The freshmen and JV football teams have been off to a great start this year. Both teams have started out 2-0 this year, getting rewarded for their hard work they put in during the scalding summer practices. The freshmen teams have both had dominating performances with lopsided wins against Hebron and Keller Fossil Ridge. The scores being for the Blue team 23-14 over Hebron and 47-0 over Keller Fossil Ridge, and the Gold 35-0 over Hebron and 42-6 over Keller Fossil Ridge. While the JV handled St. Joseph’s with ease, winning 36-12, they were tested when they played Keller Fossil Ridge, winning 27-21.
Going into the Keller Fossil Ridge game for the Freshmen teams, Coach Charles Hinton Jr. said that they focused on improving their pass defense, so they could shut down the passing game on Keller. Both the Blue and Gold teams succeeded in their game plan only giving up six points between them. The two defenses played great as a whole, but the two players that played the most important roles were Michael Majorie and Jordan Rice. Coach Hinton Jr. says, “Michael Majorie and Jordan Rice were able to control the line of scrimmage very well, which led to several sacks and interceptions, and gave us the momentum.”
In the games against Keller Fossil Ridge, the freshmen team scored a whopping 89 points. According to Coach Hinton Jr., the main reason for the outstanding performance was the great execution of the plays and great blocking by the O-line. In the Blue game, Evan Jackson ran wild, scoring three touchdowns; and for the Gold team, Matthew Reilly followed his great blocking by Nick Beshera for two touchdowns. Coach Hinton Jr. says, “I saw about five pancakes by Nick, and they were nasty.” Coach Hinton Jr. says the expectations for the freshmen teams are to compete, play hard, and develop their skills to the high school level of play.
Although the freshmen squads handled Keller Fossil Ridge with ease, the game between Jesuit’s JV and Keller’s JV turned out to be a nail biter. The scoring started in the first quarter with a touchdown reception by sophomore receiver Mac Elliott from sophomore QB, Rusty Landon. Soon after the Ranger’s TD, Keller answered and tied the game up at seven a piece. Once again Mac Elliott scored to give the Ranger’s the lead in the second quarter, but this time on the ground on a 4 yard run. Later in the second quarter Keller answered with another touchdown tying the game up at 14-14. The Rangers scored again in the third, but missed the PAT.
The Ranger’s score got ahead by a TD late in the fourth, to go up 27-21. Keller received the ball with about four minutes and drove down the field to inside the Ranger’s five yard line. The Rangers held the Panthers on the first three downs, and it came down to the final play of the game. The Jesuit defense pulled off a miraculous goal line stand to win the game. Coach Jonathan Short’s take on the stand, “The whole d-line was a part of the stand, led by Junior Nmesoma Nwafor, the rest of the players on defense rallied behind him to get the stop.”
Sophomore DT, Ryan Brooks shared his experiences on the field viewpoint of the stand and said, “We knew it was crunch time. The defensive line had a sour taste in mouth from the 30 yard counter they cut up the middle the play before. Fourth down and inches on the goal line; when the center snapped the ball, everything went into slow motion. You could see the trepidation in the fullback’s eyes. As soon as he touched the ball, the front line swarmed to pigskin like a pack of hyenas.”
Coach Short’s expectations are very high for the JV team. He wants to focus on trying to improve every week, and be able to build players who can compete on the varsity level. Coach Short’s thoughts on the JV team, “We feel like we have a very strong sophomore and junior class that is working on our JV team, and I don’t think it’s beyond the realm for us to continue on and win a lot more ball games, and if we continue to improve it wouldn’t surprise me if we finish with the best JV record in the district.”
