ATLANTA – As the seconds wound down in the chilly air on Friday night, tears of emotion began to stream. Even after a few minutes within the visitor’s locker room, there were tearful hugs among Greyhound players and family members, after Jones County left all that it had on the field in a second-round 22-14 loss to top-ranked and unbeaten Marist, ending Jones County’s season at 10-2.
“It’s tough, just a tough loss,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said.
Marist came into Friday having not been challenged all season. The War Eagles had shutout five opponents with just one team coming within 20 points of them. All of that changed on Friday night when the Greyhounds came in with offensive jab after offensive jab, leading 14-9 entering the final quarter before the War Eagles ground and pound offense got just enough to put together a pair of scoring drives.
Still, the Greyhounds did what they had done from the opening whistle – show plenty of fight. That was illustrated by Greyhounds quarterback Devin Edmonds, who as the game ended still appeared to have traces of dried blood on his face after sustaining a hit near the end of the first half after scrambling for yards.
Edmonds and the Greyhound offense fought their way to a final chance to be in position to score and an opportunity to tie it, aided by a long pass to Zach Hurt and an Edmonds pass to Jayden Johnson, advancing the ball to the Marist 29-yard line with 46 seconds to play. The War Eagles held their ground from there, however, forcing a turnover on downs in the closing seconds to edge the Greyhounds.
Marist plays Cambridge in this week’s quarterfinal round. Should the War Eagles go on to win a state title, it would mark the sixth year in a row that Jones County has been knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual state champion. This year, however, was not like those previous losses where the opposing side pulled away late for a larger margin of victory.
“We’re super proud of our guys, man. They battled their tails off against a team that’s No. 1 in the state,” Chastain said. “For the seventh year in a row, there’s a good chance we’ve lost to the eventual state champion, but time will tell on that. I can’t say enough about how proud of them we are.”
Jones set the tone as far as that goes from the start on Friday.
Marist’s offense is one that relies on a run game and eating up a large amount of time off the clock. The Greyhounds put on a clinic on how to combat that type of offense on Friday as they were flagged for no personal fouls and had no turnovers.
Finding success with a mix of short, intermediate and long passes didn’t hurt matters either as Edmonds was 24-of-35 for 299 yards and a pair of touchdowns and completing passes to nine Greyhounds.
In fact, Jones County’s first offensive score came on the heels of an early defensive win as a Marist scoring drive ended on the Hounds holding to force a 25-yard field goal with 3:31 left in the first quarter. Jones County’s response? A score of its own. After getting downfield on passes to Cason Taylor and Javion Butts, JCHS cashed in as Zacarri Thomas took a screen from Edmonds 30 yards, rumbling down the far sideline for a 7-3 lead with 1:11 to go in the first.
Marist methodically answered, driving to lead 9-7 with 8:14 to go in the second quarter on a 12-yard run. Jones County’s answer to a clockeating drive by the War Eagles? Big plays. After Edmonds found Javion Solomon on a 52-yarder, a quick pass to Zach Hurt in the end zone was good for a 14-9 Greyhounds advantage with 5:32 left in the half.
Solomon hauled in four passes for 84 yards but was hardly the only receiving target for the Greyhounds with Hurt having four catches for 73 yards and Taylor hauling in 29 yards on three catches. DJ Ingram and Thomas combined for six catches and 61 yards.
“We were really proud of the start,” Chastain said.
As good of a position as it was for Jones County, it was nearly even better. The Hounds were stopped on fourth and one at the Marist 33 with 1:18 left in the half, the same span of the quarter where JCHS was inches away from a touchdown on a flea flicker as the pass was overthrown by mere inches in the end zone.
The third quarter began as a defensive showcase with each team being forced to punt on its first two drives.
Marist didn’t do it with a lot of flash, but the War Eagles got enough yards to keep offensive drives going, converging a close fourth-down run that kept a drive alive, leading to a five-yard touchdown on third down with 11:54 go in the game with Marist back in front, 15-14.
A punt by the Greyhounds with 8:25 left gave Marist the ball back, and the result was another scoring drive and 22-14 lead with 1:53 to play. It was enough to give the Greyhounds offense, which all year long had shown an ability to score with an up-tempo offense in the one- or two-minute drills. This time, however, the opposing defense did just enough to turn the Greyhounds away, ending the season for a senior class that from the first day of offseason had taken on a new way of practicing and playing on both sides of the ball.
“They overcame a lot this year. This senior class, they are special. You can’t say there were special; they are special. The stuff that they accomplished this year, it’s a testament to those guys.”
