Hurricanes Drop Region Contest to Northeast
The Jasper County-Monticello High School football team needed a win to stay in postseason contention last Friday night.
In the end the Hurricanes (2-7 overall, 1-4 in Region 3-AA) were unable to keep pace with Northeast-Macon falling 42-6 on the road. It was a night where Jasper County-Monticello simply had too many front -line players missing either due to injuries from earlier in the season or due to COVID-19.
“The kids played hard but we were just outmanned,” coach Rydell Jackson said. “It was good to see some kids step up and play to the best of their ability. Northeast is simply a good team and will likely be the number two seed from our region.”
The Raiders led 7-0 after the first quarter but would find the endzone three more times in the second quarter. Northeast (6-2, 4-1) added two additional scores in the third quarter to close the door on the Hurricanes.
Mac Barton rushed for 62 yards on 14 attempts last week while Shamarian Greene added another 100-yard effort finishing with 114 yards on 21 carries. Greene has a chance to reach the 1,000-yard mark in the final regular season game for Jasper County-Monticello this week.
The Hurricanes will host region foe Washington County this Friday. The Golden Hawks were defeated by Dodge County 35-16 in their last contest.
Washington County is led by running back Malyk Walker who had rushed for 1,561 yards in 2020 going into last week’s contest. That mark was the highest for a player in Class AA and second in the entire state behind only Narada Levett of Central Carrollton, a Class AAAA program.
“Stopping him will be the key,” Jackson sad. “We will have to get as many players in the box as we can. It will be important for our defenders to know what they need to do for their various sets. We simply have to make tackles.”
The coach said it would also be a great way to close out the season by getting a win in the new stadium.
“We are going to work hard this week for that,” Jackson said. “We just have to find a way to slow their offense down and to be able to move the football ourselves. When you have the number one running back in AA like they do then you know you have to find a way to slow him down.”
Going into this week’s action Dodge County and Northeast are both 4-1 in 3-AA while Washington County and Bleckley County are 3-2. Lamar County is currently 2-3 in region play with Jasper County-Monticello at 1-4 and Southwest at 0-4.
Earning a win this week would also be a good way to send out the seniors on the 2020 team, Jackson said.
“Momentum is a big thing in football,” the coach said. “Getting a win this week would help our program in a lot of ways. It would be nice to get one for our seniors We also want to get the first win at our new facility.”