THERE have been plenty of superlatives used in the wake of Jefferson’s 27-21 victory over North Hall Friday to describe that win.
That tends to happen when a team tackles a player inside the five-yard line — as the Dragons did — with no time left to end the game.
“That was the best game I’ve ever played in,” said Dragon linebacker Wesley Simonton, who has an eye-popping 35 tackles and 11 tackles for loss in the last two games. “(We played) against a tough team. We were the underdogs. We left it out on the field. We gave everything we had until the last play and it paid off.”
Jefferson coach T. McFerrin has seen decades worth of football but was nonetheless amazed with his team’s effort in the win over Class AAA’s no. 9 team.
“It was unbelievable,” McFerrin said. “Our guys played their guts out. They never quit. They never gave up. That’s why we won the game.”
McFerrin, whose team is off this week, said he has a whole sheet worth of improvements that need to be made, but is happy to tackle those adjustments following a thrilling night like the Dragons enjoyed this past Friday.
“It’s a lot easier to go make those corrections after you’ve won a game,” he said.
Jefferson scored twice in the fourth quarter and withstood a furious final drive from North Hall to pick up its second straight win over the Trojans.
The play of the game came with seven seconds left with North Hall on the Dragons’ 20. North Hall’s Andrew Smith ran to the left, reversed his field position and took off to the right where he had a wall of Trojan blockers. But Simonton, running from midfield, was able to head Smith off and force him to cut back.
Collin Anthony and Tradd Porter were able to make the tackle inside the five to save the game.
“That kid did something I’ve never seen somebody do — reversing field like that and almost scoring,” Simonton said. “It freaked me out but we got to him before he scored. I was speechless right there.”
That tackle capped off a wild fourth quarter in this non-region battle.
Jefferson trailed 21-12 in the final period but a three-yard touchdown run from Sammy Williams pulled Jefferson within two points, 21-19, with about six minutes left.
Then Jefferson rolled the dice, calling for an onside kick.
Given the success North Hall had running the ball all night — the Trojans gashed the Dragons for 398 yards — Jefferson coaches felt their team wouldn’t see the ball again if they elected to kick the ball to the Trojans.
“It was a no-brainer to go onside,” McFerrin said.
Dragon kicker Chandler Schlutow executed the onside kick and recovered it. McFerrin pointed to the magnitude of that kick.
“We probably wouldn’t have gotten the ball back,” McFerrin said.
Jefferson moved down the field by spreading out the formation with no backs and letting Bryant Shirreffs run on quarterback draws. Shirreffs finished with a career-high 128 yards rushing and two touchdowns to go with 144 yards passing.
“He had a great game and our offensive line playing against those huge guys – they played great,” McFerrin said.
Shirreffs capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Chandler Thompson with about three minutes left.
Jefferson almost scored too fast, actually.
North Hall took the ensuring kickoff and embarked on a drive of its own, ripping off chunks of yardage and even converting on fourth-and-six.
“We couldn’t stop them,” McFerrin said.
The game nearly ended with 30 seconds left when North Hall had a receiver wide-open in the end zone. But Austin Mixon managed to break-up what would have been a sure touchdown pass to keep the lead in tact.
Then the Dragons survived the chaotic final play.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had one like that with any of my teams,” McFerrin said. “That covers a lot of years.”
Simonton, on the heels of a 17-tackle, four-sack effort against Jackson County, played an even bigger game against the Trojans. The senior finished with 18 tackles and seven tackles for loss.
“He had a career night,” McFerrin said. He had just an unbelievable night.”
Simonton said it took a team effort to free him up for all those stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Jefferson did a lot of stunting which opened up blitzing opportunities for Simonton.
“They sent me on a lot of blitzes, and I got to them,” he said. “Everybody did their job and that’s why it opened up. It was a team effort and that’s why I made so many plays because the team did what they were supposed to do. It just worked out perfectly basically.”
Linebacker Kody McDonald also had a huge night with 15 tackles and two tackles for loss.
“He had a great game,” McFerrin said. “He always does.”
But McFerrin said there were so many other key players, too.
Like Hanon Price, who made nine tackles — several of which stopped big-gainers. Or Tay Stevens, who the Dragons plugged in at nose guard to stunt and set up the blitzes that sprang Simonton loose. Or Tyler Bowen, who practiced just two days at defensive end and finished with seven tackles.
“He can really be a force for us out there,” McFerrin said.
Then there was the play of Jefferson’s offensive linemen that were going up against 250-lb., 260-lb. and 270-lb. linemen from North Hall.
“I can’t criticize the effort,” McFerrin said of the win. “I can criticize the technique and fundamentals which we’re going to work on today (Monday), but my gosh, the effort they gave us was phenomenal. I couldn’t be prouder.”
For a team that felt a bit deflated after an opening-week loss to Commerce, wins like this once are again instilling confidence.
“It’s helping us grow up early,” McFerrin said. “It gives them confidence, the fact that they know they can comeback now.
He added: “We’re a much better football team than we were three weeks ago.”
Simonton certainly agrees.
“It basically tells that we can go far this season,” he said. “That what happened the first game of the season, that we’ve learned from it and that we’re basically just getting better and better. It gave everybody a confidence boost.”
With an off week now, the Dragons have several days to get healed before the start of region play Sept. 28 at Greene County.
“It’s really good to have an off-week,” Simonton said. “Our whole team’s bodies — we’re just really sore. We really needed this off week because everybody just laid it out there 100 percent.”
