J.Z. George coach Dustin Alford admits the team that wanted it more won last Friday’s contest between his Jaguars and West Bolivar High School.
“We let them hang around for one half and it seemed to give them more energy,” said Alford of the Jaguars’ 14-0 loss to the visiting Eagles. “West Bolivar played hard and they got after it in the second half. It was 0-0 at the half, and we just couldn’t get anything going on offense. We’ve got to do something to get our offense going. Our defense is playing really well, but our offense is a work in progress.
“After last year’s game that we won, I felt like they were out for revenge. We didn’t stay focused on the job at hand. It will be a challenge this week with it being homecoming. We have a couple more winnable games to play before the meat of our schedule. Our goal is to still make the playoffs this season.”
The Jaguars finished with 116 total yards (58 rushing, 58 passing). Nehemiah Williams had five catches for 58 yards and two carries for 26 yards. B.J. Williams had seven carries for 18 yards, and Demarion McGee had four totes for 23 yards. However, several backs had negative yardage.
McGee led the defense from his cornerback position with five solos and one assist. Four of his tackles were for loss. Justin Weatherall had one solo and four assists, and Shamarion Applewhite had three solos and one assist. Zach Givens and Nehemiah Williams had three solos apiece.
Freshman quarterback Josh Fleming was 6-of-11 for 30 yards.
“He’s progressing but not at the pace I’d like to see,” said Alford. “I’ve seen some flashes of what he can do, but then you realize he’s just a freshman. Our whole offense just needs to get up to speed.
“We have to be able to handle distractions and this week will be that test. It’s homecoming and there are always distractions with that. I talked to the players after the game last week about staying focused on the task at hand. We need to get the ship righted this week. I want to see some players decide to get all the way in the boat instead of having one foot in and the other out.”
The Jaguars will entertain the Coffeeville Pirates at 7 p.m. Friday. The Pirates are 0-1 after falling 66-0 to Falkner High School last week.
“I’m not as concerned about Coffeeville as I am fixing ourselves,” Alford added. “I know they have some athletes, but they just don’t have numbers. We have a job to do. We just need to come out and do it.”
