By Kevin Williamson
The South Jones High School Homecoming was a beautiful event Friday night, so much so that the gridiron Braves seemed a little distracted early in the game. However, after spotting the Bay High Tigers a 7-0 advantage early in the second quarter, South Jones reeled off 35 unanswered points to put the finishing touches on Homecoming 2017.
Quarterback John Mitchell got the rout started when he found Cade Locklear with a nice 25-yard scoring toss. Mark Diers added the PAT to knot the score at 7-7. Diers, a sophomore kicker with a strong leg, had three PATs and two field goals for the evening.
It looked like the first half would end all tied up, but the Braves’ defense backed the Tigers up to their own 2 and forced a punt from the end zone. Shiwon Lovett fielded the kick inside the Tigers’ 40 and scooted to the 16. Ricky Boleware took over from there, dashing 14 yards to the 2 on first down and then covering those last two yards on the next play to give his team a 13-7 lead. Bay High then jumped offsides, moving the ball closer to the goal-line, and Braves head coach Cory Reynolds decided to go for two. Mitchell took the snap and rolled left but was met near the 1-yard-line by a defender. That didn’t stop him. Mitchell lowered his shoulder and powered into the end zone for a 15-7 lead that South Jones would carry into the intermission.
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The Braves got a boost from their defense barely three minutes into the second half, when Jason Jarrell scooped up a bobbled snap by the Bay High quarterback and trotted about 58 yards for the score. Lovett added another TD to the South Jones total when he snagged a 25-yard scoring spiral from Mitchell to push the lead to 29-7 with 2:49 left in the third period. Lovett set up the score on the previous play, when he returned a punt from near midfield to the 25.
Diers closed out the scoring with field goals from 34 and 37 yards in the final quarter. The Braves travel to Laurel next Friday for a huge match-up against the Tornadoes. Laurel had a bye week this weekend.
