BONAIRE – Sure, the scoreboard was turned on and points were recorded on Friday when the Greyhounds wrapped up spring practice with a scrimmage against Veterans.
And while the final score read 24-21 in favor of the Warhawks, that was among the least things on the minds of the Greyhounds. More important was the fact that JCHS feels that during spring practice it got better overall and moved forward.
Jones County will next move into its summer of offseason workouts leading into preseason practice and the season opener on Aug. 20 against Northside.
“Usually, you don’t even turn a scoreboard on (in a spring game.). You’re just worrying about executing and getting better,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said. “We saw some things we wanted to see and saw some things that we need to work on. We’ll work on those things and be ready to roll come August.”
Perhaps nothing shows that Jones County moved ahead as a group than what all three offensive units were able to do against the Warhawks on Friday at Freedom Field. The first-team offense, led by Judd Anderson at quarterback, drove the field for two scores with the third group quarterbacked by Will Keenum also getting on the board as the secondteam offense with Devin Edmonds under center moving the ball regularly, as well.
Anyone who saw much of the Greyhounds last season was likely not surprised by the scrimmage’s first score, as Anderson dumped a pass off to Javious Bond in the flat who turned it into a 70-yard touchdown. In the second quarter, a pass from Keenum to Jacob Jackson was good for another touchdown with the final Greyhound score of the night being from Anderson to Tyler Stewart from 18 yards away.
Defensively, the Greyhounds yielded two touchdowns, with one other score being an interception off a deflected pass.
“You want all three groups to execute and perform. We definitely like how our guys have progressed and gotten better,” Chastain said. “We’re really happy with where we are. We feel like we’re in a good place, but we also understand that there’s work to do.”
Beyond Friday’s action, another net positive for Jones County as it moves ahead are new additions and how they’ve blended into an already experienced core of players. While Anderson is among them, other infusions have come both at the linebacker spot to go with basketball standout Jaylen Sanford who has spent time at defensive back during the spring. He is part of a group of new additions that were at the school last year but not part of the roster. They’re all additions that JCHS is glad to have aboard.
“They’ll be able to help us. Anytime you have seven or eight guys that didn’t even play with you last year and you can add that to your depth, that’s a huge positive,” Chastain said.
