LADY HOUNDS
Despite a handful of early-season losses within the region, the Lady Greyhounds are still very much in position to be a factor among the leaders.
Jones County, which was slated to play Dutchtown last Thursday before that contest was postponed to Sept. 14, ended last week with a 2-3 record overall and 1-2 in the region. That mark, however, includes losses to a pair of unbeaten teams in the region, Locust Grove and Ola. The other unbeaten team, Union Grove, has not played either Ola or Locust Grove.
With just three games under their belt in the region, the Lady Hounds, who lost 11-3 last Tuesday to Ola, are looking to not only gain momentum, points in its first two games of the season.
“I think it’ll be a tremendous atmosphere. There should be lots of people here, and we’re excited about seeing a big-time game at our place,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said.
Jones County’s 2-0 start is its first one since 2019, when the Greyhounds began the season on a 9-0 run.
Speaking of good starts, Jones County got just that on Friday, with Drew Jones coming up with a loose ball behind the Falcons line of scrimmage in the first quarter of play. Quarterback Judd Anderson and company needed only a few plays to get on the board, with a 15-yard out pass to Jacob Jackson make it a 7-0 game with 6:06 left in the first. Anderson was 12-of-17 for 157 yards on the night.
Dacula brought its own set of challenges, finding success mostly on the ground and also getting traction through shortrange passes to the fullback coming out of the backfield. It helped Dacula draw to being down 7-6 just prior to the second quarter’s midway point before Jones County exploded with a big answer.
Shortly after Dacula’s score, Anderson found an open Javious Bond, and the Memphis commit took it from there, racing 69 yards through the Falcons defense for a 14-6 lead that would stand until halftime. Bond damaged the Falcons defense through the ground and air, rushing for 149 yards and having 91 receiving yards.
Being sound in all facets of the game didn’t come out of nowhere for the Greyhounds. It was a point of focus not just from before the game, but from a team devotional the day before.
“We talked all day about being excellent in all the little things. We actually stole that from our devotional the day before from Josh Echols. He talked a lot about being excellent in the little things, we challenged our guys to be excellent in the little things, when you’re packing your bag, during walk-throughs, pre-game meal and getting taped and ready to go,” Chastain said. “All the little things played a part in our guys getting a fast start, we were really pleased with how our guys played.”
As it turned out, the Greyhounds practiced what they preached.
But if Bond’s long score was a jab toward the Falcons, the second half was a barrage of haymakers. And it even came after a 66-yard touchdown run by Dacula with 8:46 left in the third. After that, it was to be all Greyhounds to the tune of 21 unanswered points.
JCHS began with a big play of its own, springing Zion Ragins for a 60-yard run to make it 21-14 with 8;06 left in the third. The Greyhounds, with their offensive line paving the way in the second half for the second week in a row, moved toward putting the game out of reach when Bond ran 81 yards for one score late in the third before he capped off another drive with a three-yard burst.
“We came out with a better half and just ran the ball good,” Greyhounds offensive lineman Lando Goolsby said. “It makes us feel really good for our offensive line to be able to do that.”
Jones County, then up 35-14, coasted the rest of the way to finish out a win in which it kept its composure as things began to turn chippy with frustration from the Falcons side starting to show.
“At this point last year, we had maybe four or five unsportsmanlike foul penalties. This year, we have maybe only had one,” Chastain said. “We’re really proud of our guys for not retaliating when other guys start getting into doing extracurricular stuff.”
