Jackets roll 37-0 over Indians

Jeff Davis High had few problems disposing of Vidalia High Friday night in Hazlehurst as the Yellow Jackets rolled to a 37-0 victory in the season opener for both schools.
Coach Lance Helton’s charges controlled the line of scrimmage on offense and defense as the Indians never threatened to score throughout the game and the offense marched up and down the field.
Jeff Davis took the opening kickoff and marched 54 yards in 11 plays to get on the scoreboard.
On the second play of the drive, quarterback Mark Durden kept the ball to his left and raced 18 yards for the biggest gainer of the drive. The only rough spot in the march came as the Jackets faced 4th-and-4 on the Indian 14 yard line. A delayed snap call brought a pair of defensive linemen across the line of scrimmage and JD had a 1st down at the 9.
Two players later Kobe Hill took the handoff and bulled his way 4 yards into the end zone. David Calderon kicked the extra point and the Jackets led 7-0.
Calderon’s high, deep kickoff hit the ground inside the Vidalia 5 yard line and appeared to be going into the end zone for a touchback. Instead, the ball bounced around short of the goal, a Vidalia return man picked it up with 5 Yellow Jackets bearing down on him. He reversed his field, and ran back into the end zone where he was nailed by freshman Tyvaughn Clemons for a safety and, quickly, the Jackets were up 9-0.
The Yellow Jackets returned the ensuing free kick to the Indian 45. From there, Braylon Varnadore, Kailyn Bibbins and Jacob Laney all had long runs for the Jackets, but a trio of flags foiled the possession and Calderon punted the ball away to inside the Vidalia 10 yard line.
After the defense held, the Jackets got the ball back on a short punt at the Indian 34.
Four plays later, early in the 2nd quarter, Laney sprinted 10 yards for the score, running over a defender at the 2. Calderon kicked the P.A.T. and Jeff Davis led 16-0.
Jeff Davis’ next possession started at the JD 48. The offense covered the distance in 12 plays, overcoming a pair of costly penalties. Biggins had a 23-yd. run in the drive and Durden scored on a keeper from the Vidalia 8.
Calderon booted his 3rd extra point of the game to make it 23-0.
The Indians had one final possession before intermission and kept the ball for 11 plays. But with time winding down, Marigus Sampson sacked the Indian quarterback and, on the next play, Hill and Sampson combined for another sack and the Yellow Jackets led 23-0 at intermission.
The Jackets’ first possession of the second half started at the Vidalia 32 thanks to a short Indian punt. It took only 4 plays for the Jackets to score again. Durden kept up the middle for 14 yards and Hill burst through a big hole for a 12-yd. scoring dash up the middle. Calderon’s kick made it 30-0.
On their next possession, the Jackets moved from the JD 43 to the Vidalia 19 in 3-, 4-, and 5-yd. bursts before Cam Vann sprinted 15 yards around the right side to the 4. After a flag backed up the ball to the 9, Durden took the ball around the left side for the score. Calderson’s P.A.T. made it 37-0, still in the third quarter.
Vidalia put together a 7-play possession as the final quarter arrived but on 4th and inches freshman defensive end Amare Burney stopped an Indian runner for a 2-yd. loss and JD took over at their own 42.
The younger Jackets took the field for the 4th quarter with the top play coming when an Indian pass tipped off a receiver’s hand, was tipped by the Jackets’ Peyton Jones into the arms of Vann who returned the interception from the JD 27 all the way to the Vidalia 6 where he was pushed out of bounds. A penalty on the return brought the ball back to the Jeff Davis 40 where the Jackets were able to run off the last seconds on the game clock.
The Jackets had a balanced running attack that picked up 338 yards on the grouund led by Hill with 75 yards on 14 carries. Durden picked up 66 in 10 tries, Vann 50 on 6 carries, Garrison Coleman 48 yards on 7 carries and Biggers 42 yards on 5 carries. Laney ran twice for 28 yards, Varnadore one carry for 10 yards, Josh Worthington 2 carries for 6 yards, and Eric James and Tyvaughn Clemons had 5- and 4-yd. runs.
Amare Burney had 7 tackles, Jaiden West 6, Worthington 5, and Sampson and Hill 4 each. Burney had 3 tackles for losses and Hill 2.
Calderon was 5-for-5 on extra point kicks, 3 of his 6 kickoffs went into the end zone and another led to the Jackets’ safety.