On a windy night in Sterling City, the Jayton Jaybirds knew that they would be in for a fight against the GrandFalls-Royalty Cowboys in the State Quarterfinal. Both teams were riding high off big wins against strong opponents. Jayton Head Football Coach Josh Stanaland encouraged the Jaybirds to “stay hungry” and believe that a strong effort would lead them past the Cowboys.
Behind several key defensive stops and a monster game by junior running back Tye Scogin, Jayton defeated Grandfalls-Royalty 66-52 to advance to the State Semi-final. Like their previous game against Blackwell, the Jaybirds overcame a slow start in the 1st quarter to pull ahead early in the contest as Pecos Smith scored Jayton’s first touchdown. Behind a dominant running game, Scogin gained 334 yards for 7 touchdowns to continually frustrate the Cowboys defense. Scogin also scored a touchdown on a pass from Aaron Hernandez.
Grandfalls-Royalty would not go away easily, though. The Cowboys offense continued to keep pace with the Jaybirds, trailing 36-30 going into the 2nd half. Within the first minute of the 3rd quarter, the Cowboys tied the game at 36. What followed was a series of key defensive stops that proved to be the deciding factor of the game for the Jaybirds. Neither team was able to score in the time remaining in the third quarter. Cameron Benavides was the stand-out player on defense in the 2nd half, recording 16 tackles and defending several deep passes. Jaybirds also recording double-digit tackles were Smith, Hernandez, Scogin and Evan Cheyne.
Entering the 4th quarter tied at 36, the Jaybird offense came alive. Scogin would not be denied, following his blockers to score 4 touchdowns in the 2nd half alone. The Cowboys defense keyed on Scogin, only to be blown off the line by Keldon Moorhead and Cheyne.
While Scogin was his usual self in providing the late-game heroics, it was a Jayton newcomer who made two huge plays on defense to ice the game. Sophomore defensive back Caleb Valerio, who is new to Jayton this year, proved that his transition from 11-man to 6-man football is complete, making an interception that stopped the Cowboys from keeping the contest a one-possession game. Valerio’s interception came against a much taller receiver, wrangling the ball for himself before falling to the ground. The most impactful play from Valerio’s night came when he stripped the ball from a Cowboys receiver, after a long gain with three minutes left to play, to allow the Jaybirds to run the clock out and celebrate their big victory.
The Jayton Jaybirds now look to the final hurdle between their squad and playing in the State Championship. Standing in their way are the 11-2 Follet Panthers. The game will be played on Thursday, Dec. 6 in Amarillo Highland Park at 6 p.m. Throughout this monumental season, Stanaland has taught this Jayton squad to stay focused on the task at hand and never look ahead in the schedule. The Jaybirds will now face their toughest test of the season. As many teams have learned on this playoff run, no one should count this team out.
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