Junction City rallies by Smackover 36-14

By Jason Avery

News-Times Staff

JUNCTION CITY - Whatever speech Junction City coach Steven Jones gave to his team at halftime, he may want to save it for another use.

Trailing 14-0 at intermission, the Dragons scored on each of their five possessions in the second half en route to topping Smackover 36-14 in a 6-3A clash between Union County rivals at David Carpenter Stadium on Friday night.

The win sets up a showdown next week with Junction City (8-0, 5-0) traveling to Fordyce with the conference title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs at stake.

Junction City won despite having senior quarterback Shuvasceiaye Frazier on the sidelines due to an injury for the second straight week.

“Our guys just never gave up,” Jones said. “We’re really banged up. We have a lot of guys in a lot of different spots, and our guys just gave awesome effort all night. We found a way to win with guys playing at spots they haven’t played all year. The effort of our kids was outstanding. I’m so proud of them, and very proud to be their coach.”

Seniors Jalen Davis and Hishmma Taylor proved to be a 1-2 punch Smackover’s defense couldn’t slow down.

Davis, who slotted in at quarterback in a wildcat package in the second half, finished with 140 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries with 132 of those yards coming in the second half.

For added measure, Davis also caught two passes for 23 yards.

A week after rushing for 300 yards at Lake Village, Taylor had 129 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries.

“We had a number of different things going in that we thought could work,” Jones said. “We finally found something that we liked with Jalen Davis at quarterback. We stayed with it, and he led the way for us in the second half. He did an awesome job. He plays so hard, and he’s finally back healthy. Tonight, we put it on his back, and he did a great job.”

But if there is an unsung hero, it’s Junction City’s defense, which gave up only one offensive touchdown and forced turnovers on Smackover’s first three possessions of the second half to swing the momentum in the Dragons’ favor.

“Our defense gave awesome effort all night,” Jones said. “Coach (Brad) Smith had a great game plan going in, mixing up coverages and things. We really kept them off-balance for the most part. Effort was the biggest thing that I saw from our guys on both sides of the ball.”

Starting at their 2 to open the third quarter, the Bucks (5-3, 4-1) drove to Junction City’s 49 behind six straight carries by Damarous White coupled with a Junction City penalty.

But on first down following the penalty, Jakiron Cook recovered a fumble at Smackover’s 49, and the Dragons wasted no time in cutting into the Bucks’ lead.

Brady Hutcheson found Davis for 17 yards, and Taylor followed with a 16-yard run give the Dragons a first down at Smackover’s 16.

However, the Bucks stopped Taylor for no gain on the next two plays, leaving the Dragons with a third-and-10.

Davis then took over, taking the direct snap for a 9-yard gain before picking up two yards to convert a fourth-and-1.

On first-and-goal from the 4, Davis again took the direct snap and plowed his way into the end zone to get the Dragons on the scoreboard.

Taylor’s successful run on the two-point conversion made it 14-8.

Smackover had great field position on their next drive, starting at Junction City’s 49.

White, who had 74 yards on 18 carries, ran for nine yards to give the Bucks a first down at the 37.

But on third-and-5 from the 32, Roshard Boone tried to throw a screen pass, but Dhante Gibson intercepted it and returned it to Smackover’s 31.

Davis promptly ripped off a 24-yard gain to give the Dragons a first-and-goal from the 6, but as they did in the first half, the Bucks’ defense stood tall, keeping the Dragons out of the end zone and forcing a fourth-and-goal from the 4.

Again, Davis proved to be the difference, taking the direct snap and bulldozing his way into the end zone to tie the game.

Smackover drove into Junction City territory for the third consecutive possession, but disaster struck again.

The Bucks reached Junction City’s 34 when Boone was again intercepted by Gibson, who raced 39 yards down the left sideline before being pushed out of bounds at Smackover’s 31.

A Smackover penalty at the end of the play pushed the ball to the 16, but the Bucks’ defense held firm, forcing a fourth-and-1 from the 7.

Davis was just able to pick up the first down to keep the drive going, and one play later, Taylor beat the Bucks’ defense to the right pylon for a 4-yard run to give the Dragons the lead.

With 10:57 left in the game, the Bucks found themselves trailing for the first time, but quickly went to work trying to regain the momentum.

The drive got off to an ominous start when Boone was sacked for a 15-yard loss, but on third-and-25 from their 14, Boone connected with Jaqueze Modica for a 38-yard gain on a long pass down the middle of the field to give the Bucks a much-needed first down.

However, White was dropped for a 12-yard loss back to the 40, putting the Bucks in another hole.

Faced with a second-and-22 from their 40, the Bucks appeared to be in business when Boone tossed a screen pass to Cade Schibler, who scampered 50 yards to Junction City’s 10, but a holding penalty negated the play, and the Bucks were later forced to punt.

The Dragons then gave themselves some breathing room by driving 61 yards in nine plays, staying exclusively to their running attack with Davis scoring on a 3-yard run before also making the two-point conversion successful to make it 28-14.

Davis then made a big play on defense by breaking up a pass on fourth down to end the Bucks’ next drive, and Taylor scored on a 7-yard run with Davis’ two-point conversion capping the scoring.

In the first half, Smackover’s defense was superb.

On three occasions, the Dragons had the ball inside the 10, but came up empty, as the Bucks came up with two fourth-down stops with White recovering a fumble to end Junction City’s third trek into the red zone.

“Smackover played great in the first half, and they stopped us in the red zone a couple of times,” Jones said. “Luckily, our kids kept fighting and battling in the second half, and we were able to take advantage of it.”

The Bucks’ defense also netted the first points of the game, as Dexter Crockett picked off a pass and returned it 75 yards to paydirt.

In the second quarter, Smackover’s defense again came up with a big play, stopping Taylor for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from Junction City’s 32.

The Bucks then took advantage of the short field, as Boone rolled out to his right and fired a 10-yard strike to Javon Modica, who somehow was able to keep his feet inbounds to make it 14-0 with 29 seconds left in the half.

However, the second-half turnovers and Junction City’s running attack proved to be Smackover’s undoing in the second half.

Crockett added 50 yards on 13 carries for the Bucks, who had 212 yards of total offense.

Boone finished 12-of-26 passing for 133 yards with three interceptions and a touchdown.

Hutcheson was 4-of-9 passing for 74 yards with an interception for the Dragons, who had 287 of their 351 yards of total offense come on the ground.

Having survived the Bucks, the Dragons must now get ready for another of the 6-3A’s heavyweights next week.

“We go to Fordyce next week, and I’m very hopeful,” Jones said. “We had five starters out tonight, and I’m very hopeful that we’ll be just about at full force next week.”

The same holds true for the Bucks, who host McGehee next week with playoff positioning at stake.

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