Kevin Jackson Jr. helped the Columbus High School football team forget about Damian Baker for at least one week.
Now the Falcons will have to find someone to replace Jackson Jr., who broke both of the bones in his lower ankles last week and will miss the rest of the season.
Columbus High coach Tony Stanford said the injury creates an immediate opportunity for other players, namely junior Kendrick Conner and senior Quan Latham, as his team prepares to get back to action at 7:30 tonight when it plays host to West Point.
Jackson Jr. rushed 17 times for 96 yards in a 21-0 victory against Aberdeen on Aug. 17. Stanford said he has confidence in Conner to step into the role Jackson filled. He also hopes juniors like Jarcquarius Clark and Corey Brown seize the opportunity to make bigger contributions.
“I feel good about it,” Stanford said of his team’s depth at running back. “Conner is not far behind Jackson. He does a lot of good things. Jackson is a little stronger than him, but as far as seeing the holes and running the lanes, I feel like he is going to do a good job. He just has to realize it is his time.”
Stanford said the injury to Jackson won’t force Columbus to scrap its offensive sets. He said the Falcons will rely on junior quarterback Trace Lee to run the show and to help younger players mature.
Those inexperienced players will be put to the test tonight against Class 5A power West Point (0-1), which lost to Class 6A power South Panola in week one and also is coming off a bye.
Stanford said his team gained a ton of confidence last season from its 35-27 overtime victory.
“I hate it to be this way, but I think that game was the best we played a;; year,” Stanford said. “I don’t think we improved (after that game). I think we were satisfied, and I think we thought we accomplished something. We have to learn to keep developing week in and week out to become a really good ballclub.”
While Stanford liked the physical nature his team showed last season against the Green Wave, he wants the Falcons to continue to strive to run the ball hard and downhill like West Point. Tonight, he is eager to see how his players respond after a week off and what should be a tough battle up front.
“They’re going to be real physical, and I hope we can stand in there with them,” Stanford said. “If not, they have enough so it is going to be a long night.
“I think our team is real confident. I think they feel they can play with West Point. Last year gave us some confidence. I think now they think they can play with West Point. They have worked hard to get ready to play. They are not dreading the game. (In previous years when we played West Point), you could tell they weren’t real excited about playing them. Now they’re excited and ready to go. I think they’re going to do an outstanding job.”
In other action involving Lowndes County teams, New Hope will travel to Noxubee County, West Lowndes will travel to Shannon, Heritage Academy will take on Caledonia, Immanuel Christian will travel to Marshall Academy, and Victory Christian will travel to New Life.
For New Hope (1-0), which also is coming off a bye week, coach Michael Bradley knows his team faces one of its toughest challenges of the season against the Class 4A Tigers.
“I think they’re better than team that played for a state championship in 2007 and won a state title in 2008,” Bradley said. “This is the best Noxubee team I have ever seen.”
Bradley said the Tigers are physical on both sides of line of scrimmage, they have a great running game, a great running back, led by Darrell Robinson, and a defensive line that is “just unreal.” Bradley said Noxubee County presents challenges all over the field for New Hope, but that his players still will show up tonight and try to spring the upset.
“They’re a complete team,” Bradley said. “The players know Noxubee is really good. They saw the tape, and a lot of our kids went down and watched them play (and beat Craigmont, Tenn., on Saturday night). We always have had a ton of respect for Noxubee’s program, and we’ll continue to do so. They do things the right way. Coach Shorter and his staff do an excellent job, and we have a lot of respect for them.
“But if games were played on paper there would be no need to play the game. We could just let sports writers and sports prognosticators tell us who is going to win and go on to the next week. Games are played on the field by men, and there are a lot of intangibles involved. Hopefully we will get some breaks and take advantage of some of the intangibles that might be in our favor and hope we can take advantage of our positives and limit our negatives.”
Anthony King hopes West Lowndes can do that after his team slipped to 1-1 last week after a 66-12 loss to Caledonia.
King, who is in his second year as head coach at his alma mater, felt his players were too overconfident following a victory against Montgomery County in the opening week. He said the Confederates made the Panthers pay.
“I think the boys really didn’t come to play Friday night,” King said. “We didn’t even put up a fight. We laid down.”
King said he was surprised how his players reacted because he entered the week feeling his squad was in better shape and was in position to give Caledonia a better game. He credited Caledonia for playing a disciplined game and for coming out faster and controlling the line of scrimmage.
“We knew they were going to block up front, and they came out and did that,” King said. “We came out real flat and got it handed to us.”
King said he saw better focus this week in practice and hopes his team will be able to have a better showing at 7:30 tonight against Shannon, another Class 4A school.
“The main thing is to keep encouraging the guys,” King said. “Sometimes they can get beat so bad that the kids’ confidence gets messed up for the entire year.”
Immanuel Christian coach Greg Watkins is in a similar position. With a young team coming off its second-consecutive loss, Watkins hopes the Rams will be able to bounce back at 7 tonight when they play at Marshall Academy.
Last week, Immanuel Christian lost to Leake Academy 50-12.
“We came out and really played with more intensity and probably played a lot better ball, but the score didn’t indicate how much better we played,” Watkins said. “I think we had about five turnovers and had bad snaps. We put ourselves in bad situations, and you can’t shoot yourself in the foot and overcome those things against teams like Leake.”
Watkins acknowledged at the beginning of the season his team’s first three games against Winona Christian, Leake Academy, and Marshall were going to be tough. His goal is to minimize injuries, to keep the confidence of his players up, and to keep growing as a team so the Rams can remain in position to advance to the postseason.
“We knew going into the first three games were going against three powerhouses,” Watkins said. “With the youth and the inexperience we just have to work hard. They knew they played a little better (against Leake), and this week we have to play even better. As long as we improve every week and keep our heads up, and that’s what we’re stressing, our time will come.”
Watkins was pleased with his team’s improved tackling, its offensive execution (aside from the turnovers), and its ability to move the football. Quarterback K.C. Cunningham was 6 of 10 for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
Unfortunately, the Rams lost wide receiver/defensive back Jaylin Bankhead for the season with a broken leg. Watkins said the team can’t afford any more injuries, even though he expects to get transfer Ryan Forrester back next week.
“Our guys see the high intensity they have to play with and the energy they have to put in every play,” Watkins said. “They see their effort and what it takes to be one of those type teams. Hopefully it will carry with us after the first three games of the season when we get into the meat of our schedule with the district games. If we learn from this our goal still is to make the playoffs, and the guys are still focused on that.”
The focus of Victory Christian coach Chris Hamm and the Eagles also remains on the postseason following back-to-back losses to open the season.
The “good” thing about losses to Clinton Christian and Hebron Christian is that neither game was a Christian Football Association game. That slate will begin at 7 tonight when the Eagles travel to Millbrook, Ala., to take on a New Life team that will open its season.
“The first two games we talked about how the non-conference was not going to affect the big picture,” Hamm said. “This week is the big picture.”
Hamm expects to have sophomore playmaker Anthony Sharp back from an injury this week. Sharp, who plays quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and in the secondary, could give the Eagles the threat they need to open opportunities for other players. On defense, Hamm said Sharp will provide experience that will be crucial as the team continues its transition from man-to-man principles to a zone scheme.
Last week, several busted coverages allowed Hebron Christian to score on long pass plays. Hamm believes his defensive backs knew what they saw last week but didn’t trust it and came up too soon, leaving space behind them.
“New Life is probably going to be more of a running team that we faced last week, but we still want to be solid on the back side,” Hamm said. “(The zone scheme) is a different technique, and it is going to take repetition and discipline.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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