The Eagles have nothing on the line but pride when they face the Panthers, who are ranked fifth in 8A-AA. Union comes into the night 2-3 in the region, and 3-6 overall. They will head to East Jackson fresh off of a 30-24 loss to Fannin County, and with wins over Dawson and Rabun County under their belts.
The two teams split their previous two meetings, with Union winning 35-4 in 2008, while the Eagles won 56-27 last year.
When asked his expectations for Friday night’s game, East Jackson football coach Frank Caputo was direct.
“We’re expecting to win,” he said. “But playing Union, their coach, Brian Allison, is a good friend of mine. He does a really fine job of coaching those kids. They’re in the spread, and they’re going to throw it all over the field.”
Caputo said his team will face a talented Panther squad Friday night.
“Watching them on film, they throw the ball very well. He’s got two quarterbacks, one that runs well and one that throws well. His defense has six or seven seniors on it. It ought to be pretty interesting.”
Kick off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Jefferson
East Jackson hoped to come away with its first ever win in the cross-county rivalry with Jefferson Friday night.
With the teams having similar records going into the third pairing of the two teams, most expected this to be a close contest.
But the Dragons came out swinging in the first quarter, scoring three touchdowns to make it a 21-0.
Moving into the second quarter, it looked like more of the same as Jefferson scored again to make it a 28-0 game.
The Eagles finally got on the board with just over eight minutes left in the half with a 48-yard touchdown pass from Cody Gibbs to a wide-open Brion Youngs to make it 28-7.
But the charge was short-lived, as Jefferson scored again in the second quarter to carry a 35-7 advantage into the half.
Jefferson continued its domination in the second half, adding two more touchdowns.
The only other high point for East Jackson came with just under a minute and a half left to play, as Gibbs broke into the Dragons’ end zone on a five-yard run for the touchdown. C.J. Allen tacked on the two-point conversion.
But it was far too little far too late, as Jefferson continued its dominance over East Jackson, 49-15.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News or The Jackson Herald.
