J.Z. George head coach Dustin Alford was able to find the positives about this football season after the Jaguars fell 38-6 to Kemper County in the first round of the North 2A playoffs last Friday night.
“We came in third in our district, right behind the two big dogs (Charleston and Northside), and we doubled our win total from a year ago,” said Alford, who is in his third year at J.Z. George. “We grew as far as weights and football IQ go. We made some big improvements, and I believe we are starting to see the light in the tunnel.
“I hope to be able to continue this thing out because we are headed in the right direction. We have a good junior class returning, and we have a good nucleus returning from the sophomores and freshmen. We also have a big eighth-grade class coming up. The future of this program is bright.”
The Jaguars finished their season at 4-7 overall and 2-2 in Region 3-2A. They ended the regular season by beating M.S. Palmer and Leland to grab the No. 3 seed from the district for the playoffs.
Kemper County (5-6), which advances to face Water Valley in the second round, led 8-0 after the first period, 16-0 at the half and 32-0 after the third quarter. The Jaguars got a 65-yard touchdown run from Nehemiah Williams, who was playing quarterback at the time.
“Just like most of this season has gone, Kemper’s depth really got to us in the second half,” said Alford. “We continued to shoot ourselves in the foot. Those will be some things we will need to make adjustments on before next season.
“We will evaluate all three phases of the game and see what improvements we can make before next year. I like the defensive plan we have, but we still need to be able to get in the end zone a little more.”
Nehemiah Williams and Justin Weatherall had six tackles each for J.Z. George. Williams also had a sack and forced a fumble. Alfonso Baskin had four solos and two assists, forced a fumble and recovered the ball. B.J. Williams had three solos and an assist, and Arrick Green had four tackles, which included three sacks.
