The 2024 football schedule for the Greyhounds has been officially released, and it’s one that can be frontloaded with home contests as a region alignment cuts the number of non-region matchups.
Recent seasons have seen multiple games against teams from outside the region and an opponent either at home or on the road from the Atlanta area. All of that changes going into the fall, however.
JCHS, which the last two years took on Dacula, Northside, Perry and Peach County in the regular season, will now have only one non-region game as a result of being in a region of eight other teams from Henry County.
Jones County scrimmages the defending GHSA Class AAAA state champion Perry at home May 10 with a preseason scrimmage Aug. 9 being a short drive to Forsyth against Mary Persons.
The lone non-region game in the regular season will be Aug. 16 against Veterans at Greyhound Field, a team that JCHS is 0-2 against all-time after losses in 2020 and 2021. The game against the Warhawks will be the first of three in a row at home to begin the season and four of five at Greyhound Field overall.
There will be little time to tiptoe into region play for JCHS. Games against Woodland and Hampton will put the first three games into the books before the end of August with the first road game Sept. 6 against an Ola team that was in the state playoffs last year.
After hosting Union Grove Sept. 13 and an open date on Sept. 20, one of the biggest early-season tests arrives on the road against Stockbridge, last year’s AAAA runner-up. JCHS has had a varied history against the Tigers, a team that returns to their region. Jones County beat Stockbridge in 2020 and 2021 by a combined score of 76-15 before the Tigers – then coached by Kevin Whitley, who would later join the staff at Georgia Southern – for three of those seasons, won four in a row from 2016 to 2019. That 2019 matchup was the last time the Greyhounds lost a road region game against a team from Henry County.
After taking on Stockbridge, October will begin with the homecoming game against McDonough and at Eagles Landing Christian Oct. 11 prior to an open date followed by Eagles Landing at home Oct. 25. ELCA will bring a history of championships to the Greyhounds schedule following its five titles in a row in Class A from 2015 to 2019 but has won no more than seven games in the last three years. Overall, the Greyhounds’ October opponents for this fall went a combined 13-18 last year.
The Greyhounds wrap up the season Nov. 1 against Locust Grove.
