Jets defeat Florence 28-16 to remain atop Class 7A, Region 4

FLORENCE – Just seven days after having its goal of an unbeaten season dashed, frontrunning James Clemens remained in the driver’s seat for the Class 7A, Region 4 title with a 28-16 win over host Florence at Daly Stadium.

The Jets (5-1 overall, 4-0 in the region) seek back-to-back championships, which would make it three in the past four seasons. Meanwhile, Florence fell to 2-4-1, 2-2-1 in 7A-4.

“A gritty, gutsy win,” James Clemens coach Chad McGehee told his players in a postgame huddle. “To come out on the road and have a gritty win, I’m very proud of you (players). We didn’t play our best, but we’re going to continue to take the next step.”

That would be this Friday night at Sparkman, which stands at 3-4 overall, 2-2 in the region.

Early on it appeared that the game at Florence might turn out to be a shootout as both teams marched downfield to score on their respective opening drives.

After the Falcons capped a six-play, 75-yard drive on Jayshod Pearson’s 30-yard scoring run the Jets countered with an eight-play, 80-yard drive, finished off by most of the offensive unit pushing Cameron Berry into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown run.

Tied at 7, Florence went ahead 10-7 on Chandler Dixon’s 50-yard field goal but Clemens countered with two touchdowns late in the second quarter to take a 21-10 halftime lead.

M.J. Gideon cut back against the grain and ran just outside the left corner of the end zone on a 25yard run. That came after Berry’s 23-yard run on a drive capped by Gideon’s plunge into the end zone from two yards out.

The Falcons geared up for one final march downfield but Kaleb Pryor recovered a fumble — the ball was knocked loose from running back Carter Graves by Clemens’ Travis Ezell and Reshaad Freeman — in the final minute to set up Gideon’s second straight two=yard scoring run with just seconds left in the first half.

Pryor’s fumble recovery was the first of three turnovers for the Jets, who won that battle 3-0. In the second half, Christian Wyatt recovered a fumble on a punt and in the waning seconds Myles Taylor picked off a deep pass from Florence quarterback Cade Davis.

“Turnovers will kill you,” McGeheee said.

Clemens built on its 11-point lead by taking the second-half kickoff and finishing off a six-play, 78-yard drive on Berry’s 32-yard run. The senior running back burst up the middle and broke a handful of attempted tackles to rumble into the end zone.

The final score of the game came on a fourthdown play late in the fourth quarter with Florence’s Deshawn Anderson hauling in Davis’ high, floating pass from 23 yards out in the right corner of the end zone.

Aside from the defense coming up with three turnovers and stopping on seven of nine third-down conversion attempts, the offense dominated the line of scrimmage. McGehee lauded the offensive line as a unit foe helping the Jets to a 341-244 advantage in offensive yards.

“I’m proud of our offensive line,” he said. “That’s where it starts.”

Solid play up front led to two Clemens running backs surpassing the coveted 100-yard rushing mark. Gideon rushed for a game-high 110 yards with Berry right behind at 102 yards gained.

For a balanced attack, quarterback Matthew Evers passed for 96 yards. The versatile Berry had a team-leading four catches for 36 yards while A.J. Little wound up with a teamhigh 42 yards on three receptions.