Not since the 2012-13 football season, the year before Terrance Blankenship became head coach, has the Jonesboro-Hodge Tigers gotten off to an 0-4 start to a football season.  Now the longest-tenured coach in Tiger history is trying to implore a sense of urgency to his squad to do what it takes to turn things around. and hopes that the message is heard and understood. 

“We are our own worst enemy,” said Blankenship while preparing his team for this Friday night’s contest at Arcadia. “Before we can beat anybody we have got to quit beating ourselves.”

Last week’s 44-8 loss to Lincoln Prep in the Tigers District 1-1A opener is a prime example. Twice J-Hodge gave up “pick six” interception returns for a touchdown. Another L-Prep score came on a return of a fumble. The Tigers also allowed a safety and gave up a kick-off return for a score. 

“You simply can’t win making those kind of mistakes,’ confirmed Blankenship.

While the obvious solution of not making the critical errors that has been the bane of the Tigers season to date is an easy to see remedy, the question of how to achieve this is harder to answer.

One option is to start playing more of his younger players. 

“We only have 28 players on the roster and 16 of those are freshmen and sophomores so we have been hesitant to throw these youngsters with no experience into the mix,” said Blankenship. “At this point though, we are going to have to look at seeing if maybe they can make a difference.” 

Blankenship did say that although frustrated by the slow start that his team had two of their better practices early in the week and seemed to grasp the need to change the season around now. 

“We still have the bulk of our district season ahead of us and can still reach the goals we set at the beginning of the season,” said Blankenship. “But for us to achieve what we want we have to get things moving forward this week.”

Kickoff for the contest between the Tigers (0-4, 0-1) and Arcadia (2-2, 1-0) is set for 7:00 pm on Friday. For those not able to make the trip to Arcadia, you can listen to the game on the new home of JHHS football, Roux102, found at 102.3 FM. You can also livestream the game by downloading the Roux102 app. 

District 1-1A Standings