Jones County 34, Eagle's Landing 26

Gray – Jones County flipped the game the way it wanted in the third quarter Friday night against visiting Eagle’s Landing, then held on for a 34-26 win.

No. 6 Jones County (5-0, 3-0 Region 4-AAAAA) got 174 rushing yards and three touchdowns from running back Drake Bolus, and quarterback Teldrick Ross added 116 rushing yards and 74 more passing. The Greyhounds overcame a 17-14 halftime deficit to beat Eagle’s Landing for the second year in a row.

“We knew defensively they would stay in the same defense the whole time,” said Bolus, who scored twice from 12 yards out and capped the win with an 11-yard touchdown run with 2:09 left. “We just had to keep playing hard the way we did.”

Their performance offset a 305-yard passing night for Eagle’s Landing’s Cameron Lewis, who tossed two touchdown passes in the loss. Bryce Dewberry caught six passes for 133 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown.

Eagle’s Landing (3-2, 2-1) scored the potential tying touchdown with 4:50 left, but Logan Friddell’s extra point was ruled no good, leaving the Golden Eagles down 27-26.

A short kickoff gave Jones County the ball at its own 41, and the Greyhounds reeled off three first downs and forced Eagle’s Landing coach Shawn Jones to use all his timeouts. Down one point, he elected to allow Jones County to score in order to get the ball back, and Bolus’ final TD, an 11-yard run, pushed the lead to eight with 2:09 left.

From there, the Jones County defense stuffed the Eagles’ last-ditch drive. The Greyhounds finished the evening with 12 tackles for negative yardage, and Eagle’s Landing managed just 60 net rushing yards.

“We’re going to have to ice up,” said Jones County coach Justin Rogers. “That was a really physical game.”

An Eagle’s Landing mistake in the punting game allowed Jones County to jump on top first. The Golden Eagles had an apparent 56-yard touchdown run by D’Andre Addison wiped out by a holding penalty, and three plays later the Eagles were forced to punt. The snap sailed over punter Logan Friddell’s head and rolled 32 yards before Friddell picked it up and was immediately tackled, giving the Greyhounds the ball at the Eagle’s Landing 12-yard line.

On the next play, Drake Bolus raced through a big hole in the middle of the line for the touchdown.

“It’s always one play,” said Jones. “It came back and bit us. It came down to a couple of plays.”

Late in the first period, E Dewberry stepped in front of a Ross pass for an interception and raced down to the Jones County 21, leading to Friddell’s 34-yard field goal.

The Golden Eagles took their first lead when Addison’s 18-yard run capped a seven-play, 74-yard drive to put the visitors up 10-7.

The Greyhounds answered with a 10-play, 71-yard drive and Bolus’ second 12-yard TD run put them back ahead.

Cameron Lewis’ 6-yard pass to Quanderious Mains with 21 seconds left in the half put Eagle’s Landing up 17-14.

Jones County opened the second half with a 17 play, 80-yard drive to regain the lead for good, finished by Antonio Evans’ 6-yard run.

“We’re a big-play offense typically,” Rogers said. “Somewhere in there we usually get an explosive play. We’re not a three yards and a cloud of dust offense, but that’s what it turned into in that drive.”

Eagle’s Landing 3 14 0 9 – 26

Jones County 7 7 13 7 – 34

JC - Drake Bolus 12 run (Josh Skinner kick)

EL – FG Logan Friddell 34

EL – D’Andre Addison 18 run (Friddell kick)

JC – Bolus 12 run (Skinner kick)

EL – Cameron Lewis 6 pass to Quanderious Mains (Friddell kick)

JC – Antonio Evans 6 run (Skinner kick)

JC – Teldrick Ross 53 run (kick failed)

EL – FG Friddell 27

EL – Lewis 57 pass to Bryce Dewberry (kick failed )

JC – Bolus 11 run (Skinner kick)