“Union county had some really good football players and it showed. You can really tell that these guys knew each other. They have played together for a long time and it showed.“
Now East Jackson must prepare to meet another set of Eagles – those of Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville Friday night at 7:30.
Riverside is coming off of a close loss to North Oconee Friday night, 23-21. Those Eagles are 3-1 overall, and 1-0 in the region.
So far, Riverside has scored 146 points to East Jackson’s 85. Riverside has allowed 73 points, while East Jackson has allowed 90.
Panthers Prowl
While Union County controlled the field for most of the night, the Eagles did score twice, once in the first quarter, and again in the second quarter.
Union County drew first blood, scoring early in the first quarter. With a minute and a half remaining in the quarter, Zach Gilbert got the Eagles on the board with a touchdown from 19 yards out to tie the game.
But 37 seconds into the second quarter, the Panthers scored their second touchdown of the night to retake the lead.
East Jackson sophomore Nick Fulks sacked Union County quarterback Kolt Owenby with just under six and a half minutes left in the quarter, slowing the Panthers’ momentum, but with 22 seconds remaining in the half, Union County scored their third touchdown of the night, making the score 21-7 going into halftime.
Hanging Tough
East Jackson came out in the second half and fumbled on the kickoff, with Union County recovering the ball on East Jackson’s 27-yard line.
East Jackson’s defense stepped up and pushed them back to the 30-yard line.
Union County again broke through late, and scored its fourth touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the quarter.
It was more of the same for the Panthers at the start of the fourth quarter, with Union County scoring its fifth and final touchdown of the night with 10:21 remaining.
The Eagles bunted another drive when Derrick Bozeman recovered a Union County fumble, returning it for 25 yards before being tackled.
The East Jackson offense broke through with 7:40 left in the game when junior Josh Clark recovered an East Jackson fumble to score the Eagles’ second touchdown of the night.
“We are a continuous work in process,” Caputo said. “We will regroup and continue to climb and move forward.”
Statistically Speaking
Zach Gilbert led the Eagle ground attack with 40 yards on eight carries, followed by Standrick Stevens with 34 yards on five snaps. Robbie King gained 19 yards on 10 carries, C.J. Allen gained 13 yards on three tries and C.J. Allen gained 13 yards on three attempts.
Quarterback Cody Gibbs completed five of 16 passes for 31 yards and one interception. He also had four carries for seven yards. Kaharie Beasley had one reception for 12 yards, Dylan Kemp had one reception for 18 yards, King grabbed one pass for 10 yards and Tyler Collins had two receptions for a loss of nine yards.
The East Jackson defense allowed 35 points and 206 yards on 25 attempts. Stephens blocked a field goal attempt.
Individual defensive stats were not available at press time.
