It could’ve been a disaster for a football team showing of its new look and new attitude for the first time under the Friday night lights.

Jones County High watched last year’s AA state runner-up Dublin take a 6-0 lead on a 51-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in Friday night’s preseason jamboree.

“That was probably the worst thing that could have happened,” head coach Dwight Jones said. “But then in some ways it was good that it happened because we’ve been telling them they’ve got to be able to fight through adversity, and I thought they showed good character trying to fight back.”

The Greyhounds overcame that and a couple more defenses lapses in three quarters of varsity action, but still came up shy of the Irish, 28-14.

The ’Hounds scored their first touchdown after a Terrance Gore 46-yard run set up an Andre Pope 4-yard plunge to cut their deficit to 13-7 with 5:05 to play until halftime.

Dublin answered just two plays later in runs of 51 and 9 yards, however, and a Rashard Smith two-point conversion pushed the visitors back up by two touchdowns.

Then, after an 11-play Jones County drive stalled with just 18 seconds left in the second quarter, the Irish were able to score another touchdown on the last play of the half, as Smith went 38 yards on an option keeper.

“Their quarterback is a great athlete. He cut back, and we just didn’t fight to get to the ball,” Jones said. “(Our players) are going to overcome that. They’ll do a great job of doing what they are coached to do.”

Down 28-7 coming out of the locker for the final 12 minutes of play, the Greyhounds responded with seven unanswered points.

They scored the lone touchdown of the third period on a Jake Robertson quarterback sneak with 21.6 seconds remaining that capped off a 12-play, 66-yard drive.

The defense then held strong on the ensuing Dublin possession, not suffering another letdown.

“That was a stepping stone for us, a building block. We needed to score and not give in to them,” Jones said.

“We told the team at halftime, if we don’t play hard for those 12 minutes in the third quarter, it could get to be 40- or 50- or 60-7. We did play hard, and it was a total team effort.”

Offensively, the numbers were pretty similar for the two teams when all was said and done.

The Greyhounds ran for 220 yards on 42 carries, while the Irish had 289 yards on 31 carries.

Jones had 17 passing yards, completing one of five attempts with no touchdowns and one interception, and Dublin failed to complete a pass in three attempts with no interceptions.

Both teams had two turnovers, as Chris Faulkner recovered a pair of Irish fumbles for the Greyhounds.

Jones had the edge in penalty yards, committed just one infraction for a loss of five yards, while Dublin committed four penalties for a total loss of 40 yards.

Individually, Gore led the ’Hounds with 74 yards on seven carries, Robertson had 61 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, Zach Blount had 37 yards on five carries, and Pope had 32 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.

Their head coach praised the skill players for the effort.

“Terrance has great speed, and it’s our job to get him on the corner and get the ball in his hands. Jake did a good job reading midline and reading veer at quarterback,” he said.

“We were worried about Andre sticking it up in there, but he (did) pretty good to be a 175-pound fullback. Zach’s had an ankle sprain, but he came in and ran the ball hard. That’s what we need.”

The coach said that the game plan was especially conservative, as the ’Hounds opted to run mainly their base plays from the Wing-T formation and went to a shotgun set for just two plays during the three quarters.

“We’re saving some stuff we feel like we can do down the line, hopefully,” he said.

Jones said the fourth quarter, which featured some varsity and mostly junior varsity players, was a reward for both the players and coaches.

“That’s why you coach,” he said. “Those guys have busted their tail, and they deserve to play some. You saw a couple of good licks out there and a couple of good runs, and that’s what it’s about – playing football on Friday night.”

The coach’s initial reaction was that the scrimmage was a step in the right direction for the new-look Jones County High Greyhounds.

“I think our attitude has changed a little bit,” he said. “They have to keep buying into us and understanding that the way we’re asking them to do it is going to work.

“If we get better next week, we’ll have a chance to go down there and win a big football game for us.”

The ’Hounds will square off against the Mitchell County Eagles, Friday night, in Camilla, 7:30 p.m.

“They’re an I-formation football team with a good fullback, a good tailback, and a good quarterback,” Jones said.

Jones said the key to defeating the Eagles, who were 4-6 last year and are in their first season under the coaching tandem of former Mitchell-Baker High players Dondrial Pinkins and Derrick Silas, is keeping the team’s offense off of the field of play.

“They have good athletes that can run, and the way we’ve got to counter that is to keep them on the sidelines,” Jones said.