PERRY — After eight straight weeks with no Friday off in the regular season, the Greyhounds get a breather on Friday with their first bye week of the season. And they’ll now go into that respite with a path to a region title that is no longer clear and direct.
The Greyhounds saw a four-game winning streak end on Friday at Perry in a 45-20 loss, dropping them to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in region play.
Jones County committed one of the cardinal mistakes of what teams cannot do when playing on the road — trail early by multiple touchdowns. The Greyhounds spotted the Panthers a 21-0 lead on three scoring drives of 40 yards or less before the first quarter had even ended.
That gave Jones County a steep hill to climb on Friday, one it was unable to scale.
With two games left in the regular season, the Greyhounds can still very much win the region.
Now, however, they will likely need some help.
If Jones County wins its final two games of the regular season against Eagles Landing and Warner Robins, it would need to finish the season with the same or better record as Ola and Warner Robins to win the region since JCHS would own a head-to-head tiebreaker against both. If Perry, which closes the regular season on Nov. 6 against Warner Robins, ends with one loss alongside Jones County, the Greyhounds would lose the head-tohead tiebreaker. It’s a load of math that has come under consideration for the purple and gold after falling to the Panthers.
In short, Jones County does not control its own region title fate as it heads into its first off week of the season, one that’ll have a multi-fold purpose for the Greyhounds.
Jones County’s second open date is Nov. 6, one week before the state playoffs.
“It took us out of the driver’s seat a little bit.
Now we have to lean on a little bit of luck,” Jones County head coach Justin Montgomery said. “It’s still in front us, but now we have to win out and make sure the right people take care of business.”
The Greyhounds moved the ball early on Friday, opening up with a first down before turning it over on downs at its own 40-yard line, coming up short on fourth and short.
The Panthers needed a mere six plays to make it 7-0 on a one-yard run, going up 7-0 with 6:30 left in the first. The early burst by the Panthers was only the beginning.
Their next drive began at the JCHS 28 after a short punt. The result? A threeplay scoring drive and 14-0 lead, a rough start for the Greyhounds that got worse on their next drive as a mishandled punt snap gave the Panthers only eight yards to drive for a score, which they did for a 21-0 lead with 2:47 left in the first quarter.
Jones County got some offense going by way of explosive plays to end the quarter, getting on the board to trail 21-7 on the opening stanza’s final play when quarterback Jonathan Hurley found Rashad Williams for a 50-yard score, a play that appeared to help Jones County settle in. That impact also reflected itself on the defensive side of the ball with the Greyhounds holding the Panthers scoreless until halftime.
And JCHS looked to be climbing even closer around the third quarter’s midway point, when Drew Williams downed a Jacob Watts punt at the Perry one-yard line. Jones County appeared to be in position to flip the field position battle, but those hopes ended with Perry striking for a 99-yard score down the home sideline, extending the lead to 28-7. The Greyhounds kept surging offensively despite the three-score deficit, when Hurley connected with Laquan Pendleton on an 18-yard screen pass for a touchdown. Perry, however, would go on to wear the Greyhounds down in the fourth quarter with 17 points in a row before Pendleton put a cap on his big offensive night on an 80-yard run.
