The Greyhounds coaching staff has been bullish on their belief that facing tough competition will harden the Greyhounds for the most important part of the season against region opponents and the state playoffs.
In facing tough opposition, the Greyhounds and their coaching staff are able to better gauge what areas that are needed to improve upon.
That opportunity presented itself in a big way this past Friday at Greyhound Field with one of the state’s most prolific programs – Buford, moving up this year to the state’s highest classification – showing that they were every bit as good as expected, topping the Greyhounds 45-6.
The Greyhounds’ defense closes in on Buford during Friday’s scrimmage.
“When you play a team like that with eight guys going to Power-5 teams on defense alone, you get to see a lot of how your guys will do against elite competition,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said. “You get to see how your guys will respond when things are not going good.”
Jones County now looks ahead to Saturday’s 4 p.m. season opener against Northside at Mercer University at 4 p.m.
The Wolves led 35-0 at the half, and both teams would rotate in reserves for coaches to get a good evaluation of them in the second half.
“They know the deal; they know they are playing a really good team,” Chastain said. “We just have to continue to get better.”
On paper, the scrimmage would seem lopsided. But the Greyhounds showed resiliency throughout the night, a trait that should serve JCHS well during the course of a season. The Greyhounds put together multiple scoring drives against the Wolves defense, only to have one end of a missed field goal and two others end on a turnover deep in Wolves territory.
After Buford led 7-0 following a sevenplay drive on its first drive of the night, the Greyhounds countered as quarterback Judd Anderson hooked up with Zion Ragins on a 49-yard reception. The scoring chance, however, ended on an interception two plays later.
After the Wolves led 14-0, they had a chance to score again before the Greyhounds stiffened, holding Buford to a field-goal try that missed. The second quarter saw two more sustained drives by the Greyhounds, but both would be turned away by Buford. One ended in Wolves territory when Anderson was sacked on fourth and three. Another, keyed by a big pass from Anderson to Jaivon Solomon, got the ball all the way to the Buford five-yard line before a field goal try was blocked. Buford, which was held again on offense and missed a field goal, would score twice more, once on a 35-yard run followed by a 48-yard screen pass to Justice Haynes late in the half for a 35-0 lead.
The resilience by the Greyhounds on defense in forcing a handful of stops came with the Greyhounds missing starting defenders.
“We had four starters out on defense,” Chastain said. “Any time you have guys like that out, it’ll be tough, especially when it’s against a back going to Alabama.”
