When the first half of the season-opening Bayou Jamb ended, you couldn’t blame Delhi Charter for feeling pretty good about its prospects of winning. After all, the Gators were ahead 16-6 and were playing Jonesboro-Hodge Tigers again after beating the Tigers during the regular season last year.
What the Gators didn’t know was what Jonesboro-Hodge High School head coach Terrance Blankenship knew.
That was the fact that the deficit his Tigers were in at the half didn’t have the first thing to do with what the Richland Parish foe was doing, but rather the inconsistencies JHHS had shown that, if improved on, would bring the Tigers a victory.
“I told the team at the half that Delhi Charter wasn’t beating us, but we were beating ourselves,” said Blankenship. “We had our chances but weren’t taking advantage of them. We dropped passes, missed blocks and tackles and weren’t defending passes like we should have.”
Apparently, his Tigers got the message! Not only did they hear what their coach had to say, they responded by coming out more focused, which resulted in a come-from-behind 20-16 victory.
“We looked a lot better in the second half,” conceded Blankenship. “But we still have a lot of work to do before we play Winnfield, especially in the areas of tackling and defending passes.”
One area that Blankenship and staff were extremely pleased with was the offensive production displayed by the new look alignment that was implemented the week before the contest.
“We decided to make a change at quarterback after the scrimmage against D’Arbonne Woods and Mangham the week before,” confessed Blankenship. “King Campbell played so well that despite him being only a freshman, we thought that if he could continue to play like he did in the scrimmage, then we could utilize Dakota Knox’s talent as a runner by lining him up in the backfield, which we felt would give us more explosiveness on offense.”
Give Blankenship credit for the foresight.
Not only did Knox explode for a long touchdown run from the tailback position, but Campbell showed poise well beyond his youth and was tremendously effective as a passer, including connecting with D.J. Palmer on a beautifully placed over-the-shoulder bomb down the left sideline for a score. Adding to the benefits was the room that workhorse Landon Boston found once all eyes weren’t keyed on him, leading him to break off a long run to score the go-ahead touchdown late in the game.
“It was good to see what could be called an experiment bring such good results,” said Blankenship. “We have a lot of momentum going into our season opener with Winnfield now.”
Following the contest, a check in the amount of $250.00 was presented by Origin Bank to Jonesboro-Hodge High School in honor of Dakota Knox being named Player of the Game.
Scenes from 2025 Bayou Jamb
