Jacket boys are now 10-5
Jeff Davis High’s boys basketball team is a young squad, starting two freshmen, a sophomore and a pair of juniors much of the season.
First-year Coach Bo Boatright’s Jackets are 10-5 overall and 3-2 in Region 2-AA.
The team is led by junior Ja’Queze Kirby who was named to the Class AA All State Team last season as a sophomore. The other 14 All-State players were all seniors.
Kirby’s best performance of the season came last month against Perry High School in the Houston Bear Brawl in Warner Robins. He scored 40 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, dished off seven assists and blocked six shots in leading the Jackets to an 82-77 victory.
Last Friday, in the Atkinson County Christmas Tournament, JD rolled over an out-manned Wheeler County team 70-32.
Midway through the season, the Jackets suffered a 3-game losing streak to fall to 5-4. Since then, they’ve been 5-1.
This Friday night in Hazlehurst, the Jackets host 0-12 Bryan County. Then Jeff Davis has three straight road games: Saturday, in Blackshear to play 7-4 Pierce County, Tuesday in Alma to play 2-8 Bacon County and next Friday in Savannah to play undefeated, 14-0 Woodville-Tompkins, which some polls have ranked as the No. 1 Class AA team in Georgia.
While the Jackets are heavily favored to win over winless Bryan County this Friday night, the Lady Jackets will be a decided underdog against the Lady Redskins who are 14-0 and ranked as one of the top girls teams in the state. On Nov. 30, Bryan romped to a 63-26 win over the Lady Jackets in Pembroke.
Perry’s charges are even younger than Boatright’s team. While the Jacket boys have six seniors coming off the bench to add some experience to the young starters, the Lady Jackets have only one senior on the roster, guard Jazmine Johnson. Eight of the 18 players on the roster are freshmen, and there are two sophomores and seven juniors.
The Jeff Davis girls are 4-8 overall and 2-3 in the region with wins over Metter and Toombs County. The they started the season by posting a 4-3 record. But they are now in the midst of a 5-game losing streak
Bryan (14-0, 7-0), Woodville-Tompkins (11-3, 6-1) and Swainsboro (8-2, 4-1) are the cream of the crop in the region while Jeff Davis, Vidalia and Toombs are battling for the No. 4 spot.
Junior Dee Wooten is the inside leader for the Lady Jackets while petite (4’-10”) junior guard Jakhia Green is the floor leader and quarterback of the team.
The Lady Jackets are idle this Saturday night as only the JD boys will travel to Blackshear. And while the JD girls will be favored against Bacon Tuesday in Alma, the Woodville-Tompkins girls will be a formidable opponent next Friday in Savannah.
