As part of last week’s homecoming festivities at Jones County High School, Jaivon Solomon was voted as Homecoming King.
That reign extended to Greyhound Field on Friday against McDonough.
Helped in large part by Solomon, Jones County blew a close game open in the second quarter with 33 points in a 47-26 win against the Warhawks. Solomon was responsible for all but three Greyhounds touchdowns on Friday, catching six passes for 126 yards. Solomon had 220 total yards in the win.
“That was a good quarter, 33 points in the second quarter, that’s a good deal,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said.
Now 5-2 overall and 4-2 in region play, the Greyhounds lead a fourteam group vying for third and fourth in the region standings. JCHS would win a tiebreaker against Hampton and Union Grove and hosts Eagles Landing Oct. 25.
The Greyhounds will look to keep that spot on Friday when they travel to Eagles Landing Christian Academy, a 1-5 team that Chastain stresses is much better than its record.
“If you look at (ELCA) this week, they might be one of the best 1-5 teams I have seen all year. They’ve got a ton of really good athletes,” Chastain said. “I don’t know that I have played a 1-5 team since I have been a head coach that’s as good as they are.”
The Chargers lost to Ola, who was undefeated until last week, 7-3 earlier this year while also losing to Union Grove and Woodland by a combined 10 points. ELCA is coming off getting its first win of the season last week against Eagles Landing.
“They haven’t given up many points all year and are pretty much holding everyone to their lowest point totals,” Chastain said. “We’ll have to outplay, outscheme, outcoach and out physical them. They are very sound on both sides of the ball and make you do the hard things on offense to score points, and for their offense, your defense better be sound because if you’re not, they can hurt you.”
Big plays like the ones executed by Solomon last Friday will be key this week.
One of his biggest plays, not to mention game-altering ones, was on special teams. With JCHS up 7-6 late in the first quarter, Solomon ran back the kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown and 14-6 lead. The Greyhounds scored the game’s first points on an eight-yard pass from Devin Edmonds to Zach Hurt before McDonough’s run game got them into the end zone, down 7-6 with 4:34 left in the first.
Solomon’s kick return started the ball rolling toward a dominant second quarter, one in which McDonough wilted under adversity, a large part of which JCHS had to do with. The Warhawks did trail 14-13 with 10:25 left in the second quarter, but that’s before the Greyhounds offense kept going and the defense zeroed in, slowing the Warhawks on the ground.
Daniel Hawk got it started, hauling in a 10-yard pass from Edmonds for a 21-13 lead with 9:18 left in the second. It turned out to set the stage for the Greyhounds on defense. After a pass rush by Zacarri Thomas forced an intentional grounding penalty and resulted in the Greyhounds ball at the McDonough 30 after a punt, Edmonds found Solomon from 13 yards away on an inside screen and 27-13 lead, starting a run of four touchdowns in the final 5:12.
“It all works together, offense, defense and special teams, Chastain said. “A lot of good things happened. It wasn’t just offense or just defense. We had a lot of good things happen.”
Following a three and out by McDonough, Edmonds needed only one play to find Solomon from 47 yards out for a touchdown and 33-13 lead. The Greyhounds defense then came up with another big play, with Hurt coming up with an interception that led to an 18-yard touchdown catch by JR Clark and 40-13 advantage.
JCHS punched it in once more to end the half on the heels of another interception. Hurt came up with his second of the night, hauling in a deflection off the hands of Andre Hall. That was enough time for Edmonds to get to work, making in 47-13 with three seconds left in the half, enabling the running clock to kick in after halftime and the Hounds to rotate backups into the game.
Solomon Named Macon TD Club Back of the Week
Greyhounds receiver Jaivon Solomon has been named the Macon Touchdown Club’s OrthoGeorgia Back of the Week for his part in Friday’s win over McDonough. He had six catches for 126 and three touchdowns along with a 94-yard kick return for a touchdown.
Jones County (5-2) at Eagles Landing Christian (1-5)
• 7p.m.,Friday
• SeriesHistory:FirstMeeting
• Broadcast:Sportsmic
