Jacksonville football players were very vocal as they reflected on what was perhaps the Cardinals’ finest performance this season.

“We see what everybody is saying about us,” senior defensive lineman Demari June said. “We try to stay humble and just keep working, but people are doubting us. That’s what fuels our fire.”

The Cardinals certainly played like a motivated bunch Friday night in a 42-7 home victory over previously undefeated East Duplin.

All six Jacksonville touchdowns came via big plays while the Cardinals held the Panthers to a mere 54 yards of total offense in the first half.

“What fired us up the most was seeing that people had East Duplin ranked over us,” senior quarterback Josiah Benton said. “That gave us that drive to do what we had to do on the field.”

Jacksonville (3-1) was coming off a 47-20 win at Topsail, a game where the Cardinals led 14-7, thanks to a punt return for a touchdown. It followed a 14-6 home defeat to Northside on Aug. 27.

“The critics, the haters and the doubters, we wanted to prove everyone wrong,” junior defensive back Domonic Williams said. “We just needed to get our heads on right, play Card ball and play for each other.”

It appears as if Jacksonville did against the Panthers (4-1), who are now 1-6 all-time in the series. The Cardinals got contributions from all three areas. 

“Our guys played extremely well, a lot better than the past two weeks,” Jacksonville coach Beau Williams said. “We’ve gotten better, and we executed against an extremely good East Duplin team.”

The Cardinals flexed their muscles early as Benton scored on a 60-yard run on the game’s first play from scrimmage to make it 7-0. Moments later, Williams followed with a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Less than four minutes in, Jacksonville led 14-0.

“I came into the game a little nervous, but after that first run … the game felt great,” Benton said.

The Cardinals, however, weren’t done in the second quarter.

Benton found senior SaRonn Thompson for a 63-yard touchdown, Williams returned a punt 70 yards for a score and senior Amari Pearson added a 19-yard touchdown run. Senior Montez Jimenez ran for a 59-yard score in the fourth.

“I told our guys that this was going to be the fastest team we will play all year, and I think they saw that,” East Duplin coach Battle Holley said. “Jacksonville has speed everywhere and they’re well-coached.”

That speed also applied to the Cardinals’ defense, which also features seniors: linebackers Zach Patterson and Matt Lobo, linemen Judah Bloomfield, Jamauri Cooper and Micah Miller and defensive back Sammie Rogers IV, among others.

Jacksonville held East Duplin to just 135 yards of total offense, including only 120 on the ground. Most of that came on the Panthers’ 72-yard scoring drive in the third, capped by senior Keeshon McKinnie’s 8-yard touchdown run.

“We did our jobs,” June said. “We all knew what we needed to do and everything fell into place. If we keep doing that, nobody can stop us.”

The Panthers had just four first-half first downs with two of them coming via penalty. The seven points was the fewest East Duplin scored since a 19-0 loss to Richlands in 2024.

“We didn’t maintain blocks, and Jacksonville is fast to the ball,” Holley said. “We had some negative plays which put us in bad situations.”

The Panthers look to address their miscues during next week’s open date before they open East Central 3-A/4-A Conference play at Southwest on Oct. 2. Jacksonville also has an open date next week before the Cardinals kick off Big Carolina 6-A/7-A Conference play at home against New Bern on Oct. 2.

“We want to keep bringing it,” Williams said. “We will keep working to get better.”

June believes the Cardinals will do just that as the Cardinals try to win a conference title for the third consecutive season.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “We want to keep working, keep getting better and keep stacking wins.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.