South Jones (4-2) celebrated senior night in style as the Braves cruised by Long Beach (3-2) on The Reservation, 31-14.
South Jones head coach Casey Herrington wasn’t there as the game kicked off, as he had family obligations to attend to before arriving on the Braves sideline late in the first quarter. However, he was pleased with what he saw after his arrival.
“It was pretty much a team effort tonight,” said Herrington. “It was a big night for me personally. I had to get here a little late because my daughter was having her senior night at another school and I needed to be there to support her.
“I just have a great coaching staff that had our guys ready to go, and it was just a total team effort. That puts us on a 3-0 run heading into region play, and we still have some things to clean up, but I’m excited to be where we are at.”
Long Beach received the opening kickoff but was forced to punt, and the Braves set up shop on their own 43-yard line.
A few plays into their drive, Anquan Jackson ripped off a 31-yard run that put the Braves on the Bearcats’ 2-yard line, and Jackson punched it in on the next play. The PAT by Carson Key was good, and the Braves led 7-0 with 8:32 left in the opening quarter.
However, Long Beach responded and drove down the field before scoring on a 23-yard run and tacking on the PAT to tie the game at 7 apiece.
Key added a 26-yard field goal to give SJ the lead back at 10-7 with 3:37 left in the first quarter. The Braves were able to get to the Bearcats’ 10-yard line on a 52-yard pass play from quarterback Kaden Murphy to Kaleb McGruder.
After the Braves’ “Bullet Club” defense forced another punt, Murphy connected with Corben Nobles on a 38-yard pass to put South at the Long Beach 36-yard line on the final play of the opening quarter.
McGruder then had a 21-yard run to get the Braves in the red zone before Jackson capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run. Key’s PAT put the Braves up 17-7.
The Bearcats responded with a 32-yard touchdown pass and a successful PAT to cut the lead back to three at 17-14 with 6:41 left in the half.
After the Braves turned the ball over in Bearcats territory, the “Bullet Club” took its turn to put points on the board.
Junior defensive back Kane Welch intercepted a Bearcats pass and raced 24 yards for the pick-six. Key’s extra point pushed the lead back to 10 as the Braves took a 24-14 lead into halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, South Jones defensive end Reese Walters picked off another Bearcats pass that gave South the ball at the Long Beach 35-yard line. However, a couple of plays later, the Braves turned the ball back over to the Bearcats. But the “Bullet Club” stepped up and forced another punt.
The only other score of the night was like watching lightning in a bottle when Jackson took a handoff and raced up the home sideline 70 yards for the score. Key tacked on the final point of the night with 2:00 left in the third quarter.
The final chance that Long Beach had at scoring, around the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, was thwarted when South Jones sophomore defensive back Elijah Brown intercepted another Bearcats pass, this time in the end zone.
A scary moment happened with about three minutes left in the game when a Long Beach offensive lineman was injured on a play and lay still on the South Jones turf. Medical staff attended to him for more than 10 minutes before he was stabilized, placed on a stretcher and carted off the field and into an ambulance.
With the win on Thursday, the Braves have an extra day to get ready for region play starting on Friday. Herrington said there are still things his team needs to clean up before its region opener against Sumrall.
“At times we just can’t seem to get out of our own way with dumb penalties and mental miscues, like a missed tackle here and a missed block there, and it is just the little things that we have to continue to work on every day,” Herrington said. “We can’t just roll up and show up to the game and expect to play well. We have to do the right things through the entire week and the entire game. We have to get better at our craft and keep striving to be 1-0 at the end of every week. Because starting Friday, these final five games mean a whole lot more than the first six did.”
South Jones will travel to Sumrall (4-2) for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday. The Bobcats come in after suffering a 54-17 loss to Seminary on Thursday.