Jonesboro-Hodge drove over one river and treaded water with another. 

That was the “shorthand” report of what took place on Saturday when JHHS traveled to Monroe to take on Red River High School in the annual Bayou Jamb that was played at Malone Stadium on the campus of the University of Louisiana-Monroe (ULM).

While the final score of 20-12 in favor of Red River doesn’t count in the 2024 LHSAA regular season win/loss total, their were many positive intangibles that did register with the Tiger coaching staff.

“Overall, I was pleased with the effort that we gave,” said JHHS head coach Terrance Blankenship. “There were several things I saw that makes me believe that we are ready to have a successful season.” 

When  asked to go into further detail, Blankenship was quick to point out how he was pleased with the way the team handled adversity, showed good discipline and fought to the very end. 

“Red River hit us with a long pass on their first play that led to them taking a quick lead and we had problems dealing with a wet ball due to the driving rain we played in virtually the entire first half ” recalled Blankenship when recounting the 14-0 hole they were in at the break of the abbreviated game that was played in two quarters.

In recap, Red River connected on a 40 yard pass that gave them a first down at the JH 30 yard line. From their, the Tiger defense stiffened up to force the Bulldogs to run 8 plays before they finally scored, including almost stopping the drive at the nine yard line by forcing a fumble. 

Then the rain started to really come down.

A couple of bad snaps result of the slippery pigskin left the Tigers in a punting situation deep in their own end of the field which Red River blocked and returned five yards for another score. 

JHHS would fumble again on their next possession giving Red River the ball at the Tiger 26 yard line but once again the JHHS defense forced a fumble, this time with Landon Boston recovering to end the threat. 

“Needless to say, we had a lot of things go wrong during the first half,” laughed Blankenship, who is entering a school record 12th year at the helm. “But I thought our guys handled the adversity well by coming out and winning the second half.” 

Red River went for the “kill shot” to start the second half by trying an onside kick but JHHS recovered the ball at the Bulldog 45 yard line. Five straight running plays by quarterback Dakota Knox moved the ball to the Red River 24 yard line but turned the ball over on downs. 

The Tigers got on the board on Red River’s next possession when Kyron Atkins sacked the Bulldog quarterback forcing yet another fumble which brother Ken’Wuan Atkins scooped up and returned it 26 yards for the touchdown narrowing the deficit to 14-6. 

Red River then would put the game away on a 12 play, 80 yard drive for their final points, capitalizing on two third down and a fourth down conversion for first downs and pair of runs of 20 and 18 yards on their final two plays. The drive that took 6:28 minutes put the Bulldogs up 20-6 with only 14 seconds left on the clock. 

“You have to give Red River credit for making the long drive and using up the clock,” said Blankenship. “We came close to stopping them a couple of times though and being the first time out ran out of gas at the end.” 

Despite having just a short time left to play, it was the response by the Tigers on the ensuing kickoff that gave Blankenship and staff the most optimism about the upcoming regular season. Christian McGuire gathered the ball in at his own 13 yard line and with the kick off team superbly providing blocks, broke to the sideline and raced down the field. As time was running out it looked like he would be brought down at the Red River 10 yard line but through sheer determination fought his way through two would be tacklers to finish off the 87 yard return.

“I thought that was a great example of the desire and determination Christian plays with and the kind of leader he is,” complimented Blankenship. “We had no chance of winning and a lot of players would have just taken that kick and ran it out of bounds but he gave it all he had to the very end. That is something that we can build on.”