Clay Williams, Ben Ledbetter – JPJ

When two fierce rivals like Jonesboro-Hodge and Winnfield battle on the football field, you need more than just good execution on the field to win. You also need to have a “little” luck on your side.

Home-standing, Jonesboro-Hodge had a “lot” of luck on Friday night.

Unfortunately, mostly it was all bad.

As result, the 98th meeting between the two Tigers was a close fought contest that in no way was any indication of just how close the game was despite the final 27-0 margin that Winnfield came away with.

The game started with Winnfield having the opening possession. The J-Hodge defensive line quickly make their presence felt in a big way by forcing a fumble on the third play that junior, Kyron Atkins jumped on giving  JHHS the ball at the Winnfield 26 yard line. 

At that point it looked like Jonesboro-Hodge might have lots of good luck. Winnfield would also lose the grip on the pigskin made slippery by the rain soaked field on their next two possessions as well, but their luck was changing as WHS was able to make a recovery each time to avoid serious problems. 

Then the bad luck really started to kick in. 

With about 45 seconds left in the first quarter, J-H quarterback, Dakota Knox, hit ZaMauryian Palmer on a little touch pass. After fighting for four yards, Palmer got stood up. Just when the play was expected to be called dead, a Winnfield player reached in and popped the ball loose in front of Damascus Lewis who scooped it up and ran 30 yards to the J-H 16 yard line. Winnfield would score a touchdown three plays later as time expired in the opening stanza to take a 7-0 lead.

After the two squads swapped interceptions early in the second quarter, Winnfield extended the lead to 15-0 with only 31 seconds left in the half after a short run and a two point conversion that came after J-H was flagged on the extra point attempt that had sailed wide. 

Jonesboro-Hodge opened the third quarter with their best drive of the game in the mixing the running of Knox, Landon Boston, and Marquise Baker leading to one of the two best chances the Tigers had for a score. Facing a third down at the Winnfield 18 yard line, Knox lofted what looked like a perfectly placed pass to Christian
McGuire at the goal line. Despite looking like he was beaten on the play though, Winnfield’s Lewis somehow got a finger on the ball to force the incompletion.

Once again, the J-H defense came up big. Ken’Wuan Atkins, Dylan Hayes, and Malik Nichols  forced back-to-back losses of 12 and 10 yards putting Winnfield in a “4th and forever” situation at their own 2 yard line. It looked like JHHS would get a great break in their favor when the ball slipped out of the punters hand but with three Tigers all over him at the back of the endzone, somehow the Winnfield punter got the ball offlaid hits but somehow got the punt off.

UGGGHHHH!

JHHS took over in great position again at the Winnfield 32 yard line but turned the ball over on downs. Two plays later Winnfield was up 21-0 after a 64 yard jaunt by Jaylen Jackson as time ran out in the third quarter.

Talk about reversal of fortune’s. 

A bevy of even more tough breaks was still to come.

Early in the fourth quarter the Tiger D forced pounced on what looked like a fumble. Unlike what took place in the first quarter when Winnfield was awarded the ball in a similar situation, this time the ref’s called the play dead. 

The very next play Dakota Knox jumped a pass that would’ve been an easy Pick 6, but instead the ball fell harmlessly to the soggy turf setting up the hardest pill J-H had to swallow on the night.

Winnfield set up in punting formation and to the delight of Tiger fans a bad snap sent the punter scrambling to find the handle. With several Tigers all around him, the punter managed to get a grip on the ball and took off around end, not stopping until he had rambled 78 yards for a touchdown. 

Enough Already!!!!

“Needless to say we dealt with a lot of bad luck tonight,” said JHHS head coach Terrance Blankenship. “Give Winnfield credit though, they made plays when they needed to and we didn’t.. That was basically the difference in the game.” 

The Tigers will be on the road next Friday night to take on Class 4A West Ouachita who beat Richwood 49-6 in their season opener. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.