JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Both defenses were almost unyielding Frida night. The difference between Jackson and Ribault came down to one team being able to grab the few advantages offered them.
Edge to the Tigers, who parlayed a pair of special teams snafus into points while Ribault, inaugurating its new home field, failed at that until the fourth quarter. In the end that, and key stands by the Jackson defense, enabled the Tigers to pull out the 14-12 victory in the Varsity 4 Game of the Week.
Still, the Trojans made it close, scoring twice in the fourth quarter, with all-purpose player Jackey Sheppard catching a touchdown pass on one drive and then passing the team down the field before throwing a touchdown pass.
But, as had been the case all game, Jackson (2-0) held on and snuffed out both 2-point conversions, pressuring Sheppard into an incompletion on the game-tying attempt with 28 seconds remaining.
“There’s something to be said for handling the ebbs and flows,” Tigers coach Bobby Ramsay said. “When you score a touchdown, you can’t get a penalty to give them field position and kick from the 25. When you throw lifelines to teams, eventually they’re going to grab one.
“Kids got to understand a 48 (minute) game. When you get a chance to put a team away, put them away, especially in a rivalry game.”
Ribault (0-2) put itself in a hole with exchange problems between its longer snapper and punter in the second and third quarter. First, a snap sailed over the punter’s head for a 29-yard loss. Two plays later, Jackson quarterback Jay Dixon kept it and went into the end zone for a 6-0 Tigers edge less than four minutes into the second quarter.
The issue came back to haunt the Trojans again in the third quarter, with the snap going off the punter’s fingertips before eventually being kicked out of the end zone for a safety and an 8-0 lead. It took only three plays after the free kick for Dixon to sneak it again for a 14-0 advantage.
“That’s the first time that’s happened all year long,” Ribault coach Michael Hunter said of the special teams issue. “It put us in a bad situation.”
That was a shame for the Trojans defense, which had a brilliant game just like their counterparts at Jackson, holding the Tigers to 204 total yards and only eight first downs.
Making it more impressive, Ribault had lost several starters and key backups on that side of the ball — as well as one of its three quarterbacks – due to suspension after a scuffle last week against Fletcher.
“We knew it would be a tight game,” Hunter said. “That was a lot of our depth. We got put in a tough situation. They initially suspended four of the kids, but then they came in the middle of the week and suspended seven more. All on defense.”
The Jackson defense was brilliant most of the night, holding the Trojans to 45 yards over the first three quarters. Of the first 36 plays Ribault ran on offense — not counting the special teams miscues — 10 were thrown for losses, one ended in a turnover, two were runs for no gain and seven were incompletions, as Christopher Wall and Charles Ward led the way with two tackles for loss apiece.
During that time, the Trojans started three drives in Tigers territory, but came away with no points, including turning the ball over on downs in the first quarter and an interception in the fourth.
But the toughest was getting the ball down to the Jackson 2 with six seconds left in the first half. The first play was a run stretched out of bounds by Tigers defender Antonio Queen for no gain. The final one was a handoff, in which Javoris McClendon pounced on the back and hauled him down for a loss as the clock showed zeroes.
“I came off the ball very nicely,” McClendon said. “I read my key. After that play, our team got picked up.”
It took a while for Ribault to pick up, with an onslaught of personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties working as self-sabotage for Jackson. Quarterback Aiden Jones connected with Sheppard for a big play and an unsportsmanlike conduct tacked on more yards. Finally, with more than nine minutes left In the game, Jones connected with Sheppard on fourth down for the score. But his 2-point pass failed.
After the Tigers failed to convert a fourth down at the Trojans 5, Ribault took over with little more than three minutes left. After some slight progress, with the clocking ticking, the team moved Sheppard to quarterback, and he fired completions of 25 and 45 yards to put Ribault inside the 10. Finally, he capped it off with an 8-yard scoring pass to Javion Willis.
But, the Trojans were flagged for their own unsportsmanlike penalty and had to attempt the conversion from the 18. Sheppard scrambled, darting back and forth, but with Jackson defenders closing in, he fired incomplete.
An onside kick recovery sealed it for the Tigers.
McClendon described it as a great victory, while it’s a step in the right direction — a slow, hesitating step — in Ramsay’s second year helming the program.
“Some good things and some things we need to fix,” the coach said. “In some areas, not as mature as we need to be. But I think you can see a noticeable change on the sideline with the energy, but still a long way to go.”
Jackson 14, Ribault 12
Jackson, 0, 6, 8, 0 — 14
Ribault, 0, 0, 0, 12 — 12
J – Jay Dixon 2 run (kick blocked)
J – Safety, ball kicked out of end zone
J – Dixon 1 run (run failed)
R – Jackey Sheppard 2 pass from Aiden Jones (pass failed)
R – Javion Willis 8 pass from Sheppard (pass failed)
Category: J — R
First downs: 8 — 11
Rushes-yards: 29-136 — 33-11
Passing: 68 — 139
Comp-Att-Int: 5-10-1 — 11-23-2
Fumbles-lost: 1-1 — 2-0
Penalties-Yards: 13-121 — 12-80
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — J: Antonio Queen 15-49, Dixon 4-36, Jeremiah Hampton 4-28, Laquin Buckman 2-15, Lamar Stanfield 3-7, Malkiel Pierce 1-1. R: Jamarre James 1-24, Sheppard 7-13, Sedric Nelson 1-8. Aiden Jones 5-12, Ishmael Bradley 1-7, Arnez Harris 8-6, Jamal Freeman 6-1, Anthony Gullatt 2-(-17), Team 2-(-43).
PASSING — J: Dixon 2-6-1-57, Stanfield 3-4-0-11. R: Sheppard 3-4-0-78, Jones 4-13-1-40, Gullatt 4-6-1-21.
RECEIVING — J: Jemarie Weems 2-39, Buckman 1-15, Jaylen Cutter 1-9, Pierce 1-5. R: James 2-52, Willis 2-33, Sheppard 2-29, Nelson 2-8, Tony Davis 1-8, Tavaris Parker 1-5, Terlaius Griffin 1-4.