Officially, Friday night at Greyhound Field was a preseason scrimmage for Jones County, a dress rehearsal for this Friday’s season opener at Veterans.
But between the energy on a mostly full home side of the field, physical play by the Greyhounds, and the exuberance afterward, it hardly felt like a warm-up act for Jones County, which won 41-28.
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“We needed this as a community and as a high school,” Greyhounds head coach Justin Montgomery said. “As we go into our Friday nights, those are the big moments to come together as a community, and I think (Friday) was an example of that.”
Now, the Greyhounds will look to build on last week. Jones County opens the season Friday at Veterans for its season opener, a game that will be followed by region road games at Woodland and Hampton the following two weeks.
As for what kind of team to possibly expect this season, plenty of clues were shown off Friday as Jones County pulled ahead in the second half after matching Mary Persons through a half, trailing 21-20.
“I think we had a good night and executed on a high level, which we expected. The kids had a great week of practice,” Greyhounds offensive coordinator Bradley Hunnicutt said. “We were really pumped up to go against somebody that’s not Jones County. We still have a lot of things to work on, but the kids are ready to work.”
JCHS did that through consistent offense to set up enough big plays to move the ball. It began on the Greyhounds’ first scoring drive finished off by an 11-yard Travis Miller run after it was kept alive by passes to Jayden Johnson and a juggling, falling down reception by Drew Williams.
Another big run by Miller in the second quarter set up the Greyhounds’ second touchdown, a 20-yard pass to Nate Vaughn from Cason Taylor, who played a majority of snaps under center on Friday.
“Cason came in and did a great job. He ran the offense at a high level and took what they gave him,” Hunnicutt said. “He’s going in as our No. 1, but we compete every week.
Iron sharpens iron.”
Friday also saw Travis Brock see time under center in the second half, going on to throw a touchdown, showing that JCHS has two capable signal callers to run the offense.
“Travis can sling it good and has good ability,” Hunnicutt said. “We feel good with him going in there if something happens to Cason.”
As for the Greyhounds’ running game on Friday, it was hardly singular.
Bruno Hicks also took on a substantial load, setting up short run by Kaden Canty, setting the score at 21-20 in Mary Persons’ favor at halftime.
Jones County took control after halftime by way of big plays and turnovers. After a 57-yard touchdown run on a sweep by Cayden Gilmore, a Jazeon Stephens interception, and Luke McCoy fumble recovery allowed the Greyhounds to hold the upper hand.
“We had some guys make some big plays,” Montgomery said. “Our defense started slow, but I thought we got calmed down a little bit and got some things settled down.” Even in the final quarter, when some teams would coast to wrap up a scrimmage, Jones County still finished strong, holding the Bulldogs to a late score while offensively getting into the end zone twice in the fourth quarter on Brock’s pass to Qay Turner for 33 yards and a 53-yard scamper by freshman Laquan Pendleton.
“We want to teach our guys that every time you get to compete, you want to win. We told our guys, everything (Friday) was about growth, and I thought both sides did a good job of focusing on that,” Montgomery said.
“Coach Nelson and his crew (at Mary Persons) do a really good job and did a good job of focusing on that, too. I thought it was a good night overall.”
