CLASS 3A SECOND ROUND: St. James topples Randolph County to advance
St. James’ Jake Huff cuts in front of Clint Houser for a touchdown reception in the Trojans’ win over Randolph County on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Randolph County has the type of offense that can churn up yardage and eat up the game clock while keeping the ball away from the Tigers’ opponents.
St. James coach Neal Posey decided the best answer was to strike quick and take the Tigers out of the game.
The Trojans scored on their first play from scrimmage, the first of four touchdown passes from KJ Jackson that helped the defending 3A state champions pull away for a 41-6 win over the Tigers in the second round of the state playoffs at Carlisle Field on Friday night.
St. James (10-2) will travel to Thomasville for the quarterfinals next Friday, while Randolph County ends the season at 10-2.
“We knew with the type of offense they had, they were going to just try and pound the ball and run the clock out and take the air out of the ball, so we wanted to try and start fast,” Posey said. “It didn’t go exactly like we wanted, but it went for a touchdown.”
The Tigers failed to pick up a first down on their initial possession and punted the ball to the Trojans. St. James answered with a flea flicker on first down as Jackson hit Jake Huff with a 49-yard touchdown pass
“It’s been often that Coach Posey likes to take a shot on the first play,” Jackson said. “So when he does call one, we know it’s going to work. It’s awesome to open it up. I think this is the first time we haven’t gotten the ball first in a game all year. It’s awesome to get a three and out and score on flea flicker on the first possession. We had all the momentum we wanted after that.”
While the play call was excellent, the execution was not. Clint Houser kept looking over his shoulder for the ball, only to have Huff cut in front of him at the last second and grab the throw for a touchdown.
“We drew it up for Clint, but the safety took Clint,” Posey explained. “KJ said he was trying to throw it to Jake Huff the whole time, he just took too long to throw it and underthrew him and threw it between both of them. Jake made an amazing catch on that ball.”
Houser, who would pull in the next touchdown pass from Jackson, return a punt 58 yards for another score and finish the night with an 80-yard touchdown reception, wasn’t complaining.
“I think it was supposed to go to Jake,” Houser said. “I ran my route a little wide and I saw it in the air and just went and tried to get it. He came across and made a great catch.”
The Tigers, even when they switched from their wishbone attack to the spread, never quit moving the ball, but only their second possession reached the end zone. Mo Winston, who finished with 83 yards on 18 carries, scored on an 8-yard run to cap a 12-play, 80-yard drive but Michael Ennis missed the extra-point attempt to leave the score at 7-6.
Randolph County’s next possession ended with a fumble recovery by Huff, the next ran out of time and ended with a Paxton Wingard interception just before the half and a third ended when quarterback Avion Willis lost the ball going into the end zone, resulting in a fumble recovery by Braylen Corley.
“We forced three huge turnovers,” Posey said. “We said we needed to steal some possessions from them. We stole three of them and got a big, big punt return for a touchdown. Those four things were the game changers.”
Meanwhile, the Trojans got a 20-yard touchdown reception by Houser and a 3-yard run by Jackson for a 21-6 halftime lead. When the Tigers finally managed to stop the Trojans early in the third quarter, a quick three and out gave the ball back to the Trojans and Houser returned the punt 58 yards for a touchdown and a 28-6 lead.
“If we do what we’re supposed to do, we should score every time,” Houser said. “It really started up front, while the ball was in the air. I looked at my guys up front and they all had their blocks. I just fed off of that. I found a crease and hit it.”
The Tigers’ time of possession wasn’t that commanding -- Randolph County had the ball for 26:05 of the 48 minutes -- but their style of play often wears down opponents. The Tigers averaged five yards per play in the first half.
“We knew we had to stay disciplined and fit our gaps or else it was going to be a long night,” Houser said. “I think we did a good job of that.”
Of course, as Jackson pointed out, the Trojans don’t often wear down opponents but simply outscore them.
“I think we’re the fifth (rated) offense in the state and they’re the sixth,” Jackson said. “We knew they had a good offense. We talked about how they were going to grind it out and try to keep our offense from getting the ball. I think everybody in the state knows the type of playmakers we have. Offensively, we just want to score every time we touch the ball and we really believe that we should score every time we touch the ball.”