Bob Jones wins over Athens in jamboree action

Kevin Carter had this touchdown run against Athens

In the first high school football action this season, the Bob Jones Patriots used a swarming defense and some big plays on offense to build a 14-0 halftime lead against Athens and went on to win 28-7 in a preseason game.

The game may not have counted in the record column but Bob Jones coaches made sure the players understood it counted for something. Head coach Kevin Rose said he would treat the game like a regular season game and that is exactly what he did. 

“We had a good quality opponent that played well and we got four quarters of quality work and everybody came out healthy,” Rose said after the game. 

The Patriots brought a tenacious defense that swarmed to the ball. Defensive tackle Arthur Wright got the first sack of the game for Bob Jones and Christian Hess made a pass break up. It was a defensive play that led to the first score of the game. 

With Athens backed up in their end of the field, Ryan Crooks blitzed from his cornerback position and sacked the Athens quarterback forcing a fumble. Darius Brewton recovered and the Patriots needed only one play to go 6 yards as Kevin Wright ran it in to make it 7-0 after David Mitchell kicked the extra point. 

Mitchell earlier missed a 35-yard field goal attempt when it sailed just to the left. 

On offense Trey Bates overcame a shaky start as the first three drives for Bob Jones generated only one first down. Bates got the offense on track in the second quarter with 20-yard completion to Ben Washington across the middle. On the next play, Bates went to Washington again this time on a corner route that Washington caught and managed to get the feet inbounds for a 20-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0. 

Washington finished with 5 catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns. He added his second touchdown catch in the third quarter. Bates finished the game hitting 12 of 22 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Several of his incompletions were on long balls.  

“We just kept trying to get the ball to Ben Washington and Kevin Wright,” Bates said. 

He also said the offense would like to keep going long to utilize the speed at wide receiver where defenses have trouble matching up.   

He did however throw one interception in the third quarter deep in his own end of the field that gave Athens a short field and the Golden Eagles pushed across a touchdown when Derrick Teague scored from 5 yards out. 

“We would have got the shutout if we don’t throw the pick and give them the short field,” Bob Jones head coach Kevin Rose said. “He should have thrown the ball away and punted”. 

The interception was one of the few mistakes Bates made in his first career start. 

“I thought he played very well overall except for the one pick,” said Rose. 

Rose added that the Patriots have a “long ways to go on offense and in the kicking game. We are going to have to make some improvement in a hurry with the caliber of opponent we face next week.” 

Mike Bernier did the punting for Bob Jones and while he did not get one blocked, his punts did not get much distance and did not turn over. 

Seth Parker played one series at quarterback in the first half and had one play he wishes he had back. He overthrew a wide open Ben Washington whose cover man had fallen down. Parker also played a series in the second half. 

On defense, the Patriots never let Athens get into any kind of offensive rhythm. The defense got contributions from just about everybody. Drew Davis from his middle linebacker led the team in tackles. Nick Holman had a tackle for loss early in the game. Dylan Haraway forced a throw away by the Athens quarterback in the third quarter and late in the game Cortez Nance got an interception from his cornerback position to end any thought of a comeback. 

“I thought our defense played outstanding,” Rose said. “We have 11 kids who are all about the same. They all hustle, tackle well and are physical. We will have a great challenge next week against Northridge”. 

One bright spot late in the game was the running of Kevin Carter, a sophomore who broke a 35 yard touchdown run. Carter has moved up the depth charts to be a top backup to Jay Rogers.  

The game next week will be in Tuscaloosa and can be heard locally in Madison on 97.7 The Zone with Brian Nease doing the play-by-play.