GREYHOUND FOOTBALL
HAMPTON – Any rumors of the demise of the Greyhounds region title hopes appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
A week after being upset at home by Ola, the Greyhounds unleashed a stunner of their own, going on the road Friday to upset second-ranked Dutchtown 24-7.
“We’re super-proud of our guys for just continuing to come together as a team, play as a team and go hard at it,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said.
According to the Maxwell Ratings, which are used to project high school football results based on computer algorithm, the Greyhounds were 28-point underdogs, but none of that seemed to matter thanks to Jones County generating enough offense to go with four turnovers that were turned into 10 points. Jones County’s 17 offensive points were the most given up by Dutchtown’s defense in a single game this season, a unit that entered Friday allowing an average of less than nine points per game.
“Offensively, we were able to do a few things against Dutchtown to get the win,” Chastain said.
Jones County flexed some defensive muscle of its own Friday, limiting Dutchtown to 159 yards.
Jamarion Parker was a substantial part of that effort up front as the nose guard had eight tackles, two for a loss, a sack forced fumble and four quarterback hurries.
For his efforts, Parker was recognized as the Macon Touchdown Club Lineman of the Week with receiver Geo Wade’s 111 receiving yards, earning him co-back of the week honors.
“I think our defense has played really good all year, good enough for us to win ball games,” Chastain said.
As a result, Jones County now has this week off before playing Oct. 28 against Warner Robins, where a Jones County win would put the Greyhounds in position to win the region title with a win the next week at Union Grove. Chastain cautions that, while the Warner Robins game may garner attention, Union Grove should not be taken for granted.
“You’ve got to win both of them,” Chastain said.
“Union Grove is not bad at all. They play us tough every year like Ola has.
We’ve got to do our part to win the rest of the way.”
On a night that was setting up to be a coronation for the Bulldogs, the Greyhounds simply wrecked those plans.
Dutchtown had been denied a region title the past two years in part due to not being able to get past Jones County. Plus, Friday’s game was Fox 5 Atlanta’s High 5 Sports Game of the Week, with Fox 5 on hand to present its weekly Game of the Week trophy to the game winner. Instead, that trophy now resides at JCHS, well outside the Fox 5 viewing area.
“This was a big game.
They came out 6-0, and we were 4-3, fighting adversity, and we came home with a victory,” Greyhounds safety Javion Clark said.
A big reason for the win? Sometimes that’s key to any road victory – defense and special teams. Jones County gave itself plenty of confidence in the former of those early Friday.
After the Greyhound defense stopped a pair of Dutchtown drives on its side of the field early, things turned more in Jones County’s favor when safety Javion Clark ran an interception back 50 yards for a 7-0 lead with 5:22 left in the first quarter.
Clark quickly pointed to Greyhounds defensive backs coach Clay Hodges for him being in position to make the big play.
“That’s nothing but Coach Hodges telling me what to do and me doing my job,” Clark said.
Then it was the special teams’ turn. After opting to punt the ball away from midfield, Shawn Huckeba’s kick pinned Dutchtown deep, and the Bulldogs would punt from their own end zone, setting Jones County up near midfield again. The Greyhounds cashed in, getting a run up the gut from Drew Jones and then a short burst near the goal line from Omarion Tucker, leading 14-0 with 2:01 to go until half.
The Bulldogs got on board, trailing 14-7 before half and nearly got closer before a defensive stand forced a field goal, which was blocked by Chandler Harris just prior to the break to keep the score at 14-7.
“The block, that was a huge turning point in the game,” Chastain said.
The Greyhounds poured it on some more to start the third quarter. Judd Anderson, who replaced Devin Edmonds with 9:23 to go in the second quarter, unleashed a deep pass down the right sideline to a streaking Geo Wade, and the speedster took it 86 yards for the touchdown and 21-7 lead.
Anderson was 9-20 for 146 yards with Wade being the Greyhounds leading receiver, catching four passes for 111 yards.
Jones County’s defense kept Dutchtown at bay as it was forced to pass more than typical, and as the game went on, those big plays were minimized with Jones County forcing three interceptions plus a second-half fumble as Drew Jones came up with a loose ball that was turned into a Brendan Waters field goal with 2:47 left in the third and a 24-7 Greyhounds lead. It turned out to be enough, and the Bulldogs would never seriously threaten again.
Jones had a big night on both sides of the ball, also rushed six times for 34 yards.
