Last weekend the 19th annual Jayton Gridiron Classic saw 14 of the state’s finest six-man football teams gather for a weekend of intense competition.
The Jaybirds hosted the May Tigers, who enter the year with a #3 Division 1 ranking. It was these same Tigers who fell 11 seconds short of the state title last year, and on this night they proved to be a little too much for the Jaybirds.
The teams battled evenly on the field, but it was the chunk plays that saw May pull away. The Tigers had three pass plays that went for over 30 yards and two that went for over 50. It was enough to tilt the field in their favor, and the Tigers upended the Jaybirds 58-12 on Friday night. Head Coach Josh Stanaland stopped in Saturday morning with his thoughts. “Well, you know, the biggest thing that we look for early in the year, particularly at the Gridiron Classic, is we want to be in a fight. We want to play somebody really good. We achieved that this year—we bit off a big piece in the May Tigers.” But despite the undesired outcome, Stanaland noted that there is still plenty to build on. “I thought for Sean Stanaland, his first game as a quarterback as a freshman was good,” he said. “He threw for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns even with a couple of drops. I thought Ayden Salazar played well last night. He caught some big passes, he ran the ball well. He flashed defensively. A lot of our guys had moments. Jaydon Rivera had an incredible effort on a touchdown run.” Stanaland summed things up: “A bunch of our guys had moments, and that’s the biggest thing we talked about today was consistency. We’re looking for that down to down consistency.” The Jaybirds will have their chance to create some of that consistency this Friday when the #4 Klondike Cougars come to town having just upended Crowell 68-20 at this same Gridiron Classic. Perhaps the Jaybirds can take those moments and turn it into momentum!
GRIDIRONCLASSIC The Jayton Jaybirds faced the May Tigers Friday night in the Gridiron Classic in Jayton. They fell to last year’s Six-Man Division 1 state title runners-up, 58-12. | TEXAS 1A FAN PHOTO
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