Jackets fall to Thomasville

Jeff Davis High suffered its first loss of the season Friday night in Thomasville as the Yellow Jackets fell 28-25 to the Bulldogs. The matchup was the state’s Class AA Game of the Week as JD was 6-0 and Thomasville was 6-1 and both teams were ranked in the state’s Top 10.
The Thomasville defense zeroed in on Jacket quarterback Mark Durden, the team’s leading rusher, and the junior signal-caller finished the game with just 29 yards rushing on 14 carries. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ Christian Hayes rushed for 119 yards and passed for 122.
The biggest loss for the Jackets was senior fullback-middle linebacker Kobe Hill’s fractured leg that put him on the bench for almost the entire 2nd half and ended his season.
The game got off to a great start for the Yellow Jackets as David Calderon’s high, short kickoff was mishandled by the Bulldog receiver and the ball hit the ground and bounced right into the hands of Jaiden West at the Thomasville 35 and the Jacket offense came on the field.
Durden kept the ball on the first 2 plays and got little but, on 3rd down, he got outside to his left and raced all the way to the Bulldog 18.
On the next play, Durden pitched to Braylon Varnadore around the right side. Varnadore was hit at the 11 but fought his way to the 4 before he was brought down. Hill then took the ball behind the blocking of big Brice Bohannon to go into the end zone standing up. Calderon kicked the P.A.T. and the Jackets led 7-0.
Thomasville started its 1st possession at its own 30 and began a time-consuming, 12-play march that reached all the way to inside the Jacket 10 yard line. But, on 4th-and-3 from the 8, Jaiden King and Marigus Sampson pressured Hayes into a hurried throw that fell incomplete and the Jackets took possession of the ball.
With the air raining flags, the Jacket offense moved backward and, on 4th-and-16 from the 3, Calderon punted the ball from his own end zone and Thomasville took over with great field position at the Yellow Jacket 35.
Three plays later, on 3rd-and-8, Hayes threw to one of his backs to the left and he evaded a tackler at the 28 and raced into the end zone with Hill on his back. The point after tied the game 7-7.
On the 1st play of the 2nd quarter, tragedy almost struck as Durden appeared to miss a handoff to Hill, a defender hit Durden and the ball popped into the air. Fortunately, Hill turned around and caught the ball, turned upfield and picked up 4 yards. The Jacket offense battled away, moving the ball into Bulldog territory before Thomasville’s defense stiffened. On 4th-and-6 from just inside the Thomasville 20, Calderon kicked a 36-yd. field goal. But an official saw something in the middle of the line of scrimmage, threw a flag and the Jackets were backed up 10 yards. That didn’t seem to phase Calderon as Jeremiah Davis made a good snap, holder Peyton Jones got the ball in position and Calderon booted the 46-yd. field goal to put the Jackets on top 10-7 with 5:21 left in the half.
On the 2nd play after the kickoff from the Bulldog 37, Hayes dropped back to pass, went through an opening in the middle of the line, cut to the left sideline to the JD 45, cut back to the middle of the field, evaded a tackle at the 25, and outran everyone to the right corner of the end zone for the score. The extra point kick put Thomasville ahead 14-10 with 4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.
After returning the kickoff to the Jeff Davis 35, Garrison Coleman went to work at fullback running up the middle for 7 and, after a 5-yd. penalty, he went up the middle again, breaking tackles and getting into the clear before he was hauled down from behind inside the Bulldog 40 for a 25-yd. run. But the Jackets couldn’t move the chains again and Calderon punted on 4th-and-15, pinning the Bulldogs back at their own 8.
The Bulldogs then let the clock run down to intermission.
Jeff Davis took the 2nd half kickoff and started at their 40. Durden got 4 and Varnadore took a pitch to the right, cutting off a block by Jacob Laney, and took the ball 12 yards to the Thomasville 44. But the offense could get no closer than the 42 and Thomasville took over on downs.
The Bulldogs worked the ball down to the Yellow Jacket 34 where, on 4th-and-6, they scored on a halfback pass to stretch their lead to 21-10 with 3:21 left in the 3rd quarter.
The JD offense started again at their 23. Coleman and Varnadore runs got a 1st down at the 33. After a 4-yd. Durden keeper, Durden pitched to Varnadore around the right side. Blocks by Laney and West broke him into the clear and he sprinted down the middle of the field all the way to the Bulldog 13 for a 50-yd. pickup. Coleman then got 3 as the 3rd quarter came to an end. Then he got 3 more to the 7 and, on 3rd down, Durden pitched to Varnadore around the right side, Vanadore slipped by a tackler at the line of scrimmage and darted into the end zone for the score. On the extra point, Durden took a direct snap and broke a tackle to score 2 points to get the score within a field goal at 21-18.
After the kickoff, the Bulldogs moved quickly into Yellow Jacket territory and scored on a 33-yd. pass to move to a 28-18 lead with 9:52 left in the game.
Thomasville got the ball again at the JD 33 after a long punt return. But the Jacket defense held and Thomasville missed a 43-yd. field goal with just over 6 minutes to play.
On the Jackets’ 1st play, Thomasville recovered a fumble at the Yellow Jacket 12 and things looked bleak for the visitors.
Sampson and Kei’lin Biggins got back-to-back big defensive plays and, on 4th-and-3 from the 5, Laney pressured Hayes on a pass attempt and the pass fell into the end zone and the Jackets took over at the 5 with 3:47 left in the game.
Varnadore got 18 on a determined run, Laney picked up 14 to the 37, and Varnadore rolled 25 yards to the Thomasville 39. Then Laney got outside to the left for 18 yards to the 21. Durden then passed to Laney for 16 yards to the 5 and Laney scored on the next play. Calderon kicked the P.A.T. and the Jackets were again within a field goal at 28-25 with 1:24 left.
Thomasville ran out almost all the remaining time on the clock as the Jackets got the ball back 75 yards from the end zone and only 2 seconds on the clock. A pass failed to move the ball as the game came to an end.
Varnadore finished with 137 yards rushing on 10 carries. Coleman ran for 47 on 6 carries, Laney ran 6 times for 40 yards, Hill wound up with 6 carries for 47 yards, and Durden managed just 29 yards on 14 carries. Durden was 1-for-3 passing for 16 yards.
Josh Worthington led the defense with 4 tackles and 5 assists.
Score by quarters:
JDHS 7 3 0 15 -25
THS 7 7 7 7 -28
Scoring:
JD – Kobe Hill, 4 yd. run. David Calderon kick.
T – Makari Williams 33 yd. pass from Christian Hayes. Kick.
JD – Calderon, 46 yd. field goal.
T – Hays, 63 yd, run. Kick.
T – Williams, 34 yd. pass from Hayes. Kick.
JD – Braylon Varnadore, 6 yd. run. Marl Durden run.
T – Kensley Reddick, 33 yd, pass from Hayes. Kick.
JD – Jacob Laney, 4 yd run. Calderon kick.
STATISTICS
JD T
Plays 52 44
1st Downs 15 12
Rush Yds. 301 204
Pass Yds. 18 122
Total Yds. 319 326
Fumbles Lost 1 1
Pen-Yds 7-35 1-5