Patriots Smack Grace Christian, 48-21

Staff Photo by Melanie Fritz

For 10 long months the Jefferson County football team and coaches had to live with the fact that they had one of the worst seasons in school history. They had to listen to the fans moan and groan about last season for 10 months.

Friday night, however, they got that nasty taste out of their mouth in a big way, drumming the #4 team in class 2A to a tune of 48-21. “We needed something great to happen for us,” Head Coach Kenny Cobble added, “We needed something to feel good about and I think tonight was one of those things.”

The night didn’t start great, however, as Grace Christian took the opening kickoff and drove the ball 4:22 where it ended with a 4-yard Hayden Coffman touchdown run. Grace lead 7-0 with 7:38 to go in the opening quarter.

Jefferson County would respond in a big way. The familiar connection of Austin Jenkins to Noah Carter turned the Jeff County faithful electric, when Carter took a crossing route 52-yards to the house to tie the game at 7 with 4:46 remaining in the first.

Austin Kirby would scamper in from 13-yards out to give Grace their final lead of the game at 14-7. That is when Jefferson County asserted themselves as the aggressor both on offense and defense. After a Treyson Mills fumble, Jefferson County would snatch the ball right back. On the first play of the 2nd quarter, junior Jonathan Royster would sky for one of his two interceptions on the night.

Jefferson County would score again, this time from 58-yards out. Austin Jenkins found Michael Ealy on a screen pass and Ealy’s speed would do the rest, racing to the endzone up the home sideline to tie the game at 14-14.

From there, the route was on, but Cobble says it wasn’t unexpected. “We felt like if we could take charge at some point in the first half, that we could dominate the 2nd half, and that is what happened.”

Grace Christian’s only score of the second half, however, came against the Patriot 2nd team defense, while they were still trying to claw back in the game with their starters. Austin Kirby found Jimmy Clevenger for an 80-yard touchdown, to cut the Jefferson County lead to 41-21 with 3:42 remaining in the contest. Jefferson County would outscore GCA 27-7 in the 2nd half and roll to the victory.

Austin Jenkins would finish the game going 15-21 for 243 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Cobble says he is more comfortable this year. “Austin is a competitor.” He added, “He came in here after school started last year with a new school, new coaching staff, and new team, and for him to come out this year and be the leader he is, shows he is a true leader on our football team and we appreciate him.” Noah Carter, Jenkins would finish with 5 catches for 97 yards and 2 Touchdowns. Senior Gorel Soumare would finish with 2 catches for 29 yards.

The ground game was led by Treyson Mills with 118 yards on just 10 carries, including a 56-yard touchdown to round out the scoring late in the game. Dalton Morgan would add 100 yards from scrimmage too: 68 of those were on the ground (32 Receiveing).

Overall, Jefferson County outgained GCA 485-277, and will look to continue their success next Friday night at Carter High School at 7:30.

Staff Photo by Melanie Fritz