Jones County takes winning streak to Stockbridge

Walking off the field Sept. 16 against Woodland, the Jones County Greyhounds dropped to 1-1 in GHSA Region 4-5A play with a 38-9 loss.

But the Greyhounds certainly have responded to that loss.

Jones County has won four straight games — all in region play — to sit at 5-3 overall and 5-1 in the region. The Greyhounds, who scored more than 40 points in each of the first three wins in the current winning streak, travel to Stockbridge at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“We didn’t play good that night. The kids have done good, and I’m proud of them,” Jones County head coach Justin Rogers said of the loss to Woodland. “We knew defensively we were going to have some growing pains. When you replace all 11, that’s what happens. It’s a good group of kids, and they work hard, and we just keep trying to get a little bit better every week.

“We knew there was going to be a growth process. We thought maybe we’d be a little bit further along, but we’re happy with where we’re at.”

Stockbridge offers the toughest test yet. The Tigers are 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the region. Kevin Whitley’s program has won at least 11 games in each of the previous four seasons.

Rogers knows Stockbridge well from his time as an assistant coach at Griffin before taking over the Jones County program.

“They’re just a normal Kevin Whitley team. They’re not going to be flashy,” Rogers said. “We used to play them all the time when I was at Griffin. He’s going to lean on you and play base and keep the ball in front and make you earn everything you get. It will be a tough game and a very physical game. They have a nice little homefield advantage there, what they call ‘The Jungle,’ so it’s always fun to play there .

“It will be fun, it will be an exciting game, and those are the best ones when you have a good environment.”

The Tigers’ offensive scheme is one defenses don’t face very often: the triple-option.

“You don’t see that much anymore. There’s not nearly as many teams that run it,” Rogers said. “It puts a little strain on you. You’ve got to do some things different at practice that week to prepare for it, but we’ll work hard to get ready for it.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Jones County takes winning streak to Stockbridge."