Royals Fall to Blue Devils
The Jay High Royals found a challenging opponent in the Holmes County Blue Devils Friday night. Coming off a losing season with a very young team, made it all the more challenging. The Royals executed a well played game with some high points, but fell behind and were unable to catch up.
Jay won the toss, elected to receive, and started with a good first drive. Quarterback Connor Weekes, back from a one game suspension, threw a beautiful 47 yard pass to #42 Allen Perry. On 4th and 10 on the Bonifay 22 yard line Weekes completed a pass to #2, Sammy James, that fell inches short of a first down. This snuffed out the drive, turning the ball over on downs just 13 yards shy of the goal line.
Holmes County made an impressive drive went the length of the field in just 10 plays and capped it off with a touchdown. The PAT was good, making the score 7-0 with 5:37 left in the first.
Jay’s second drive was a well executed thing of beauty that only took 6 plays. Cofield had big runs of 8 and 42 yards. Connor Weekes finished the first quarter drive with a 3 yard run for a touchdown. They missed the PAT, making the score 7-6 Holmes County.
Jay had a good stop on Holmes County’s next drive which came late in the first quarter. The second quarter was a tough one for the Royals. The Blue Devils took advantage of 2 Royal turnovers and scored 3 touchdowns by the end of the period. Holmes County led 28-6 at halftime and then extended their lead to 41-6 in the third quarter.
Jay’s second score came late in the 3rd quarter. The drive was started with a long run by #3, Tristan Pengenika. The main culprit however, was Ricky Cofield, #4, who had several smart runs including a 2 yard touchdown. The point after was no good, leaving the score at 41-12, where it remained through the entire 4th quarter.
Jay’s biggest defensive play was a heads up maneuver made by #10, Tate Upton. Tate simply reached in and took the ball away from a Blue Devil’s running back creating the only turnover in Jay’s favor. One bright spot for the Royals was that Senior quarterback Connor Weekes threw the ball well and looked good in his first real start of the season. The offense managed to produce 301 total yards for the game.
First year Head Coach, Kent Smith commented, “Those two second quarter turnovers took a lot out of us. We didn’t tackle well and we didn’t convert on offense. Now we have to regroup and go play good next week, and we will.”
Jay will go on the road next week against Sneads.
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| JHS vs Holmes County |
