Jackets take 42-7 win over Panthers

Photos by Abi Hernandez

Jeff Davis High’s win over Clinch County Friday night on the Panthers’ home field wasn’t a big surprise. The score, however, was a bit of a shocker.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the Panthers in every aspect of the game and came away with a 42-7 victory.
The win gives Jeff Davis a 2-0 record entering this Friday’s game against Metter in Metter. Clinch dropped to 0-2 as the Class A team opened against a pair of Class 2A teams. The previous week they fell to Fitzgerald 22-13.
Metter lost their first two games of the season, falling 26-7 to ECI and 26-23 to Rabun County.
Last Friday’s game got off to a shaky start for the Yellow Jackets as, on the 3rd play of the game, Clinch County recovered a JD fumble at the Jeff Davis 37 yard line. Three plays later, Clinch lined up to punt on 4th-and-10. A low snap prevented the punt and the punter took off around the left side and weaved his way 37 yards for a touchdown. The PAT kick was good and, quickly, the Panthers were up 7-0.
After the kickoff, the Jackets couldn’t move and, on 4th-and-19, David Calderon punted the ball 38 yards to the Jeff Davis 49.
Then things got strange. On 3rd-and-11, the Panther quarterback was sacked by Tye Rea. The ball hit the ground and Rea picked it up and headed for the end zone. The whistle blew as the official ruled the quarterback was down but the Jacket coaching staff disagreed and yelled for Rea to continue running to the end zone. As Rea ran on, the head official tossed his flag for a delay of game penalty against the Jackets. The game was halted temporarily as JD Coach Lance Helton argued his case with the officials. But the officials won the argument and Clinch lined up to punt the ball away. When the center tried to snap the ball, it somehow got caught on the turf and the center jumped on the ball at the Jacket 44.
On the first play, Jacob Laney took a pitch to his left and streaked down the field all the way to inside the Clinch 1 yard line. But a block in the back penalty took the ball back to the Clinch 46. Quarterback Mark Durden kept the ball for 11 yards and Laney got outside for 18. Fullback Kobe Hill then carried the ball 3 times to cover the distance and the Jackets were within 7-6. Calderon kicked the extra point to tie the game.
The Jackets’ next possession began at the Jeff Davis 36 early in the 2nd quarter. After moving the ball to the Clinch 44, Hill took a handoff to his right, cut off a block by Laney and another block by Jaiden West and outran a pair of Clinch defenders to the goal line for a 44-yd. TD run. Calderon made it 14-7.
On the kickoff, Jaiden King hustled down the field and did a shoestring tackle on the return man at the Clinch 14. Unable to move the chains, Clinch punted the ball away and West return the football from the JD 48 all the way to the Clinch 20. But a penalty moved the ball all the way back to the Jacket 45.
The Jackets quickly marched down the field and scored on a 10-yd. Durden run. Calderon booted the P.A.T. and the Jackets led 21-7.
After the kickoff, the Panthers put together their longest possession of the game, an 11-play drive that reached the Yellow Jacket 18. But Durden stopped the drive with a leaping interception in the end zone.
Durden then knelt on the ball to run off the remaining time on the 1st half clock.
On the 2nd half kickoff, King again raced down the field to nail the return man, this time at the Clinch 19.
The Panthers moved the ball into Jacket territory where Hill stripped the ball from a Panther runner and West fell on the ball at the Jacket 27.
After Garrison Coleman picked up 5 yards, Durden kept the ball around the right side, sidestepped 2 defenders and raced up the middle of the field for a 68-yd. touchdown run. Calderon kicked the extra point to make it 28-7.
The Jackets marched 55 yards in 8 plays for their next score. West had a 26-yd. end around run and Durden had runs of 12 and 4 yards, the latter for the score. Calderon made his 5th kick of the night to up the tally to 35-7, still in the 3rd quarter.
Jeff Davis scored again on its next possession with Durden setting up the score with a 51-yd. run down the visitors’ sideline. Coleman capped the drive with a 1-yd. run. Justin Torres came on to kick the final extra point to make it 42-7.
The Jackets had 387 yards rushing for the night, attempting only one pass.
Durden had 176 yards on 15 carries, Hill picked up 79 on 9 tries, Laney ran 5 times for 74 yards, Coleman picked up 55 yards on 5 carries, and West had a 26-yd. run.
Hill led the defense with 10 tackles, 1 for a loss and a forced fumble. King had 9, one for a loss, Durden 6, Josh Worthington 7, 3 for a loss, Marigus Sampson 4 and West 4. Rea had a sack.
Score by quarters:
JDHS 7 14 14 7 -42
CCHS 7 0 0 0 – 7