J.Z. George High School coach Dustin Alford knows his football team is in the midst of a tough stretch of games, but he believes his players will battle through after last Friday’s 44-0 loss to Region 3-2A foe Northside High School.
“They were who we thought they were,” Alford said of the Gators, one of the top teams in the Class 2A ranks. “They were fast and physical and probably the most complete team I have seen in my 18 years of coaching.
“We tried running up the middle, and that didn’t work, so then we tried to get outside. They (Northside) have way too much team speed to do much. We already have one quarterback down with an injury, and we didn’t need to lose another one. We know what we are facing during this three-game stretch, but we just have to survive it for the last two weeks of the regular season.”
The Jaguars (2-4, 0-1) could only muster 91 yards of total offense on 38 plays. Northside had 307 yards on just 17 plays.
Arrick Green led the J.Z. George defense with three solo stops, one assist and a forced fumble. BJ Williams and Zach Givens had two tackles each.
The Jaguars hit the road to face the Eagles of Eupora High School in a non-district contest at 7 p.m. Friday. The game is serving as Eupora’s homecoming.
“They lost to Velma Jackson after leading at the half (14-8), but Velma Jackson has a very strong team,” Alford added. “Eupora is a hard team to figure out. They pretty much rolled in their first four games and then struggled with Noxapater, only winning 14-12. We’ll watch film from that game and see where Noxapater had success. Everything they do goes through their quarterback (Peyton Perkins). If you can shut him down, you have a chance to beat them.”
Perkins ran for 196 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries against Velma Jackson.
Alford has his fingers that crossed starting quarterback Josh Fleming may be able to return if test results are favorable after he gets an MRI next week.
“We are hopeful he can come back, but the main thing is we want him to get well,” said Alford. “I was proud of our guys for the maturity and attitude. The kids know what’s going on with these games. We need to get through the next two weeks.”
