It’s been 28 years since the Jackson County Panthers football team found themselves with a 3-0 record going into the fourth game of the season.
But that’s exactly where the Panthers are going into the start of region play Friday after defeating Prince Avenue Christian last week, tasting their first homecoming game victory in about 20 years.
Now Jackson County turns its attention to the task at hand – their first region game of 2009.
The Panthers will travel to Morgan County for that pairing. Looking at the statistics, Jackson County appears to have the clear advantage over the Bulldogs.
Morgan County comes into the game with a 0-3 record, having lost 55-7 to Washington County in their last game back on Sept. 11.
The Panthers have scored a total of 99 points this season, an average of 33 per game. The Bulldogs have scored 35, an average of 11.7 per game.
Jackson County has allowed only 10 points to be scored against them all year, an average of 3.3 per game, while the Bulldogs have allowed 127 points to be scored against them, an average of 42.3 per game.
Last year, Morgan County came away with a big 34-6 win.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Prince Ave.
Friday’s pairing against the Wolverines of Prince Avenue Christian started off with both teams fighting for field position, and looking for a way around each other’s defensive lines to score.
The Wolverines appeared to be on their way to scoring first, but with just under two and a half minutes left in the first quarter, the Panthers made a big stop on fourth down to take over on their own 15 yard line.
Both teams continued to look for an advantage, and with just under six minutes left in the half, the Panthers appeared to gain an upper hand.
Prince Avenue fumbled during a drive, and Jackson County’s Cody Grissom recovered, giving the Panthers possession on their own 22 yard line.
When the Wolverines again got the ball, they began moving their way back down the field. A field goal attempt with just over two and a half minutes left in the half was successful, and the Wolverines held a 3-0 lead.
The Panthers began working their way back down the field, and with barely five seconds left in the half, Rob Williams made his way into the Wolverines’ end zone to score the Panthers’ first points of the night. A successful extra point attempt gave the Panthers a 7-3 lead, which they would carry into halftime.
The third quarter featured more of the back and forth fighting for field position that had been seen in the first half. With just over six minutes left on the clock, Panthers quarterback Alex Crawford scored on a keeper to add to Jackson County’s lead. The extra point attempt missed, and the Panthers held a 13-3 lead.
From there on, the Panthers’ defense worked to keep the Wolverines from adding any more points on the board.
With a little over a minute and a half left to play, Prince Avenue tried for one more big push down field when the Panthers intercepted a pass. Jackson County would keep control of the ball, and win 13-3.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
None of these "Lead" items even appear in this "story". Come on! I know they aren't the Dragons, but can you guys at least try to earn my .75 cents?
The stats are in the printed version. Besides, if you think you can write a better story than what Mr. Reed is doing, why don't you go volunteer and then have people leave you comments about what a terrible job you are doing.
I for one, enjoy his stories.