LOCUST GROVE — If not for the halftime buzzer, there’s no telling how many more times the Greyhounds offense would have scored in the first half on Friday at Locust Grove.
Other than the final drive of the second quarter that was shortened by time, Jones County scored on every first-half drive against the Wildcats. It all added up to a 35-14 halftime lead as the Greyhounds won going away in a 49-14 win to open region play.
Jones County (2-3 overall, 1-0 in region) continues region play on Friday against Ola, a matchup of teams each 1-0 in the region that will hand the winner a heavy advantage atop the standings. Jones County has lost three of the previous four against the Mustangs, with those defeats being by a combined 11 points.
“You just have to keep going 1-0 every week. This will be a very good rest for us this week. Ola is very much like us in a lot of ways from a schematic and personnel standpoint,” Jones County head coach Justin Montgomery said. “It’ll be a night where we have to outlast, outplay, and outwork those guys.”
Ola has won three in a row and began region play last week against Perry, rushing for 209 yards and passing for 211.
Speaking of running, Jones County’s steady stable of backs did a lot of it and did it well on Friday, getting five first-half touchdowns on the ground from three different running backs, the first three from Travis Miller with the next two from Kaden Canty and Laquan Pendleton.
“I feel comfortable with all three of those guys, whoever they put in there,” Jones County offensive coordinator Bradley Hunnicut said. “That room, it has such a good connection, and they have such joy when the other guy scores.”
Locust Grove had mild success early. After Canty’s three-yard run made it 7-0 for Jones County on a drive where every play but one was on the ground, a 36-yard screen play for Locust Grove equalized things at 7-7. But adjustments by the Greyhounds on defense as well as zeroing in on tackling slowed down Locust Grove.
Jones County’s offense, on the other hand, did no such slowing down, and many scoring drives saw one Greyhound back set up a score by another. Miller’s one-yard touchdown for a 14-7 lead was set up not only by a run by Pendleton but also a pass from quarterback Jonathan Hurley to JR Richardson.
Hurley did enough to keep Locust Grove honest on Friday and made it think twice about stacking the box, going 4-of-9 for 77 yards.
“He’s battling through an ankle injury, and he’s just a tough kid. He’s a great kid,” Hunnicutt said. “He’s getting better every week for us.”
Miller’s third touchdown came with 11:39 left in the second quarter from 20 yards away, just after a pass from Hurley to Trey’vonn Allen.
After Locust Grove tried to counter before being gang sacked on fourth down, JCHS took advantage, going up 28-7 thanks to a 13-yard run by Canty, one play after a run from the 36-yard line by Pendleton, whose 16-yard run with 4:13 left in the half made it 35-7.
The Wildcats got on the board to trail 35-14 with 1:24 to go in the half, but the JCHS defense bounced back shortly after, holding on fourth down in the red zone after a fumbled kickoff. After most of the Greyhounds’ touchdowns were set up in the first half by another offensive play, special teams took a turn in the third quarter.
Jones County’s punt block unit pounced on a mishandled punt snap by Locust Grove, and Pendleton took it in from a yard away for a 42-14 lead for Jones County, which added a score late from Caleb Gooden.
“Our front four took over toward the end, and we just kind of let them go to work,” Montgomery said. “Our DBs did a good job of keeping the ball in front of them and making them hold it for three seconds.”
