Emotions have run high at other sports events between the two schools in the three previous years since East Jackson opened, but this will be the first time the two have faced off in football as Jackson County moved to 8-AA play this year.
Despite coming into the game off of a cross-region loss to Fannin County last week, the Panthers are still off to a strong start, having beaten Johnson on Aug. 27 and Walnut Grove on Sept. 3.
“I expect them to be an emotionally hard-nosed, well-schooled football team,” said coach Frank Caputo. “Watching them on film, they do a lot of things very well. Last year, they threw up a bunch of points, and this year I think they’re waiting to have a breakout week. I just hope it’s not against us. They have some good, skilled kids, they’re big and I think they’re going to be a very good opponent. I think they’ll be very well schooled.”
Kickoff is at 7:30.
Banks County
The Eagles were looking for their first win of 2010 when they made the trip to Homer to face the Banks County Leopards Friday night.
Tyler Collins scored a touchdown to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead with a minute and a half left in the quarter.
Starting the second quarter at midfield, East Jackson pushed down to the Leopards’ 25-yard line where Banks County’s defense made a tackle for a seven-yard loss for the third down. East Jackson elected to go for the field goal and hit it to go up 10-0.
East Jackson added another two TDs in the first half. At 6:18 in the quarter, East Jackson scored from 24 yards out, and Jermaine Davis scored East Jackson’s third touchdown to give the Eagles a 24-0 advantage at the half.
The Eagles recovered a Banks County fumble on the Leopard two-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter, leading to their fourth touchdown of the night.
C.J. scored with just under three minutes left in the game to seal the victory 38-0.
“I think the kids just relaxed and played and just had fun,” Caputo said. “Plus when you play against people you don’t know, like we did with Oconee and White, there’s an element of doubt, so to speak, because you’ve never played them. I guess it’s like jumping off the high dive for the first time But I think they were a lot more comfortable this time.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News and The Jackson Herald.
