STOCKBRIDGE — After a wet and soggy night that dampened the start to the season, the Greyhounds are looking ahead to an opportunity to bounce back.
In a game interrupted by a weather delay of approximately 90 minutes, the Greyhounds suffered their first loss of the season to Woodland on Friday by a score of 20-16 as a late scoring drive inside the opposing 10-yard line was stopped on fourth down to end a mostly defensive game. Each team got one touchdown by way of defense or special teams, the Greyhounds on a Hunter Hardwick pick six with Woodland’s on a kickoff return.
Jones County now looks ahead to another road trip Friday, this time at Hampton, which is 2-0 after a 28-27 win against Stockbridge.
Despite the loss, Greyhounds head coach Justin Montgomery likes how the team has responded since the early-Saturday- morning bus ride home.
“The biggest thing is making sure they know that when we have a loss, to make sure that we stay hungry and stay together. You go back, look at the tape, figure out what every person did wrong, and you figure how we can get better and address it. There’s not just one thing to do but fix it,” Montgomery said. “I think our guys did a good job of doing that Sunday when we came in. They did a good job (Monday) when we came in. Our guys have gone about business the right way in handling the loss.”
After just one week of region play, parity already appears to be on display. Teams picking up region wins last week also included Locust Grove, Eagles Landing, and Eagles Landing Christian. Of the teams that are now 1-0 in the region, four of them failed to make the postseason last year.
The Greyhounds (1-1 overall, 0-1 in region), who began the game going three and out on their first offensive drive, trailed 7-0 early when Woodland quarterback Brayden Rogers scored from six yards away on fourth down, one of the Wolfpack’s two touchdowns that came on fourth down. Not long after that touchdown with 6:44 left in the first quarter, however, the game changed in more ways than one.
Torrential rain and lightning brought things to a halt for about 90 minutes, sending fans,
You go back, look at the tape, figure out what every person did wrong, and you figure how we can get better and address it. There’s not just one thing to do but fix it.
— Head coach Justin Montgomery players, cheerleaders, and band members to either the gym or their vehicles while the weather passed.
By the time the weather made its way through, the crowd was a shell of itself. While Jones County could not get much going offensively after the delay, the defensive side of the ball was another story.
Hunter Hardwick, who also recovered a fumble on Friday, ran back an interception 55 yards for a touchdown, the Greyhounds’ second turnover for a score in as many weeks.
“You work on it every week. I was really proud of our guys for that. We do that drill every single week, and seeing our guys run after an interception, you swing the momentum big-time. So, seeing our process, seeing results is one thing I was fired up about,” Montgomery said. “You don’t go in thinking that we’re going to get a pick six, but you practice it where if you intercept a ball, you want a pick six. Our guys have really bought into that and now we’re seeing the results.”
Jaden Johnson’s run on the two-point try made it an 8-7 JCHS lead, but it lasted only seconds as the following kickoff was returned for a touchdown by the Wolfpack.
“There were some little details in the game that we’re learning are important. We get a pick six, and on the very next kickoff, we have a little bit of complacency on our kickoff unit that allowed them to take it back and win the momentum back,” Montgomery said. “I think if we make that tackle, we win the ball game.”
The Greyhounds rallied before the half, however.
A 40-yard pass from Greyhounds quarterback Cason Taylor to JR Clark set Travis Miller up for a three-yard touchdown, and a conversion pass to Zaire Jones sent the Hounds ahead 16-14 going to the half. Taylor was 6-of-11 for 112 yards on Friday while Miller led JCHS on the ground, carrying the ball 19 times for 75 yards. Clark was by far Taylor’s favorite target against the Wolfpack, catching 7 passes for 53 yards.
In the end, two offensive drives on both sides in the second half would determine the result.
An eight-minute drive of approximately eight minutes in the fourth quarter put the Wolfpack in front 20-16 on a keeper by Rogers on fourth down from the one-yard line with 6:00 left.
But Jones County still had a chance, and it went right to work, getting downfield quickly on passes from Taylor to Cayden Gilmore for 35 yards before another to Nate Vaughn. That shifted focus to the ground game, where three consecutive runs by Miller got the ball to the Wolfpack six-yard line. But Jones County got no further, being stopped on fourth down at the eight as Brandon Jones’ off-tackle run was stopped, enabling Woodland to run out the clock after a first down.
Even in the face of the loss, Montgomery sees plenty to build on not just for the present but also the future.
“Our effort overall and how we responded, you can build on that. We have some guys who have never played Friday night football until this season,” Montgomery said. “Seeing those guys handle adversity well, there’s a growth in that. There are exciting moments to come, because those guys are going to be returning in a year, and they will already know how to go about business that way.”
