On a cold blustery night, the varsity Forney Jackrabbits traveled to Corsicana last Friday to play the Tigers in what was supposed to be the first 8-5A Division II district game. Due to the current COVIDrelated situations in several of our UIL district schools, this instead turned out to be a tune up for the upcoming zone alignment. Our district has decided to split the UIL district into zones to help ensure that we have a way to allow our teams to compete for the 4 playoff spots at the end of this football season. This zone or seeding game alignment will allow time for make-up games in the event that any involved schools or communities experience viral coronavirus outbreaks. With that being said, the real district play starts for the Jackrabbits this Saturday, October 31, at 1pm at Crandall High School.
Last week against the Corsicana Tigers, the Jackrabbits dominated offensively everywhere except the score board. Noah Garcia was 12 for 21 at quarterback and ended with 139 yards on the night. Braden Benjamin was the recipient of 3 of those catches. Ronnie Harrison, Brayden Kirkland, Jayln Phillips, and Zach Brown each contributed 2 catches as well. Jon’Richard Washington and Jayln Phillips continued their 1-2 punch at running back. Washington carried 15 times for 125 yards and a touch down, and Phillips carried 14 times for 80 yards. Both backs ran tough and blocked well. The offensive line, consisting of Alex Bowen, Johnathan Couch, Ivan Cook, Stephen Thrasher, Adam Long, Reece Mercer, Garret Andaverde and tight end Zach Brown, opened up holes and gave up no quarterback sacks on the night. The Jackrabbits offense controlled the ball and the clock, but unfortunately they could not convert the long drives into enough points to win the game.
On special teams, Cameron Newell continued his excellent job on the kickoff team and had three kicks out of the end zone. Cameron also contributed a booming 43-yard field goal that would have been good from 55 yards. Braden Merchant continued his fine punting and had a 38-yard average for the night.
Defensively, the Jackrabbits held the Tigers in check all night with the exception of three plays. Forney’s defense had three fourth down stops on the night. Cade Crawford and Cannon Donlay continued to plug up the middle of the defense. Additionally, the Rabbits’ young secondary persisted and is showing improvements. Josh Stevens repeated his great efforts this week by taking 6 solo tackles, a tackle for a loss, and several hard hits. Jayden Belina-Ayers played hard and had 3 assisted tackles and a solo tackle. Aaron Flowers had 7 solo tackles, 1 for a loss, and was credited 3 times for extra effort on the field. Alijah Merkson contributed 3 solos and noted 2 extra efforts. Linebacker Caden Cross had three assisted tackles and five solo tackles, and Dylan Patrick added 3 assisted tackles and 7 solos.
The young Jackrabbits are close to putting it all together as a team, and it’s encouraging to see that they are learning to finish the job. Because of this new zone alignment, the Jackrabbits again find themselves as “0-0” for the third time this year, and the third time needs to be the charm. The opportunity is still in front of them. The team travels to Crandall this week on Saturday, instead of Friday, and will play at 1:00 p.m. The next week, the Jackrabbits are scheduled to be at Royse City, followed by a visit to Ennis to close out the zone. Then there will be a “seed game” to determine final district rankings for playoff seedings. Finally, a crossover game with the other zone will complete the anything-but-regular “regular 2020 season”.
The Forney Jackrabbits are expecting a playoff or collegiate-type atmosphere when they face the Pirates at 1pm on the afternoon of Halloween! Forney Fans are encouraged to make the short trip south and watch their Jackrabbits make a push to make the playoffs. Visit the team’s website, www.jackrabbitathletics.com, for ticketing information. For those Forney Fans that are unable to attend in person, livestream coverage of the game can still be found on sportsgram.net. No matter how you keep up with the game, make sure to cheer on your hometown team!
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