GREYHOUND FOOTBALL
Postseason is next following rout of Union Grove
Brad Harrison sports@jcnews.xom
Jones County looked every bit of the part of a team eager to move forward with its eyes on the postseason Thursday evening against Union Grove.
Their seeding for the state playoffs already set, the Greyhounds raced to a 34-0 halftime lead, more than enough to overwhelm the visiting Wolverines, winning 41-7 as Devin Edmonds threw for 292 yards and five touchdowns, three of them to Tyler Simmons.
“Our guys were ready to go. You worry about playing on a Thursday, but our guys had a great week of preparation and came out and played a really good game,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said. “They executed all the little things we were trying to do. We were really proud of the way that they played.”
The big halftime lead gave Jones County time to rest starters for a good part of the second half. The Greyhounds defense, which held the Wolverines scoreless until the result was well in hand, also got a defensive touchdown in the second half when Zacarri Thomas ran a fumble back 51 yards for what would be the final touchdown of the game for the Greyhounds. Stewart had four catches or 137 yards.
Thursday’s game also enabled Jones County to gain an extra day of rest before this Friday’s state playoffs begin at home against Northside Columbus. The winner will face the winner of Coffee or Chamblee in the second.
“This was the second Thursday night game that we have had. I feel like going forward, anytime we feel like we can change things up and play some Thursday night games, that’s something that we’d look forward to,” Chastain said. “It’s a much-needed rest later in the season. If you can have a game or two a year on a Thursday, that’d be really good.”
The Patriots are the fourth seed out of Region 3-AAAAA and are 6-4. A 7-3 win against McIntosh in the next-to-last game of the season gave the Patriots the third seed in the region with a 2-2 region record with other losses to Harris County 27-7 and 31-28 to Northgate.
Both Jones County and Northside have no common opponents. And with each being from a different part of the state, there’s a bit of an element of the unknown.
“You have no idea how that region is over there. One team from that region, Northgate, really beat up on a Veterans team that at the time was playing pretty good ball,” Chastain said. “You really don’t know what kinds of teams they have in that region, our job is to execute the things that we are trying to do and put our players in the best place they can to be successful.”
Stopping the run could be key for the Greyhounds against Northside. In the Patriots four losses, they rushed for less than 100 yards in three of those defeats. As a team, the Patriots are averaging 128 yards a game on the ground and 135 through the air. Caden Clay, who has been hurt at times this year, leads that passing game at quarterback, having thrown for 1,267 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. Jai Jackson and Kingston Rivers have shared a bulk of the run game work, rushing for around 400 yards and combining for 17 touchdowns.
“They have a really good running back. Their quarterback has been banged up, but when he is healthy, they are tough to stop,” Chastain said. “Defensively, they do a good job out of the 3-3.”
There’s a strong element on Jones County’s side after Thursday’s win. It took half of a quarter, but it would be all Greyhounds going forward. Feeding off the energy of a Tay Lattimore interception, a well-placed tunnel screen from Edmonds to Stewart from 16 yards away made it 7-0 with 7:05 left in the first quarter.
“When you get huge momentum like that early, that makes a huge difference,” Chastain said of Lattimore’s early forced turnover.
Edmonds and Stewart connected for a 59-yard score with 3:48 to go in the first, and Jones County mashed the gas from that point on. Edmonds hit on another long touchdown in the second, this time to Jaivon Solomon from 47 yards away with 8:42 to go until the half.
Next? A third receiver got into the end zone. On senior night, Cohen Barfield was one of many making a big play, taking an Edmonds screen 26 yards to the end zone for a 27-0 lead. Edmonds went deep to find Stewart with 3:01 left in half, giving JCHS a 34-0 advantage at the break to force the game to the running clock.
Solomon had two catches for 65 yards with Barfield hauling in three for 45.
Lattimore was hardly the only defensive standout on Friday. Thomas and DJ Ingram each had a pair of tackles for a loss with Ched Smith having one. Ingram and Chandler Harris each led the Greyhounds with nine tackles, and Thomas also had a sack.
