The Jones High football team was reeling after losing the Class 4A District 7 championship to Lake Wales in nasty rain conditions on Thursday night. The Tigers needed something to boost their morale and Edgewater was next in line.
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The two teams met Monday night in a make-up game from an earlier weather postponement. The way things started, it did not appear as if Jones, ranked No. 3 in the Sentinel’s Super 16 Coaches Poll, was ready to get off the mat. No. 6 Edgewater had the advantage after an ugly first half with a 7-3 halftime lead.
Jones (5-2) somehow rallied the troops and the Tigers came out swinging in the second half. Thanks to a dominating defense and the running of freshman Bennie Johnson, the Tigers put together a full-force effort on both sides of the ball to beat the visiting Eagles 25-14.
“Hats off to Jones. They played a good game and they came out with the victory,” said Edgewater coach Patrick Browning, whose team fell to 4-3. “We had a turnover that really swung the momentum and they capitalized on it. So we’re gonna go back to work and get ready for Evans (Friday) and put this one behind us.”
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It appeared that a Jones turnover was the momentum swinger to start the second half. On the first series of the third quarter, Edgewater’s Durell Mitchell Jr., jumped a passing route and intercepted a ball thrown by first-time Jones starting quarterback Ayden Edgecome. Mitchell returned the ball 45 yards for a touchdown and it seemed Edgewater was ready to take control with its 14-3 lead.
The first half was brutal. Jones managed just 35 yards in the first 24 minutes. Edgewater was only able to muster 53.
Jones started moving the ball on its second possession of the second half as the Tigers got their running game going behind Johnson and Damir Williams. The drive stalled and Spencer Bartholomew, who earlier had kicked a 45-yard field goal, missed a 46-yarder and the Tigers’ doldrums continued.
Jones defensive end Fred Ards changed everything on the next series with the turnover Browning referred. Edgewater quarterback Dylan Troutman lost the football and Ards, who is committed to Texas A&M, grabbed the ball in the air and returned it 23 yards for his own pick-6 fumble recovery. That gave Jones had new life.
The Tigers, having lost starting quarterback Peyton Carroll to a shoulder injury last week, ushered in Edgecombe as a first-time starter.
Despite some confusion on offense, Jones came out of the gate throwing. Coaches said the plan was to loosen up the Edgewater defense using the passing game and then unleash the running game in the second half. It worked.
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The Edgewater offense, meanwhile, also had done a few things that Jones was not expecting. The Tigers’ defensive unit, instead of going into the locker room at halftime, stayed on the sideline under the tent to watch video. Defensive coordinator Billy Daniels showed his players exactly what they were missing and they took note.
The Jones offense made its own alterations.
“We couldn’t block them up front and they did some stunts and the O-line had a hard time blocking. We didn’t run the ball at all in the first half,” said Jones offensive coordinator Dale Williams, said the Tigers were plagued by a few injuries, most notably to Carroll. “The first half we wanted to throw the ball to stretch them out and loosen them up and the second half we came out and ran the ball down their throat so they couldn’t make adjustments.”
On Jones’ second possession of the second half, it was more running from Johnson, as he racked up 49 yards on a 65-yard Jones drive, capping it off with a 24-yard touchdown run on fouth-and-2. The play was a thing of beauty for defensive linemen Braylon Otis and Dajur Web. Jones inserted the two big men into the offense for blocking purposes and it paid off, helping free Johnson for the score.
“(Johnson) did a good job. He runs hard for us and Damir did a good job too before he got hurt,” Williams said.
Johnson is all of 5-foot-8, 155 pounds but he runs much bigger and he was huge for the final two quarters. He ended up with 93 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. His second touchdown came after Caleb Reed intercepted a pass and returned it to the Edgewater 2-yard line. Johnson punched it in from there.
The Jones defense was superb in the second half. Sharad Haire got his second interception in as many games along with a nice pass break-up. Ards and Dominique Redding combined for a sack, Andre James Jr. had a sack and two big pass break-ups, and Reed added a tackle-for loss to his interception.
Edgewater’s defense had its moments. Mitchell, who has had a great season, added a pass breakup along with his interception, Cordale Nunn had a tackle for loss, Sheldon Jenkins-Lee had a sack and a TFL, Jamarcus Tanner had a sack and broke up a pass, Mike Darden had a pass breakup, and Caden Epps, Wes Hendry and Will Grinage all had sacks.
The win was a shot of energy for Jones, still the No. 4-ranked team in Class 4A according to MaxPreps. That is one spot ahead of Lake Wales, even though the Highlanders defeated the Tigers. Jones has Brandon, Lake Region and West Orange remaining.
Edgewater, No. 5 in 6A coming into the game, has games to play versus Evans, Dr. Phillips and Boone.
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Chris Hays can be found at X.com @OS_ChrisHays.