The Greyhounds rallied from a 25-6 halftime deficit to edge Americus-Sumter 26-25 on the road last Friday night, a week after falling 29-25 on a trick play in the final minute to Hardaway in their own homecoming.

The ’Hounds blocked two extra points in the first half and stopped the Panthers on fourth down three times in the second half to stay in the game. They finally took the lead with only 15.5 seconds to play on a 4-yard run by Corey Solomon and wobbly extra point kick by Zack Suarez.

“I told the kids after the game there was probably no way we should have lost the way we did the week before to Hardaway, and there was no way we should have won the way we did down in Americus Friday night,” Jones County coach Dwight Jones said.

“They controlled the ball most of the game. We only had the ball twice when we didn’t score, but we only had about 40 snaps in the game,” he added. “Thank goodness we came alive enough in the second half to stop them a few times and not let them score and give our offense a chance to come back.”

With the victory, the Greyhounds improve to 4-4 overall and 2-4 in Region 1-AAAA. After their bye this week, they finish with home games against the bottom two teams in the region, Lee County and Upson-Lee, giving the ’Hounds a good shot at finishing 6-4 and having their first winning season since 2001.

“We need to have a winning season. That would be a good step forward for us,” said Jones, who is in his second season leading the ’Hounds.

“But we’re still at the point where anyone who comes to play us thinks it is a game they could win. Lee County is where we were last year, with a new coach trying to get things turned around and looking for some positive outcomes to build on. So we’ve got to be ready and keep working hard and improving ourselves to make it happen.”

Jones said he would only practice his players three days during the off week to give some of those who are banged up a chance to rest and heal so they’ll be ready for the final two games.

“Our first two fullbacks (Josh James and Chris Monile) missed the last game with ankle injuries, and (defensive starters) Eunice West and Clay West both banged up their shoulders and could only play about a half this past week, so the off week comes at a good time for us,” Jones said.

Even with the injuries, the Greyhounds were able to step up their play in the second half after coming out flat to start the game.

“I don’t think we played with any emotion the first half,” Jones said. “I knew after the disappointing way we lost to Hardaway it would be a challenge getting them up. But we challenged them at halftime, and in the second half we played hard.”

Senior wingback Terrance Gore spurred the offense with 132 of his game-leading 163 yards rushing in the second half, including big runs of 45 and 65 yards to set up touchdowns.

The Greyhounds, who had been held to 71 yards of total offense in the first half, gained 267 yards in the second half, scoring on three of their four possessions.

Freshman fullback T.J. Fuller, playing in place of injured regulars James and Monile, added 60 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. Solomon had 39 yards on five carries, Cody Lanford gained 35 on three carries from the wildcat formation, and Undre Williams had 34 yards on two carries. Quarterback Cody Evans completed two of six passes for 18 yards.

“We went to two tight ends in the second half, and that made them play a balanced defense and opened up some things on the corner for Terrance, and he used his speed to break a couple of big runs,” Jones said. “And T.J. did a good job at fullback, running and blocking. He’s just a freshman, but he’s got some abilities.”

Senior cornerback Michael Wooten led the defense with 15 tackles, followed by Chase Lundy with 12, Lanford with 10 and Oscar Simmons with nine. Lundy and Lanford each blocked an extra point kick in the first half, which played in the Panthers’ decision to go for it on fourth down three times in the second half rather than try for field goals.

Americus-Sumter coach Mark Wilson told The Americus Times Recorder that a combination of his team’s success moving the ball against the Greyhounds – the Panthers rushed for 280 yards and passed for 85 more on the night – and problems with snapping and protection with its kicking game was the reason he kept going for it on fourth down and not trying field goals or punts.

The winning touchdown came after Americus-Sumter failed to pick up a first down on fourth-and-3 at the Jones County 45 with 1:47 to play, instead losing 3 yards on the play to turn the ball over to the ’Hounds.

“I didn’t think we could stop them, we didn’t the whole second half,” Wilson said. “We knew if we get the first down, the game’s over with. It’s the chance we took. We’ve had trouble with snaps all year, and I felt like the percentages were better for us to go for it, and we didn’t make it.”

Jones County had used its final two timeouts on defense during Americus-Sumter’s last possession to save time for a final drive, and that strategy paid off.

“We were running the ball good in the second half so we didn’t even have to pass on that last drive,” Jones said.

Lanford got it started with runs of 15 and 16 yards after taking direct snaps in the wildcat formation on the ’Hounds’ first two plays, moving the ball to the Panthers’ 21. Gore then ran around right end to the 4 to set up Solomon’s tying touchdown run on a misdirection play.

A penalty on Jones County’s first extra point attempt pushed the ball back 5 yards, and Suarez’s second kick barely cleared the cross bar to give the Greyhounds the lead.

“Zack drilled it on his first kick, but the second was a balloon that just floated over the cross bar, but we were due a break,” Jones said.

A holding penalty, one of 11 in the game for the Panthers, pushed them back to their 22 after the kickoff. They completed one 19-yard pass before a final pass was batted down as time expired.

It was the third time this season Americus-Sumter (3-4, 1-4 1-AAAA) lost after leading at halftime.

In the opening half, the Panthers scored the first three times they had the ball to build a 19-0 lead. Jerroski Walton, who finished with 154 yards rushing, scored on two 1-yard runs, and Sean Stewart had an 11-yard touchdown run.

After Fuller finally got the Greyhounds on the scoreboard with his first touchdown, Americus-Sumter’s Shawn Robinson hit James Burton with a 29-yard touchdown pass just before halftime to make it 25-6.

Fuller added an 11-yard touchdown run for Jones County’s first touchdown of the second half, and Gore capped a 79-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to pull the ’Hounds within a touchdown.

Ninth-grade team wins final game

Doug West intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards for the game’s only touchdown as Jones County finished the season with a 6-0 road victory over Perry last Thursday.

The game was cut short by seven minutes because of lightning.

“It was a good ending to the season where we finished 4-2,” coach Kurt Greene said. “The defense played great, and the victory was sweet because we were without T.J. Fuller, our starting fullback and leading rusher, who had been moved up to the varsity because of injuries. This group was a lot of fun to work with.”

Middle schools win, head to playoffs

Jones County’s two middle school teams won their final games of the regular season last week and were to begin the playoffs Wednesday.

Gray Station (4-2) shut out Crawford County 36-0 on the road last week, with Dustin Mosteller, Doug Richardson and Jonathon Malone scoring for the Greyhounds.

Coach Travis Lawson also praised his seventh grade defense and offense for their play.

Gray Station was to play at Manchester to open the playoffs, which continue with second round games Oct. 28 and the championship on Nov. 4.

Clifton Ridge, which won the championship last season, hosts Rehoboth Road Middle School from Griffin at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Greyhound Stadium.

Coach Charles David said his Cougars (5-1) got three touchdowns from Keon Seabrooks and one each from Chris James, Nick Bentley and Jontavius Gibbons to defeat Byron 38-6 last week.

“Keon had a good game. He scored two touchdowns on offense and returned a fumble for another score on defense,” David said.