Central hungry for rematch with Jackson
Jesse Hicks is thankful that his Central football team will be playing Jackson at Henderson Stadium on Friday instead of at Red Devil Hill.
A year ago, Central went through what was perhaps the team's biggest heartbreaker at Jackson: a 34-28, double-overtime loss in which the Chargers had the chance to win it with a field goal at the end of the first overtime.
While Central went on to beat Rutland and Kendrick to earn a spot in the playoffs after missing the postseason the previous five seasons, the loss to the Red Devils showed the Chargers what kind of potential the team had.
"I'm just glad we're not going to Jackson," Hicks said. "We haven't had a lot of luck in Jackson. Our kids played great. It came down to overtime and a field goal. It's kind of been the story of our life this year with close games."
The teams meet this season with first place on the line in GHSA Region 2-AAA. A Jackson win would put the Red Devils in the driver's seat for the region title, as it would hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over Peach County and Westside, the other two teams currently sitting on one loss in the region.
A Central win, meanwhile, would open up the possibility for a five-way tie for the region title involving Central, Jackson, Peach County, Spencer and Westside, should a couple of other things happen.
"It's kind of crazy how this region has gone," Hicks said. "Spencer has played some great ball, and you see some of the scores the past couple of weeks, you say, 'Whoa, where did that come from?' This is an evenly matched region, and right now it's showing up. Good teams play great in the latter part of the season, so hopefully we can do the same thing these guys are doing."
Central (4-3, 3-2 Region 2-AAA) has been competitive in every game this season. The Chargers had the closest game in series history with Westside, with the Seminoles winning in overtime on a field goal, while a 25-14 loss to Peach County marked the most points scored in a game by the Chargers against Peach County since 2007 and the closest margin of victory for the Trojans in the series, discounting a pair of Central victories in the early 1970s.
Where Jackson (5-2, 4-1) takes a leg up in the region is in its victories over Westside and Peach County. The Red Devils edged the Seminoles 31-29 on Oct. 2 in Jackson and then shut down Peach County's run game in a 3-2 Red Devils victory last week.
"I'm proud of our kids," Jackson head coach Dary Myricks said. "We try to set goals like every program, and one of our goals was to beat programs like Westside and Peach County. We wanted to play with those teams.
"It's just hard work. I'm always preaching to my players and the coaching staff to not be looking at the end, but just to continue to work hard. It's good for the kids to get the experience seeing that hard work pay off."
Creating the possibility for a massive first-place tie was Jackson's 34-14 loss at Spencer on Oct. 10. Central beat Spencer 28-12 on Sept. 25, but since then, the Greenwave went on a three-game winning streak. Spencer hosts Westside on Saturday.
With Jackson, Peach County and Westside sitting on one loss in region play and Central and Spencer sitting on two, this is a big weekend for the Chargers and the Greenwave.
"A win (for Central) means they still have a chance of being at home, a lot of big deals there," Myricks said. "Depending on Westside-Spencer, things could get complicated. We just want to be in a position to settle the waters a bit. But it's not going to be easy at all."
This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Central hungry for rematch with Jackson ."