The 96th meeting between Jonesboro-Hodge and Winnfield was another classic, as the Tigers from the north won a 30-20 contest that was close the entire 48 minutes.

Even with Winnfield eliminated from playoff contention heading into the game, this matchup was going to be hard fought battle regardless, as both teams came in wanting to beat their fierce rival.

J-Hodge received the ball to start the game, and both teams exchanged short drives that didn’t amount to anything. On the Tigers second drive, they had arguably their most impressive drive of the season.

For an offense that usually strikes with big plays, the 15 play, 63-yard touchdown
drive that took nearly 7 minutes off the clock was a surprise to many. Symeon Malone capped off the drive by finding Christian McGuire on a quick slant, and the two-point try from Chance Leonard gave J-H the early 8-0 lead, a lead they would never give back.

Winnfield responded with a touchdown of their own to open up the second quarter, but they were denied on the two-point attempt, keeping the score in favor of J-H 8-6 with 9:05 left in the half.

The next drive, Malone continued his great passing game by lofting one deep down the field to Za’Mauryian Palmer for a 56-yard connection. Two plays later, Malone hit Leonard in the flats for a 1-yard touchdown pass, Malone’s second of the night.

All season long, the Achilles heel for the Jonesboro-Hodge Tigers has been giving up points in the final two minutes of the first half, flipping the game in favor of the opposition. That would not be the case during this game.

With 2:01 left in the half, the Tigers stopped Winnfield at the J-H 32-yard line on 4th down. While the Tigers only had one timeout remaining and 68 yards between them and the end zone, they chose to be aggressive. Malone hit McGuire, Z. Palmer, and Dewayne Palmer to move down the field very quickly. On the seventh play of the drive with only 22 seconds remaining, Malone hit Z. Palmer in the back corner of the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown pass, and a huge two possession lead heading into the half.

At halftime, Winnfield made a QB change by inserting former starter Damascus Lewis into the lineup. With a vastly different skill set from first half starter Jake Jones, Lewis caused a lot of problems for the Tiger defense. He quickly led Winnfield down the field, and Jaylon Jackson punched it into the end zone from 10 yards out to make it a 10-point game. Winnfield, down 22-12, tried to make it a one possession deficit by going for two, but the Tiger defense sniffed out the run and denied the try.

Winnfield would open up the fourth with another touchdown to tighten up the score to 22-20 with 10:05 left. Responding to the pressure, the quick strike J-H offense came alive as Malone started to take back control of the game, this time with his legs, rushing for 31 yards on the drive.

Set up in the Winnfield red zone with 8:00 left in the game, Malone threw a beautiful ball to the back pylon and Dewayne Palmer made a great play to come down with it to give Malone his fourth touchdown pass of the night, and the Tigers a 30-20 lead after Leonard converted another two- point try. This was Palmer’s first touchdown of the season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time or a bigger moment.

Both teams exchanged punts the next couple drives, and then Winnfield had a chance to cut it to one score with less than two minutes remaining. As he has all year long, Burns stepped up to make a big play when his team needed him by leaping up and intercepting the Winnfield desperation pass, sending the rival fans heading to their vehicles early.

Two kneel downs by Malone and Jonesboro-Hodge would win the contest 30-20 improving the Tigers to 4-6 overall, and 2-3 in district play. The victory assured JHHS a 3-2 on the road this season which could be important as per preliminary playoff projections, the Tigers look like they will be traveling to Ferriday for a first round Division IV “non select” playoff game.