(Clay Williams- JPJ)

It was a battle of the Tigers on Friday night at Caldwell-Peacock Stadium as Jonesboro-Hodge welcomed 6th-ranked DeQuincy. While the final score would be 38-20 in favor of DeQuincy, the game was much closer throughout.

J-Hodge elected to receive the opening kickoff, but DeQuincy immediately forced a 3-and-out and a Tiger punt. Dakota Knox barely got the punt away after a snap that sailed over his head, and then 5 running plays later DeQuincy had their first touchdown of the night.

After quickly falling behind 7-0, the Tigers hoped to get things back on track on their next offensive drive. Sadly, the Tigers never got that opportunity after a fumble on their kickoff set up DeQuincy on the J-H 26-yard line. A couple plays later, DeQuincy extended the early lead to 14 points.

Christian McGuire took matters into his own hands on the ensuing kickoff when he caught the ball on his own 10-yard line, made a few jukes to the right, and outsprinted the DeQuincy defenders for an untouched, 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. McGuire didn’t get a chance to rest after the return, as the 2-point conversion saw him come in motion and catch a touch pass from Knox before barreling into the end zone to make it a 14-8 score. The Tigers were suddenly right back in the ballgame.

The fast-paced 1st quarter didn’t slow down just yet, as DeQuincy answered back with a quick 53 yard, 5 play touchdown drive.

With 3:31 left in the 1st quarter, the score was already 21-8 in favor of the visiting Tigers. Fans for both teams finally got a chance to sit down and breathe, as the touchdowns would stop for a little while.

DeQuincy decided to abandon the run game that J-Hodge seemingly couldn’t slow down thus far, and Christian McGuire made them pay as he came away with his 2nd interception of the season. The 1st quarter would end with J-H trailing by a score of 21-8.

As if McGuire hadn’t done enough already to give DeQuincy nightmares, he decided to add more fuel to the fire in the 2nd quarter when he jumped up and “mossed” a DeQuincy defender on a deep pass from Dakota Knox and outran the rest of the defense for a 65-yard touchdown.

Through 16 minutes of game time, McGuire had a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown, a 65-yard receiving touchdown, and an interception. It was an all-around incredible effort so far in all three phases of the game.

DeQuincy added a 29-yard field goal to their tally right before halftime, and the two teams went into the locker rooms with a score of 24-14 in favor of DeQuincy.

Jonesboro-Hodge’s defensive front continued its stellar play to open the 3rd quarter after a slow start to the game with Ken’Wuan Atkins and Landon Boston consistently getting through to force negative plays for DeQuincy. They forced a 3-and-out quickly, and the Tigers set out on their first offensive drive of the half looking to make it a one possession game.

Dakota Knox started using his legs to pick get the running game going, and he also took advantage of the DeQuincy cornerbacks playing off the wide receivers to connect on some quick slants to DJ Palmer. Then as the defense started to come up in a press, freshman Ja’Marlon Johnson burned past them and hauled in a deep ball from Knox for the 1st touchdown of his young high school career, and to make it a 24-20 game midway through the 3rd quarter.

Both teams punted on their next drives as the 4th quarter started with DeQuincy facing a pivotal 3rd and 13. After the quarterback ran around for what felt like an eternity, he finally threw the ball deep down field barely past the outstretched arms of J-H’s Z’Mauryian Palmer for a toe tap completion to his receiver. This play would turn out to be a backbreaker, as a few plays later DeQuincy scampered into the end zone on another 3rd down conversion and pulled away with a 31-20 lead.

DeQuincy tacked on another touchdown as time was winding down to make the final score 38-20. Jonesboro-Hodge outscored DeQuincy 12-3 in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the hot start and clutch finish of the visiting Tigers.

The Tigers are at home again next Friday for Homecoming, taking on the Plain Dealing Lions. Kickoff will be at 7:00 on Friday night at Caldwell-Peacock Stadium.