“It’s two [district championships] in a row,” said Jayton Head Coach Josh Stanaland after last week’s 60–14 win for his team. “They beat us for it in ’21—we’ve won four of the last five, though, so I’m proud of our kids. Any time you’re in a district with Motley County for four years and you come away with three district championships you’re pleased. That’s a very quality program and a Hall of Fame coach over there.”
Coming into the game the Jaybirds believed the district was theirs for the taking—and it took less than a minute for them to put that faith into action. Bode Hamm (7-155-2TD) took the second handoff of the game and raced 52 yards for the first score of the night. Justin Collins led all Jaybirds in scoring, catching three touchdowns and going 6 of 7 on two-point kicks.
All in all the offense continued to thrive, 45-ing the Matadors early in the 3rd quarter. “I thought offensively we were explosive,” said Stanaland. “I thought defensively we did a much better job staying over the top of the pass. We gave up some dumps and stuff and some run game late, but for the most part I thought it was a pretty complete game for us.”
One scare in the game came in the 2nd quarter when cornerback Griff Reel exited the game with an apparent injury, but Stanaland noted that it was the play of two seniors that made the difference. “I thought we had some kids step up. Griff Reel dislocates his shoulder, we’re thinking and praying for him right now, we plugged Jarret Herzog in there and there’s no drop off. Jarret knows the job, he did it a lot last year, he comes in and continues to play at a high level. Same when Colt [Gentry] kind of frogged his quad and it gave him some fits for a little bit. We rolled Jayce [Rivera] into that guard spot and again Jayce played that spot a lot last year and it’s no big deal for Jayce.”
The Jaybirds now enjoy a bye week to rest and heal before their district final at Patton Springs, and their 2023 playoff run to follow.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
