Penalties costly to Jay in loss at Graceville
The Jay High Royals traveled to Graceville to face the Tigers Friday night for some football action. The two teams were very evenly matched and fans knew it was go into be a close one. The game started off well but over all it was a frustrating night for the team. Jay lost two on-side kicks and penalties just kept coming at the wrong time.
Jay received the opening kickoff and drove the ball down and scored. Big plays on the drive were a Tate Upton pass to Sammy James for 22 yards. A 17 yard run by Ricky Cofield, back from his injury. And Sophomore quarterback, Tate Upton, hitting Allen Perry for a 20 yard touchdown. The Point After, kicked by senior Connor Weekes, was good. With 8:33 left in the first quarter Jay lead 7-0.
Graceville was unable to make a first down on their first possession, and had to punt the ball and it was short. Jay started their second drive at the 50 yard line. The Royals had a good run by Cofield but an incomplete pass stalled the drive and Jay turned the ball over on downs at the 30 yard line. With 4:13 left in the first quarter Graceville was in control of the ball. Graceville again failed to make a first down Jay started its next drive on their 41 yard line with 1:22 left in the first quarter. Jay’s first play resulted in a penalty and they had to replay first down : backed up with 17 yards to go now. Jay was unable to make a first down and the Tigers started the second quarter with the ball.
Graceville was about to score on a 50 yard run when Jay’s safety, Tate Upton, stripped the ball. The ball rolled into the end-zone and out of bounds. The play was ruled a touchback and Jay took over on the 20 yard line. Jay went 3 and out and punted. Graceville drove to Jay’s 20 yard line and scored pass to the end zone. The Point After was blocked by Sawyer Hudson. With 4:49 left in the first half the score was 7-6 Jay.
Graceville then tried an on-side kick and recovered the ball at mid-field. On the first play the Tigers scored on a 50 yard touchdown run. The Tigers went for the 2 point conversion and made it. With 4:35 left in the first half Graceville lead 14-7. Graceville kicked to Jay and the Royals started the next drive on the 41 yard line. With the duo of Cofield and Perry, the Royals marched down the field in seven plays to score on a 28 yard run by #4, Ricky Cofield. The PAT is good, again by Jay’s kicker, Connor Weekes and the score was tied 14 all.
Jay kicked off to Graceville. The Tigers fumbled and it was recovered by #22, Coltin Williams. On the first play of drive, Allen Perry had a big 12 yard run. After two first downs, Graceville intercepted a Royal pass in the end zone and took control of the ball with 1 minute left in the first half. As the clock wound down the Tigers were unable to score.
Graceville Tigers received the opening kickoff of the second and drove down the field for a touchdown. The drive was aided by a facemask penalty against Jay. The Tigers were successful in their bid for the 2 point conversion bring the score to 22-14 with 5:51 left in the third quarter.
On the kick-off Graceville again gained control of the ball recovering another on-side kick. Graceville controlled the ball the almost entire third quarter keeping the Jay offense off the field. The Tigers threatened in a 4th and 6th when they drew Jay off sides down in the red zone. After the penalty, Jay had a huge goal line stand and took over on downs. The Royal offense came on the field with just 3:29 left to play in the third quarter. This was the first time the offense took the field in the second half.
Jay had a long 60 yard run by Cofield after being pinned down on the 2 yard line. The Royal offense was unable to capitalize on the run and ended the drive turning the ball over on downs at the 35. Graceville punted on 4th down when a controversial roughing the kicker was called against Jay. After some discussion a 5 yard dead ball penalty was assessed and the punt was repeated. Jay received the punt as the third quarter ended.
The Royal offense took the field at the start of the fourth quarter with the score 22-14 Graceville. Jay’s offense stalled due to penalties and an injury to Cofield. Cofield’s injury came with 10 min left and brought the Jay crowd to their feet due to un-sportsman like conduct by the Graceville Tigers. No flag was thrown. Graceville came back and scored again on a long 4th down run, assisted down the field with several key penalties against Jay . With about 6 minutes left to play the score was 30-14 Graceville.
On the next drive of the game Jay had a couple of good runs and a 15 yard pass to Sammy James. Jay started on the 19 yard line trying to score before time ran out. Allen Perry ran for about 6 yards with 5:51 and then on the next play Perry scored from 6 yards out. The 2 point conversion was good on a quarterback keeper by Upton and made the score to 30-22.
Jay was able to stop Graceville and took control of the ball after the punt. Jay had some good runs from Allen Perry and started 1st and 10 with 3:29 left in the game. With 4th and 8 with 2 minutes Jay went for the first down. They were unable to convert and turned the ball over to the Tigers. Graceville took over but were not able to run out the clock. Jay got the ball back on the 50 with 30 seconds left in the game. On third down Upton passed to Sammy James for 12 yards. On the 36 yard line with 20 seconds left Upton was sacked. With no time outs Jay tried to snap a play but time ran out closing the game with a score of 30-22 Graceville.
Coach Smith had these comments after the game, “Our kids played hard but we didn’t execute on offense when we needed to. We had another bad second quarter and kind of got ourselves in a bind. We fought all the way and had our chances at the end of the game but things didn’t go our way. But mostly our kids gave a great effort and I am proud of them. We just have to continue to work to get better. It’s time to get ready for Freeport, we will see what happens next week.’’
Jay fans be sure you come out and support those seniors on their last home game next Friday night against the Freeport Bulldogs .
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| JHS vs Graceville |
