Raleigh head coach Ryan Higdon likened last Friday night's first-round playoff atmosphere to that of a third-round South State Championship. Raleigh's opponent made the atmosphere so.
Behind the play of quarterback JiaVeonte Jones and wide receiver and special team’s returner Margo Perkins, Raleigh defeated 3A’s defending state champs Jefferson Davis County, 26-13.
"We knew going into the week that we would have to do things we normally don't do, scheme-wise offensively that is," said Higdon. "We were familiar with what they do, and they were familiar with what they do. We knew going in that we would have to do something to counter what they were expecting us to do.
"We had a few plays that we've been running for about a month [in practice] but hadn't used in a game yet. These two guys were part of that."
Jones passed for 149 yards and two touchdowns on four completions. He also ran for 83 yards on three carries and caught a 10-yard touchdown pass.
"We made a few adjustments at halftime," said Jones, "and came out on fire in the second half. I felt like we dominated every play [in the half]. We had to. We were playing the defending 3A state champs."
Jones touched on the halftime speech in more detail later on.
"You know how coaches usually go off on you at halftime," said Jones. "Well, coach didn't. He just told us that [Jefferson Davis] was playing more physical than us and that when we came back out, we needed to be more physical than them."
Perkins made a big impact also. The senior athlete threw the 10-yard touchdown pass to Jones and caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Jones. Perkins opened the game with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“That opening play got things going,” said Higdon. “That was a big momentum play.”
"I hesitated a bit," added Perkins. "But once I got my speed up, I saw the hole on the outside near the sideline and outran everybody."
Jones and Perkins are Sports601’s State Farm Co-Players of the Week.
