The Greyhounds spent last week doing something they had not been able to do for quite some time since early August — resting.
With Jones County’s two open dates being loaded toward the back end of the schedule, the Greyhounds were off last week, after a grueling grind of eight straight weeks of football. The wait for some respite may be longer than many other teams have had to endure so far, but it was a pace that was welcomed for Jones County. The Greyhounds not only used last week to heal up but also work inwardly. For instance, Jones County practiced three days last week while also making use of the time to decompress.
“We just needed time to heal, take a little rest, and get our guys recovered and rejuvenated. We were able to get back to basics and fundamentals coming into the back of the season, it was big,” Jones County head coach Justin Montgomery said. “We made sure that we took some time and focused on fundamentals. We gave the guys some time off, and that helped build that hunger, that thirst before we get back together.”
The timing of that first off week could end up being well-timed. Currently 4-4 overall and 3-1 in region play, the Greyhounds’ postseason aspirations are approaching a proverbial fork in the road. As the current PSR rankings, which determine the 32 teams in each GHSA classification’s postseason bracket, JCHS is 25th overall. That would put them on the road to start the postseason against top-five caliber teams, such as Benedictine or Dalton.
“The focus has to be on each rep each practice, each day, and going 1-0 every day,” Montgomery said. “If you control that, the PSR takes care of itself.”
Jones County’s postseason alignment could change greatly in the next two weeks. The Greyhounds plays Eagles Landing and Warner Robins at home in the next two weeks before an off week the Friday after.
Simply stated, two Greyhound wins with a Warner Robins wins this week against Ola and against Perry in the last game of the season would give JCHS a region title outright and a postseason seed of no worse than 16th and homefield in the first round.
“If we go win the next two and Perry takes a loss, that puts us back in the driver’s seat,” Montgomery said. “If we don’t, then we put it up to fate.
“What it comes back to is that we want to go 1-0 every week.”
