The record was obviously deceiving. Union Grove came to town last Friday with a 2-0 record, having outscored its opponents 72-32 in its first two games.

But the Wolverines’ bark proved much worse than their bite, as the Greyhounds chewed them up for a 55-7 victory at Greyhound Stadium in the first Region 4-5A game of the season for both schools.

Jones County improved to 4-0 overall and is now 4-1 all-time against the Wolverines.

Now the Greyhounds hit the road to face another Henry County school they’ve only ever lost to once, hoping to finish the first half of the season without a loss before heading into a bye week Sept. 21.

Jones County plays at Woodland-Stockbridge (2-2 overall, 1-0 in the region) at 7:30 p.m. this Friday.

“The guys did a great job of getting off to a fast start and not playing down to the competition,” coach Justin Rogers said of last week’s victory.

Fast start is an understatement.

The Greyhounds raced to a 34-0 lead in the opening quarter, scoring all five times they got the ball, helped by two Union Grove turnovers deep in its own territory.

Jones County led 48-0 by halftime, so the second half was played with a running clock and the Greyhound starters watching from the sideline.

“The defense did a great job of bottling them up, gave us the ball a few times, and the offense took advantage of the opportunities we got,” Rogers said. “We got to look at a lot of other guys in the second half and kind of get a feel for how they can help us down the road, which was good, and we also were able to rest our starters in the second half after a tough physical game (against Northside) the week before, which was also good.

“Now we need to go up to Woodland and finish the first half of the season strong so we can concentrate on securing a home playoff game and battling for a region title in the second half.”

Senior defensive end Ja’Darien Boykin was the Allstate Allstar of the Game and defensive player of the contest. He only had five tackles, but one was a sack that caused a fumble Jones County recovered, and the other four were for a loss. He also ran for a touchdown in Jones County’s short-yardage Greyhound formation.

Junior quarterback Hunter Costlow completed 12 of 15 passes for 189 yards and five touchdowns, and he rambled for a 39-yard touchdown to finish with 51 yards on two carries.

Junior John Walton, who had three catches for 64 yards, including two touchdowns and also blocked well on the perimeter, was the offensive player of the game.

Sophomore Maleek Wooten added 103 yards and two more touchdowns on four catches.

Senior running back Semaj Ingram was sidelined with a hip pointer suffered late in the win at Northside, but several others filled in ably, led by sophomore Andrew Carner, who ran for 73 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, senior Tre McCoy with 34 yards on two carries, and sophomore Daniel Scott with 26 yards on five carries with the second team in the second half.

“Semaj probably could have played if we really needed him, but we felt we could get by without him, give him a chance to be 100 percent for this week, and it worked out,” Rogers said.

“Carner and McCoy had some good runs. Carner is more like the backs we’ve had in the past, smaller and shifty with good speed. I think he’ll be a good one for us the next couple of years.”

SeniorCameronRockmore, who blocked a field goal kick, was special teams player of the week. Sophomore offensive lineman Jarvis Vinson and sophomore linebacker Bailey Godwin were the scout team players of the week.

TheGreyhoundswastedno time taking control last week.

They marched 55 yards in seven plays to start the game, with junior Jontavias Robertson leaping up to catch a 3-yard touchdown pass to finish it.

Boykin gave the ball back to the offense in great field position when he sacked Union Grove quarterback Bobby Pittman to force a fumble recovered by Nathan Seiy at the 4.

Boykin stayed on the field as Jones County sent in its bigGreyhoundshort-yardage unit, took a pitch from quarterback Britton Jones and rumbled over right tackle for the touchdown.

The defense held again, forcing a punt that gave the Greyhounds the ball near midfield. Walton scored his first touchdown, grabbing a pass crossing over the middle and running in forthe 30-yard score.

Jaylen Colbert muffed the ensuing kickoff, and Alvonte Cornelius recovered for the Greyhoundsatthe24.Walton scored his second touchdown three plays later on a 21-yard pass from Costlow.

Union Grove finally managed a first down and got into Jones County territory before losing the ball on downs on another sack on fourth down.

That didn’t slow the Greyhounds, who went 55 yards in three plays, with Costlow hitting Wooten for a 19-yard touchdown to finish the first quarter.

Jones County finally failed to score the first time it got the ball in the second quarter, losing it on a fumble after a catch by Ethan Harrison.

But Rockmore blocked a 32-yard field goal try by the Wolverines, and Jones recovered to give the Greyhounds the ball at their 44.

McCoy ran for 17 yards on the first play, and Costlow weaved his way around and through the Union Grove defense for 39 yards on the secondplayforthetouchdown.

TheGreyhoundsaddedone more touchdown on a 50-yard catch and run by Wooten on a screen pass with 2:07 to go in the half.

The second team offense went 50 yards in four plays, all runs by Carner, the first time it got the ball in the second half for Jones County’s final touchdown.

The Wolverines finally broke through against Jones County’s No. 3 defense late in the game after getting the ball at midfield on an interception. Jacob Glass scored on a 36-yard run up the middle.

Now comes what Rogers figures will be a tougher test at Woodland.

“They’re big and tall and athletic, like so many of those Henry County teams we play. We can’t have a letdown and expect to go up there and win,” he said.

Jones County, which remains No. 6 in the AJC rankings this week, is 3-1 alltime against Woodland and won 46-7 last season, also in Stockbridge. The lone loss came in 2016 in Gray, 38-9, one of only two home losses under Rogers for JCHS. The Greyhounds were also ranked No. 6 for that game.

The unranked Wolfpack is coached by Bryan Love, who is 35-25 in his sixth season as a head coach. He is 5-9 in his second season at Woodland.

Rogers is now 41-12 in his fifth season coaching the Greyhounds.

Jones County, Dutchtown, Stockbridge and Woodland are all tied for first with 1-0 records in the region. Last week, Woodland edged Eagle’s Landing 26-21, Dutchtown beat Ola 42-10 and Stockbridge downed Locust Grove 33-12.

Stockbridge is ranked fifth and Dutchtown is ranked 10th this week.

The Greyhounds lead the region in scoring, averaging 41.25 points a game. Stockbridge is averaging 36, Dutchtown 29.25 and Woodland 16.

Dutchtown, which has two shutouts and gave up its first touchdown last week, is allowing just 3.25 points a game. Stockbridge’s defense is next, at 11.33, followed by Woodstockat 16.25 and Jones County at 19.75.

In other region games this week, Dutchtown hosts Union Grove, Stockbridge hosts Eagle’s Landing and Ola hosts Locust Grove.