Jackets Roll Over Bryan 54-21

What a difference a week makes.
A week after Jeff Davis High’s disappointing loss to Bacon County, the Yellow Jackets did few things wrong at Friday night’s homecoming game, rolling to a 54-21 victory over Bryan County.
The JD offensive line dominated the Redskins defensive front all night long, opening huge holes as the Jacket offense ran roughshod over the visitors for 564 yards of total offense. Bryan County had 251 yards of total offense, most of it coming in the second half with the JD first line defense on the sidelines.
The Jackets scored on six of their seven possessions for the evening.
After opening a 41-7 halftime lead, the mercy rule went into effect for the second half with a running clock quickly erasing the time off the clock and keeping the scoring down.
The defense had a couple of brief lapses, allowing the Redskins to score a first half touchdown but the other two Bryan TDs came against the Jacket substitutes.
The defensive aggressiveness became evident on Bryan’s first play from scrimmage as Cody Ewing and Emanuel Rumph drilled the ball carrier on the first play. Two plays later, the receiver on a 7-yd. pass play was met by a trio of tacklers led by Roderick Lewis and Bryan had to punt the ball away.
On the Jackets’ third play from scrimmage fullback Jashaun Kirby got the football for his first carry since injuring his ankle early in the third game of the season. He had not run the football since Aug. 24 against Windsor Forest. Kirby shook off the rust in a hurry, taking the ball off the right tackle, slipping two would-be tacklers and stiff arming away a third and going 64 yards to the end zone. Rick Rubio kicked the extra point and the Jackets were quickly up 7-0 with the 3-play, 74-yd. drive.
On the ensuing kickoff, Rubio’s pooch kick bounced away from the Bryan receiver and the Jackets recovered at the Bryan 37 to set up another quick score. Kirby started things as he took the ball up the middle through a hole big enough to drive a truck through and wasn’t touched until he had gone 23 yards up the field as he carried to the Redskin 11. Austin Wood scored two plays later as the blocking and faking were so effective he could have walked the nine yards to the end zone. Rubio made it 14-0.
Following the kickoff, Bryan had another 3-and-out as Ewing and Jevarion Coleman stopped a runner for a 2-yd. loss and Samuel Snell nailed a receiver for a 4-yd. loss.
After the punt, the Jackets put together a 4-play, 54-yd. march to the end zone. Owens had a 12-yd. run in the drive and the score came on a 31-yd. pass from Britt Metts to Cade Walters.
Walters took in the pass at the 25 where he slipped away from a tackler, and then juked past another would-be tackler at the 15 to go into the end zone standing up. Rubio kicked the extra point to make it 21-0, still in the first quarter.
After the kickoff, Bryan rolled 65 yards in just four plays as the JD defense had its first lapse of the game. The score came on a 44-yd. run off the right tackle. The P.A.T. kick cut the lead to 21-7.
On the second play after the kickoff, the JD offensive line treated Kirby to another huge hole and he rambled 41 yards down to the Redskin 31. Kirby then took a pass from Metts for another 11 yards to the 20. A penalty on the next play put the Jackets back to the 31 as the first quarter came to an end.
Kirby carried the ball through yet another huge hole to get 14 yards back but the drive fizzled and Bryan took over on downs.
On their next possession, Jeff Davis rolled 72 yards in six plays. Darrell Mincey gave Kirby some rest at fullback during the drive. The big play in the possession came four plays in when Rumph took the ball around the right side, cut back across the grain to dodge tacklers and 30 yards downfield on the left sidelines he cut inside a block from Metts for another 15 yards for a 45-yd. carry to the Bryan 15. Two plays later, Austin Wood took the ball off the left tackle and went 12-yards into the end zone untouched as the blocking was again flawless.
On the P.A.T. attempt, the snap was low and holder Walters tried to run the ball but was stopped as the Jackets led 27-7.
The Jackets weren’t finished with their first half scoring. Starting at their own 25, they rolled 75 yards in just four plays. Rumph took the ball around the right side on an option for 19 yards, Austin Wood had runs of 12 and 16, and Rumph then rolled 31 yards untouched into the end zone. Rubio’s kick made it 34-7.
Still, the JD offense wasn’t finished. The Jackets marched 68 yards in four plays to score again. Metts started things by hitting James Wood for a 23-yd. completion and then avoided a sack and scrambled 33 yards all the way down to the Bryan 11. Two plays later, Austin Wood took the ball around the left side on a reverse and cut off a block from his cousin James Wood for an 11-yd. touchdown run. Rubio’s toe made it 41-7.
The Jacket starters played one offensive series in the second half, although Cedric King and Darrell Mincey substituted in the backfield for Rumph and Kirby. The starters went 60 yards in five plays and then took the rest of the evening off. The big plays in the drive were a Metts-to-Snell completion for 18 yards, a 24-yd. run by Mincey and the 4-yd. scoring run by Mincey. Rubio again kicked the extra point to make it 48-7.
The Jacket coaches began sending in substitutes on defense and the Redskins marched 48 yards in five plays to cut the score to 48-13.
Following the ensuing kickoff, Conner Rea took over a quarterback and engineered a 68-yd., 6-play drive. Gage Turner had 22-yd. and 20-yd. runs in the drive, freshman Zion King had a 16-yd. run and Turner scored on a 4-yd. burst. Freshman Julian Galvan came on to kick the extra point which was long enough but missed to the left, as the Jackets led 54-13.
Bryan closed out the scoring with an 89-yd. run and a 2-pt. conversion to account for the final 54-21 score.
Jeff Davis had 478 yards rushing and 86 passing for a total of 564 yards.
Kirby was the Jackets’ leading rusher, picking up 157 yards and scoring a TD on just seven carries. Austin Wood ran seven times for 74 yards and three touchdowns, and Rumph had 104 yards on just four carries. Metts was 4-for-6 passing for 86 yards, including a 31-yd. TD pass to Walters.
James Wood was named Player of the Game in the trenches, Kirby on offense and Ewing on defense.
Score by quarters:
BCHS 7 0 6 8 -21
JDHS 21 20 7 7 -54