What if? Jackets fall to Worth 26-14

What if?
Friday’s Jeff Davis-Worth County matchup left Yellow Jacket fans pondering “What if?” as the Jackets put together one of its best performances of the season and came close to upsetting the No. 1 ranked and undefeated Rams, falling 26-14.
Worth’s 26 points was the lowest scoring of the season for the Rams, a credit not only to the Jeff Davis defense but also to the offense that controlled the football most of the game. The Jacket offensive line won the battle of the trenches and Worth found it difficult to bring down hard-running fullback R.J. Sims.
Costly fumbles kept the Jackets from controlling the football twice and a 3rd quarter pass that seemed destined to result in a Jacket score fell incomplete.
The first half of the game belonged to the Yellow Jacket offense as they ran 30 plays while the Rams took only 12 snaps.
Taking the opening kickoff, the Jackets kept the ball on an 11-play drive that stalled at the Worth 32. Fabian Valdelamar came on to try a 50-yd. field goal but his kick fell short of the mark. During the drive, Sims bowled over tacklers and picked up extra yards dragging Ram defenders as the offensive line opened gaps in the Ram defense through which Sims darted.
After Worth was unable to move the chains and punted, the Jacket offense had the ball again at their own 31. Sims darted through a hole, slipped a tackle and dragged a Ram who caught him from behind, moving the ball 18 yards to close to midfield.
But 3 plays later, a pitch fell to the turf and Worth recovered inside the Yellow Jacket 40 to set up Worth’s first score.
It took them only 3 plays, scoring on the 2nd play of the 2nd quarter. The P.A.T. kick hit the right upright and fell away as the visitors went ahead 6-0.
After the ensuing kickoff, the JD offense marched 80 yards in a time-consuming, 14-play drive to give the Jackets a 7-0 lead.
On the 1st play, the O-line opened a big hole and Sims dashed 12 yards untouched before he was brought down from behind for a 19-yd. gain. On the 2nd play, Sims dashed through another hole, broke tackles and spun his way for another 12 yards to the Worth 49.
The offense sputtered briefly but, on 3rd-and-16, Sims slipped through a hole, side-stepped a defender, broke three tackles and dragged a pair of tacklers down to the Ram 36 for a 19-yd. pickup.
The offensive line continued its dominating play as the backs continued to move the ball down the field. Worth’s defense stiffened after the Jackets had a 1st-and-goal at the 5 but on 4th-and-goal, Sims carried the ball over from 2 yards out. Valdelamar kicked the extra point and JD had a 7-6 lead.
Worth tried to get on the board again before halftime but an overthrown pass fell into the hands of J.T. Bryant and a kneel-down ended the half.
Worth took the 2nd half kickoff and rolled 54 yards in 7 plays to take the lead again. On the 2-pt. conversion attempt, Jamari Wilcox and Kobe Hill converged at the quarterback to thwart the attempt and the score remained 12-7.
After the kickoff, the JD offense again pounded the Ram defense, moving steadily down the field until, 7 plays into the drive, a fumble gave the Rams the ball at their own 38.
It took the Rams only 5 plays and a penalty to put another TD on the board and give them a 19-7 lead.
Following the kickoff, the Jacket offense went back to work. Ian Griffin took a pitch for 11 yards into Worth territory at the 45.
Two plays later, Mark Durden fired a pass over the middle to a wide open Jacob Laney who was streaking downfield but the pass was too low and the Jackets narrowly missed a touchdown. Valdelamar had to punt the ball away.
After an exchange of punts, Worth got the ball back at their 38 and put together a 13-play drive for another score. The first 11 plays were on the ground as they ate up valuable time off the clock. The last two were an incomplete pass and a 10-yd., 4th-and-10 TD throw. The P.A.T. kick made it 26-7.
The Jackets didn’t quit. After the kickoff, Griffin took a pitch to his right and blew downfield for 21 yards. After a 10-yd. Durden scramble to the Ram 25, Durden lofted a perfectly thrown aerial to the left corner of the end zone to Bryant for the touchdown. Valdelamar kick the extra point to up the tally to 26-14.
Worth recovered the onside kick and knelt on the ball to run off the final seconds on the clock.
Score by quarters:
WCHS 0 6 13 7 -26
JDHS 0 7 0 7 -14