JCHS needs win over Demons, Warner Robins win over Perry to win region
In the mind of many Greyhounds fans, last Friday’s game against winless Eagles Landing was not likely to be firmly circled in terms of anticipation, especially not with this week’s game against recent nemesis Warner Robins coming up.
But in the minds of the Greyhounds themselves, the visiting Eagles commanded plenty of focus coming off an off week preceded by a loss to Perry. And Jones County played like a team laser-focused on the current task at hand, routing the opposition 50-14 in a senior night victory.
“It was a timely bye week for us,” Jones County head coach Justin Montgomery said. “We were ticked that we went into the bye week with a loss, and that motivated us to handle our business and correct some things.”
The evening wrapped up with the seniors watching a tribute video on the Greyhound field video board before taking a celebratory walk in front of the team’s underclassmen.
“I’ve told them that a lot of the transformation from year one to year two has been led by them. They’ve done a good job of just taking the standard we have set for them and shifting it through the whole program,” Montgomery said. “We’re really thankful for these guys, and they’ve gone through a lot. They’ve climbed every mountain we have put in front of them.”
Yes, this senior class has played
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an important role in Jones County’s jump from year one to two under Montgomery’s staff. But they have a chance to be part of an even bigger leap starting this Friday, where a combination of a win against Warner Robins and a win by Warner Robins the next week against Perry would give JCHS (5-4, 4-1) the region title. The Greyhounds will be off next Friday.
“We have to go 1-0 and take care of what we can control,” Montgomery said.
Jones County will be aiming to avert recent history against the Demons, having lost the last four overall with the last win for Jones County coming in 2015.
The Greyhounds will look to replicate much of Friday’s method of victory against Warner Robins. Part of that was through a tried and true offensive gameplan - passing of Jonathan Hurley doing enough to keep the opposing defensive unit honest to not sell out against the three-headed run game of Travis Miller, Kaden Canty, and Laquan Pendleton. All three put up similar numbers with Canty rushing for 86 yards and two touchdowns and Miller as well as Pendleton having nights of 76 and 60 yards to go with one touchdown a piece.
Canty got all of the scoring started on a drive that began with a mix of short passing from Hurley as the Hounds overcame a handful of pre-snap penalties. But eventually, Canty helped Jones County cash in, taking the ball in for a 20-yard touchdown run with 8:39 remaining in the first quarter. The next drive ended up being Pendleton’s turn, as he bulled his way 35 yards into the end zone on a fourth-and-one play. Both drives had another common thread - starting near midfield, an advantage that JCHS leveraged well throughout the game.
“Field position is always a big piece of the game, and we didn’t win that in the last game,” Montgomery said of the Perry loss. “So it was good (Friday) to see how that can be done.”
That teed up Jones County to lead 21-0 just nine seconds into the second quarter with Hurley finding a wide open Cayden Gilmore for a 59-yard scoring strike.
“He was playing inside coverage, I knew it’d be a touchdown,” Gilmore said.
The Eagles countered with a lengthy scoring drive to trail 21-6, but Jones County hit back, driving downfield to go up 29-6 on a one-yard jump pass from Hurley to Drew Williams as Miller ran the ball in for the two-point conversion with 1:49 left before halftime. Hurley was 7-of-15 for 105 yards on Friday.
The start of the second half gave the Greyhounds a short field after an Eagles Landing punt, and Canty made the Eagles pay on a 36-yard run one play after taking possession. That, combined with a six-yard run by Miller with 6:36 to play in the third expanding the JCHS lead to 43-6, enabling a barrage of reserves to rotate in. That included backup quarterback Ethan Jones, who connected with Rashad Williams on a 40-yard score that sewed up the final Greyhound score of the night. Williams also had an interception for JCHS on the defensive side of the ball for Jones County to complement his 70 receiving yards.
“Its just dedication and focusing on the details,” Greyhounds offensive lineman Cam Sherman said. “It’s not about who we play, it’s just about focusing on everything we do.”
