With two games remaining in the regular season, J.Z. George has no room for error if it wishes to participate in the State 2A playoffs.
The Jaguars let victory slip through their fingers last Friday as visiting Eupora High School claimed a 17-16 win in the final seconds at Farris Jenkins Field in North Carrollton.
The loss drops J.Z. George to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in Region 2-2A. Calhoun City leads the way with a 3-0 mark in league play, while Eupora moves to 2-1 (3-6 overall). East Webster is 1-1, while Bruce is tied with the Jags for last place at 0-2.
The Jaguars and Trojans will do battle Thursday night at 7 at Bruce. The winner will likely be the fourth seed from the region for the playoffs. Each has one district game remaining on Nov. 1 - J.Z. George at home against Calhoun City and Bruce at East Webster.
"It's real simple. We need to win Friday night. There's not much else I can say. The winner has the upper hand in making the playoffs," J.Z. George head coach Ben Burton said. "I've looked at them on film. They are big up front on both sides of the ball. They've got a new kid playing quarterback, and they have been doing some different things on offense."
Bruce (3-6 overall) has lost its last three games by a combined score of 97-33. Their latest defeat was a 50-0 setback to Calhoun City last week. The week before, they dropped a 42-31 decision to Nanih Waiya, and fell 5-2 to Eupora in a defensive struggle on Oct. 4.
The Trojans have beaten Vardaman 34-0, South Pontotoc 36-24, and Potts Camp 49-6.
The Jaguars have suffered two close losses during their current three-game slide and lost by three points on Sept. 20 to Central Holmes. Last week's defeat to Eupora was a hard pill to swallow.
"The kids took the loss hard. You could tell how much it hurt. I'm hoping we come out hungry and play as hard as we did last week," said Burton. "We were a play or two away from winning that game. When you look at our season, we have three close losses in games we should have won, and we fumbled the ball eight times against a team we matched up with well.
"I want to say it's a hangover from the previous two years where our kids don't quite have the understanding of what it takes to overcome adversity. We're closer today than we were yesterday at learning what it's going to take to overcome those things."
The Jaguars started the contest with an early touchdown thanks to their defense. Sophomore free safety D'Anthony "Yogi" McGlothan picked off a Eupora pass and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. He then ran in for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead through one quarter of play.
The Eagles came back and got a rushing touchdown from junior Tra McComb in the second period to trail 8-6 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Eagles struck first as junior Kimble Dillinger booted a field goal to give Eupora a 9-8 lead. J.Z. George got the ball back on the kickoff and scored in two plays as sophomore tailback Deriaun Townsend raced 53 yards to paydirt. Junior Jacob Johnson had the 2-point run to put his team in front 16-9 headed to the final frame.
Both teams had opportunities to score early in the quarter, but miscues cost both. Eupora got the ball with just over two minutes to play. The Eagles were deep in George territory when the Jags got a sack on first down, putting the ball at the 14. On the next play, junior quarterback Cade Adkins hit McComb with a touchdown pass with six seconds remaining. The Eagles converted on the 2-point play instead of kicking the extra point and held on for the 17-16 victory.
"We controlled most of the game. We moved the ball well at times, but then we'd have a penalty or a mistake here and there. We helped them out on their drives with our mistakes. We are shooting ourselves in the foot. We had a bad snap on one of our punt attempts that gave them the ball deep in our territory, and I made the decision on the next punt attempt to go for it on fourth down instead of punting," Burton said.
"I've had a lot of time to think about the decision. I wasn't confident in us making the snap. Our kids played hard the entire game. Our defense did a good job against them. I'm expecting us to come out with the same effort Friday."
Townsend finished with 178 yards on 24 carries, which gives him 1,224 yards on 143 carries and seven rushing scores this season. He's averaging 136 yards per game.
Jacob Johnson tacked on 38 yards on eight carries, and Jordun Normal finished with 16 yards on five tries. Normal was 2 of 6 for nine yards with two interceptions in the passing department.
McGlothan led the defense with 13 solo stops, five assists and a fumble recovery to go with his interception. Wil'tavious Williams had nine solo stops, two assists and a caused fumble, and Keyshawn Daniels tacked on five solos and two assists. PJ Archie and Preston Clardy had four tackles apiece.
