A PAIRING of the first and last-place teams in Region 8-AA this past Friday yielded the expected result.
Jefferson built a 47-0 halftime lead over Social Circle on the road in cruising to a 47-10 victory — the Dragons’ seventh in a row.
“The thing to get accomplished was to win the game and get out of there without an injury, then hopefully, play as many guys as we could that had not gotten to play much throughout the season,” Jefferson coach T. McFerrin said. “We accomplished all three of those things.”
Jefferson led 19-0 after a quarter and scored 28 more points in the second quarter to pave the way for an all-junior varsity second half.
This marked the fourth time this year that Jefferson has topped the 40-point mark.
Sophomore running back Sammy Williams rushed 14 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns as Jefferson finished with 511 total yards and 28 first downs.
The Dragons didn’t have to punt the entire game.
Antonio Strickland added 49 yards rushing and a touchdown. Austin McAllister and Tristen Jackson also had rushing touchdowns.
Dragon quarterback Bryant Shirreffs threw for 190 yards and two touchdowns on 7-of-11 passing in limited action due to Jefferson’s large lead.
Younger brother Evan Shirreffs came off the bench and hit 4-of-4 passes for 53 yards.
McKay Dickens finished with 83 yards receiving, while Chandler Thompson had a 62-yard touchdown reception. Donnie Hatfield also had 38 yards and a touchdown catch.
Social Circle managed just 114 yards and seven first downs in its 14th consecutive loss.
Wesley Simonton led Jefferson with 10 tackles, one sack and three tackles for loss. Kody McDonald had nine tackles and three tackles for loss.
Against the Dragon junior varsity players, Social Circle was able to punch in a touchdown and add a field goal in the second half.
Those two scores came as a result of two turnovers by the junior varsity offense.
“I told the defense after the game that we were going to give them a shutout,” McFerrin said.
McFerrin said he wasn’t overly disappointed with not getting an actual shutout.
“I’m not going to let that override the good that happened and the fact that we won the game,” he said.
Jefferson improved to 14-5 all-time against Social Circle.
