The Drive! 

That is what will always be remembered about the football game between Jonesboro-Hodge and DeQuincy High School that saw the Tigers take a 21-7 victory on Friday.

There are actually several ways “The Drive” can be thought of.

First, it could be thought of as the long, laborious, and traffic-filled 3-hour journey to deep in the heart of “Cajun Country” that the Tigers and fans had to take to get to DeQuincy, located just above Lake Charles, LA which represented the longest regular season road trip that JHHS has taken in many years. 

Next, it could be how the trip coming home felt so much shorter.

That was mainly due to the biggest reason the contest will always be remembered as “The Drive” which was what took place in the fourth quarter of the final non-district game of the year for JHHS. 

To give a little background, JHHS had dominated the first half of play to take a 15-0 lead into the break. It was by far the best the Tigers had played in the first two quarters of a game this season, which in every one of the previous six contests, J-H had trailed by two scores at some point over the first 24 minutes of the game. 

That was not the case on this night that saw JHHS improve their season record to 4-3 on the year, the best record the Tigers have posted at this point of the season since 2021. 

JHHS opened the game by holding DeQuincy on downs to take possession on their own 31-yard line, leading to an impressive 6-play, 69-yard drive that was climaxed by Dakota Knox plunging across the goal line from three yards out. Landon Boston, who was making his first appearance since a severe hamstring injury in the season opener, barged his way in for the two-point conversion to give JHHS the 8-0 lead with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter. 

The Tigers upped the lead to 15-0 early in the second period when rising star Jaquan Qualls, who made his first appearance in a JHHS uniform three weeks ago, intercepted a pass and returned it to the DeQuincy 10-yard line. Boston, who ended the game with 108 yards on 16 carries for his first 100 or more yard rushing effort in his career, then scored his first touchdown of the year by sweeping left for 8 yards, followed by Sadaar Stevens splitting the uprights on the extra point conversion. 

The third quarter was another story. Everything that had gone right in the first half suddenly started going wrong, starting with DeQuincy making an interception on J-H’s first possession of the second half that was returned to the Tigers 38 38-yard line. Seven plays later, DeQuincy scored on a four-yard pass from Grant Rainwater to 6’6″ receiver Killian Denton, and with Christopher Contreras’ extra point, the home-standing Tigers had narrowed the deficit to 15-7.  Twice more, JHHS got the ball in the third quarter only to go “three and out” and give DeQuincy possession in J-H territory, but each time the Tiger defense came to the rescue to force punts. 

It was following the last DeQuincy punt just as the third quarter expired that brings us to the true meaning of why the contest will always be remembered as “The Drive.”

To set the stage, DeQuincy punter Ty LaVergne had blasted a 54-yard punt that pinned JHHS on their own 4-yard line with 11:48 remaining in the final quarter. With the Tigers facing a 3rd and five and in danger of giving DeQuincy the ball back in Tiger territory, junior running back, Anthony Paggett saved the day.

Seemingly going to be stopped after getting hit hard at the line of scrmmage, but the Junior, who had come in at tailback as a substitute for Boston, refused to go down, churning his way for 12 yards and a Tiger first down. 

“That was huge for us,” commented JHHS head coach Terrance Blankenship. “Anthony doesn’t get the chance to carry the ball that much, but he gives it everything he has when his number gets called, and he gave a great effort on that run that allowed us to keep the ball.” 

JHHS faced another critical situation a few plays later, looking at third and long from their own 31-yard line. Knowing the importance of keeping the drive alive, Blankenship called a timeout to dial up a pass play. As soon as the ball was snapped, Knox experienced extreme pressure forcing him to rolll to his left where he threw against his body and lofted a pass to Tyson Burks, who went high to make the catch near the sideline for a big 26-yard gain.  

“Tyson did a great job to first give Dakota a target and then go up high to make that catch,” said Blankenship. “He only has three or four catches on the year but none has been bigger than that one.”

JHHS continued to move the ball down the field, all the while taking chunks of time off the clock as Knox completed passes of 13 and 14 yards to Marquis Baker and Jamarlon Johnson, respectively, to move the ball to the DeQuincy 8-yard line. From there, Tre Burns grabbed another Knox aerial for a game-clinching touchdown, capping off a 15-play, 94-yard drive that took 9:58 off the clock. 

It will go down as easily the most important drive of the season and one that earns a position in all-time JHHS annals as the 94 yards covered ranks as the fourth longest scoring drive in Tiger history, and the 15 plays are the 6th most ever for a scoring drive. 

TEAM	1	2	3	4	FINAL
Jonesboro-Hodge (4-3)	8	7	0	6	21
DeQuincy (2-5)	0	0	7	0	7

JHHS Individual Stats
Passing: Knox 5/15/69, 1 TD, 1 Int
Rushing: Boston 16/108, 1 TD; Knox 16/67, 1 TD; Paggett 6/36; Atkins 1/5, Baker 1/-2
Receiving: Burks 1/26; Burns 2/16, 1 TD; Johnson 1/14; Baker 1/13

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