Jones County opens its season with a bang against Houston County
It didn’t take the Jones County Greyhounds long to make a statement Thursday night against Houston County in the Corky Kell Classic.
Fourteen seconds, to be exact.
That’s how long it took Drake Bolus to return the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and spark the Greyhounds to a 42-3 win. Bolus and quarterback Teldrick Ross had huge nights as the Greyhounds got their first win in the Corky Kell Classic in the second year of the games at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.
Four who mattered
Ross: The senior quarterback had nine rushes for 161 yards and completed 6-of-8 passes for 107 yards.
Bolus: The senior finished with 239 total yards on 14 touches — 64 yards rushing, 79 yards receiving and the 96-yard return.
Wesley Steiner/Donavon Mabry: The two running backs combined for 162 of Houston County’s 218 yards rushing. Steiner had 10 carries for 93 yards, while Mabry had 10 carries for 69 yards.
Observations
Big-play attack: In addition to Bolus’ long kickoff return to open the game, the Greyhounds got scoring runs of 68 and 40 yards from Ross and a 79-yard scoring pass from Ross to Bolus.
Is that right?: Jones County ran only 38 plays, while Houston County ran 58. The Greyhounds finished with 352 yards, averaging 9.3 yards per play, while the Bears finished with 285 yards. Houston County won the time of possession battle 29:27 to 18:33.
Strong on defense, as well: Jones County finished with five tackles for loss and one sack and held the Bears to one score in their four trips in the red zone. Antonio Evans led the Greyhounds with 8.5 tackles.
They said it
Bolus on the opening kickoff: “At school, I was telling everybody if they go ahead and kick it to me, then I’m just going to take it back.”
Ross on the big-play offense: “We have a very explosive offense. We can score at any given time. We’ve got some great people that love and care for each other, and I just love our offense.”
Jones County head coach Justin Rogers on Ross: “Yeah, I’m pretty comfortable with him. I told you, the kid’s been in the meeting rooms. He knows everything. We built the offense around his strengths as you can tell. We’re excited about what the future holds for him.”
Houston County head coach Ryan Crawford on the loss: “I’m not real sure we can take anything out of it. We’ve got to look at the video, and we’ve got a lot of things ... we’re not very good right now. Just, you gotta make plays, and that’s the name of the game. We’ve got a lot of kids who have never been in this position before. Find out what the positives of what we have done, and we’ve got to keep playing.”
What’s next?
Jones County hosts Washington County on Aug. 25, while Houston County hosts Peach County on Aug. 25.
This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 12:44 AM with the headline "Jones County opens its season with a bang against Houston County."