Carly Brooks was named East Jackson's homecoming queen Friday, but the Eagle faithful had little else to cheer for in a 30-0 loss to Oglethorpe County.
East Jackson defenders spent most of the night trying to tackle Patriot quarterback Kendrick Presley and tailback Corey Davenport as Oglethorpe County's triple option attack rolled up 374 yards rushing.
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"They ran the triple (option) great," said East Jackson coach Brian Smith, who was denied his 100th career win. "They did a good job offensively and schemed us pretty good in every phase of the ball game. They kicked our tails."
Smith said a lethargic week of practice spilled over into the game.
"We didn't really have a lot of heart tonight," he said. "We didn't really want to play. We warned our kids all week. We kind of practiced that way all week. I sent the kids off the field on Thursday because of the way we were just kind of walking around and not focused. And it came back ... We got our butts beat."
Davenport rolled up 184 yards rushing on the ground with two touchdowns, while Presley added 160 yards rushing and one touchdown as the Patriots avenged a 39-12 loss to East Jackson last year. Davenport's 55-yard touchdown off an option pitch with 10:05 left in the game completed the rout. Presley also threw a touchdown pass — a 32-yarder late in third quarter to Shaq Fleming that gave Oglethorpe County a 23-0 lead.
Oglethorpe County led 16-0 at the half.
Led by C.J. Allen's 121-yard night, East Jackson ran for 187 yards but had couldn't muster anything in the air as Eagle quarterback Tyler Collins was held to just 1-of-8 passing for -2 yards.
East Jackson faces Hart County next week on the road.
"We got beat," Smith said. "We've got to get ready for Hart. We're going to find at least 11 guys that want to show up next week to play Hart, and every job is wide-open right now on our football team. We've got to bounce back, kind of like life. You've got to bounce back in life and do something. We're going to bounce back and do some good things."
