GREYHOUND FOOTBALL
Ola’s clock-eating offense had no answer for repeated salvos by the Greyhounds on Friday.
Unbeaten until the week before, the Mustangs were run out into the pasture early and often by Jones County and its barrage of big offensive plays in a 48-17 win. The Greyhounds led 17-0 after a quarter, getting 14 points off of a recovered fumble and snuffing out a fake punt by Ola.
“First and foremost, I want to thank my Lord and Savior for blessing me with such a great group of guys and a great coaching staff,” an elated Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said following Friday’s game. “It’s all them; they played great and we want to give Him all the glory.”
Now 5-2, Jones County has won three in a row. Now Greyhound fans will have the chance to get loud at Greyhound Field on Friday when Dutchtown comes to town. A win against the Bulldogs would make the Oct. 27 game at Warner Robins a region-championship deciding game, making this Friday all the more key for the Greyhounds. The Bulldogs, who advanced to the state semifinals last season, are 2-4. Of those four losses, two are by a single point with the other being to Warner Robins, 29-22.
The Greyhounds and Demons are both 3-0 in the region.
“We have two really big games coming up,” Chastain said. “Dutchtown has a really big and athletic team.”
Quarterback Devin Edmonds passed for a career-high 361 yards and six touchdowns in the romp of a win, and it didn’t take him long to get on track on a night when JCHS rolled up 568 offensive yards.
Ahead 3-0 on an early field goal by Brendan Waters, Jones County did exactly what a team trying to defend an offense intent on controlling time of possession needs to do – stop a scoring drive with a turnover. DJ Ingram came up with a loose ball, setting JCHS up near midfield.
Ola struggled to put multiple sustained drives together against the Greyhounds, coming up with only 14 first downs to the 24 of Jones County.
“We spent a good bit of time making sure we were ready for those guys, and it paid off,” Chastain said.
After a pair of quick passes from Edmonds to Zion Ragins got the Greyhounds downfield, Edmonds rolled out and found Cohen Barfield in the back of the end zone for a touchdown and 10-0 lead. The catch was one of six for 45 yards on Friday for Barfield, giving the Greyhounds another option at receiver that made it tough for the Mustangs to key on one threat.
“We challenged them to come out and play great, fast and hard off the bat,” Chastain said. “Our guys answered the bell.”
That became apparent as the first half went on with Tyler Stewart finding multiple ways to make plays, finishing the night with four touchdowns as he caught 11 passes for 176 yards. The first of those scores came on the heels of another stop by the Greyhounds defense that, minus a field goal, didn’t allow any sustained drives in the first half.
“Coach (Will) Conner and our defensive staff put together a great game plan,” Chastain said. “They knew that they’d have to play sound, disciplined football and make tackles, and they did that.”
Facing a fourth down just shy of midfield, Ola opted for a fake punt, but Greyhounds weren’t fooled, resulting in the turnover on downs. Jones County needed just two plays to take advantage when Edmonds found a wideopen Stewart for a 44-yard strike with 2:39 left in the first.
Just like that, JCHS led 17-0.
“It’s easy when you get the ball to playmakers like that,” the coach said. “Devin, he played great and got the ball around really well.”
Even after Ola got on the board in the second on a field goal, Jones County had plenty of answers. A pair of Edmonds to Stewart connections from 14 and 16 yards extended the Greyhounds lead to 31-3 by halftime.
Speaking of answers, Jones County had plenty of them in the second half when Ola got its offense in gear to a degree.
Ola got on the board coming out of halftime, scoring on a fourth and one, but JCHS hit paydirt on play later when Jaivon Solomon took an Edmonds screen 56 yards for a touchdown. Another Ola score simply got the Greyhounds offense back on the field as it drove for a 24-yard slant from Edmonds to Stewart.
The Greyhounds added a second Waters field goal in the fourth quarter for the final margin on a night where their steady stable of running backs did enough to keep Ola honest, rushing for 207 yards as a team. Jalyn Dekle led that charge with 63 yards on five carries, with Bruno Hicks picking up 54 yards on four carries and Zion Ragins getting four touches for 49 yards.
Dutchtown (2-4) vs. Jones County (5-2)
• 7:30 p.m., Friday
• Greyhound Field
• Series History: Jones County leads 8-3
• Last Meeting: Jones County won 24-7 in 2022
• Radio Broadcast: SportsMic.com
