(Clay Williams – JPJ)

Legendary wrestler Ric Flair famously said, “To be the man, you have to beat the man.” That is one of the best ways to explain why Class 1A Jonesboro-Hodge would schedule a school with the size and skill of Class 4A West Ouachita.

While the Tigers did not “beat the man” on Thursday night, they did leave the 47-0 loss battle-tested and having learned lessons that will help them throughout the remainder of the season.

J-Hodge arrived at the game with an active roster of 28 players and 4 seniors. West Ouachita on the other hand, had a whopping 97 players and 23 seniors. It felt like a true battle of David vs Goliath at “The Rez”, the nickname of the West Ouachita Chief football field. The Tigers played the role of David well, and never backed down from the fight for the entire 48 minutes, regardless of what the score would say at the end of the game.

The Tigers won the coin toss and elected to receive, hoping to get the offense going early and set the tone of the game. After a few hard designed runs by quarterback Dakota Knox, the Tigers had to settle for a punt on their opening drive. The home-standing Chiefs set themselves up in great field position by returning the punt to the J-Hodge 7-yard line.

Two runs of not much positive yardage against the stout J-Hodge defensive line set up West Ouachita with an early 3rd down. Senior Fullback MJ Owens bulldozed his way into the end zone, and the PAT was good to make it a 7-0 Chiefs lead.

It was all Chiefs from that point forward. While most teams would want to just completely forget about a game like this, the Tigers had plenty to take away from it to help educate and better the team.

“We knew going in that we had a huge task ahead of us,” said JHHS head coach Terrance Blankenship. “Many said before the season that this is probably the best team that West Ouachita has had in their history. They proved that they are very good.” 

Offensively, not much went right for the Tigers overall on Thursday night. West Ouachita’s defense was big, experienced, and deep enough to consistently rotate in players. The biggest positive takeaways from the offensive side of the ball would be the legs from QB Dakota Knox, and the inclusion of wide receiver Christian McGuire in the run game. Both players showed numerous flashes on the ground that give the Tiger fans something to be excited about going forward.

Defensively, the Tigers mostly held their own, outside of some big plays that were real back breakers. Sophomore standout Dylan Hayes continued to provide consistent pressure on the opposing QB. Junior linebacker Landon Boston played with a relentless motor and was always near the ball. Senior Ken’Wuan Atkins forced and recovered a fumble to keep his outstanding start to the season going.

The heart, fight, and attitude of this Tiger team can be shown by their last defensive drive. Hopelessly behind

late in the 4th quarter and facing the second string of West Ouachita (which would be more like starters on most 1A schools in the state), J-Hodge wanted to end on a positive note. They did just that by standing strong forcing a turnover on downs with a little over one minute left on the game clock, as the Chiefs were trying to get one more score on the board.

Many teams would just roll over and let the opposition waltz in for as many points as they wanted in a situation like that. But the pride of this Jonesboro-Hodge football team was too strong to allow that to happen, and that’s something that will inevitably translate to success when consistently displayed.

The Tigers, now 0-2 on the season, will be on the road again next week, this time taking on the Delhi Charter Gators out of district 2-2A who is now 2-0 on the season after beating Lakeview 44-0 on Friday. Kickoff will be at 7:00 on Friday Night.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	FINAL
Jonesboro-Hodge (0-2)	0	0	0	0	0
West Ouachita (2-0)	14	13	20	0	47

Passing:
Dakota Knox (3-8 for -3 yards, 2 Ints)

Receiving:
Za”mauryian Palmer (1 for -3 yards)

Tackles:
Maurice Baker: 6 tackles, 1 assist, 2 tackles for a loss
Dylan Hayes: 6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss
Landon Boston: 4 tackles, 1 assist, 1 fumble recovery
Kyron Atkins: 4 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss
Sadaar Stevens: 2 tackles, 1 assist, 1 tackle for a loss
Ken’Wuan Atkins: 2 tackles, 1 assist
D.J. Palmer: 2 tackles

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