 37 points per game. They only give up around 17 points a game.” Jefferson (4-0,0-0 Region 8-AAAA) is coming off an off-week which interrupt ed a streak of three-straight lopsided victories. The Dragons’ last outing was a 41-14 win over a pass-hap py Mountain View squad from Class AAAAAAA. They also have a 42-7 win over Central Gwinnett from Class AAAAAA under their belts. The box scores make it seem like Jefferson has ev erything figured out, but Cathcart still spotted areas the team needed to clean up in the off-week. “The largest room in the world is the room for im provement, it’s also the one the fewest people are willing to go into,” he said. “We cer tainly tried to improve this week on ball security and cutting down on penalties. There were plenty of things to improve on and certainly we know the challenges this week holds. “It’ll be good to be at home, it’ll be good to play again. Open weeks are great for healing up, but when you’re playing well you really want to get back out there and continue to play and get better each week. [Off week] was good in a lot of ways, but we’re excited to get back on the field.” Tigers continued from IB get in a rhythm. It’s hard to believe we’ve only played three games at this point. The time off has been good, but I think all of want to start play ing games. We’re excited about playing at home, obviously playing at home means a lot to us. We hav en’t played at home since week one and that seems like forever ago.” “[Response to the loss] has been very positive. The energy level has been outstanding, I think our seniors have brought good energy. Our young kids are doing a good job, our JV team is playing well right now, they’re 3-0. The best thing that can happen to us right now is playing games. We need games. That’s how kids grow and develop. Being able to play these games in a row will be good for us. Our kids know what we have to work on and we’re working hard at that.” The team Commerce (1- 2, 0-0 Region 8-A Public) hopes to start the rhythm against is Mount Paran Christian from Region 7-A Private. The Eagles are a perennial champi onship contender and they won the A-Private State Championship in 2014. However, Mount Paran is seven years removed from that title and it shows. The Eagles are coming off the worst season in school history, they went 1-7 last year and that includes a 41-9 loss to Commerce. Hollars, who’s North Cobb Christian program played Mount Paran in 2019, noted that the Ea gles are leaner this year than what the program is used to. Mount Paran has also made changes on both sides of the ball, adopting a wing-T like offense and dropping the 4-3 defense. “Mount Paran definite ly has a great tradition,” Hollars said. “Last year they had a bit of a tough year, but they have some pretty good skill kids. I think they have three or four kids who have come to their school this year that are difference makers. They’re a well coached team, they run what I call a fast paced wing-T. I don’t think they quite have the fast pace their coaching staff wants yet, it’s their first year doing it. “On defense they've changed recently. They were a 4-3 team forever, this year they’ve gone to the odd stack. Even last week they made some changes and were in an even front, more of a 6-2 look. They’re multiple on defense. I see the strength of their team is with their skill kids. They've got some pretty good athletes at running back, receiver and in their secondary and linebacker corps. They’ve got some pretty good ath letes. They’re probably a little bit leaner in their lines of scrimmage than what they traditionally are. Traditionally, they’re pretty stout up front.” Though you shouldn’t sell Mount Paran (2-2, 0-0 Region 7-A Private) short. The Eagles have made strides, especially with the new offense. Four running backs already have at least 118 yards and they have a wide receiver with 109 re ceiving yards. The leading rusher is Nick Germain with 246 yards on just 15 carries, good enough for 16.4 yards per carry. He also has a pair of touch downs. Sam Griffith-Tesch leads Mount Paran with 34 carries. He’s picked up 183 rushing yards and two touchdowns this year. Jylan Thomas, Micah Lott and Remington Adams are also factors in the running game. Mount Paran has a pair of quarterbacks it relies on in Drew Mackendree and Daniel Gray. The duo has combined for 291 yards on 16-of-38 passing with two touchdowns. Both touchdowns were thrown by Gray. Their leading receiver is Trey Jackson with seven catches for 109 yards. Five other targets have at least two catch es this season, including Griffith-Tesch. “When you’re playing a wing-T team, you can’t focus on all of the mis direction,” Hollars said. “You have to do your job and trust your teammates. If we get undisciplined and guys start looking in the backfield and trying to find the football, we’re go ing to be in trouble. That’s the whole idea of the wing-T, it’s built on mis direction on every play. It's built on the ball be ing distributed to three or four different people. It’s a premium this week that we stay disciplined and do our jobs. “The players that are supposed to have the full back trap, they have to trust the guys who have the bucksweep. They’ll run what’s called counter criss-cross, a double hand- off, you have to read your keys and you have to trust your teammates. Playing good team defense is im portant. I think one of the key elements of this week is being very physical. We need to establish a physi cal presence on both sides of the football.” JEFFERSON FOUNDATION HONORING 1971 TEAM 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of Jefferson’s first Region Championship in 1971. The Jefferson Foundation is honoring the 1971 team ahead of Friday’s game against Flowery Branch with an Alumni Night. The event includes a pregame tailgate party at the fieldhouse starting at 6 p.m. The Jefferson Foundation hopes anyone with a connection to the team attends the event. Keep Jackson County Beautiful FALL INTO RECYCLING EVENT Rain or Shine E-Waste: computers, monitors, printers, fax, etc Auto Oil and Batteries Document Shredding: limit 2 boxes Clean Plastic Bags Paint: 5 gallons free, $2 each additional gallon Household Batteries Flourescent Light Bulbs: 6 free, $2 each additional Used Eyeglasses and Hearing Aids Drug Take Back Program: partnership with Aluminum Cans Jackson County Sheriffs Office; only a deputy Good Used Clothing will accept drugs. No sharps, no liquids Cardboard ONLY the items listed above accepted at this event! Tires: 6 free, $6 per car tire, $10 per truck tire • Take these to: 100 Landfill Drive, Jefferson Saturday, October 2, 2021 8AM-Noon Jackson County Ag. Facility 1869 County Farm Road, Jefferson for more information call (706) 367-5908 O