James Clemens gets tune up for season opener
Bradley Belt finds yardage against Decatur (Contributed/ Chris Shimek)
MADISON- James Clemens Head Football Coach Wade Waldrop saw a lot of what he liked in the jamboree the Jets played against Decatur Thursday night.
The final was James Clemens 35 Decatur 0 as the starters played the first half and briefly into the second.
“No turnovers, Bradley (Belt) ran hard and held onto the football, Eris Skelton had a nice catch and run, the ball was distributed good, and defense got some turnovers,” Waldrop said.
The defense finally got some action against a different opponent and allowed Decatur some yardage but kept the Red Raiders out of the end zone. Monty Rice intercepted a tipped pass on the fourth play of the game.
Bradley Belt scored on a two yard run to make it 7-0 after Brody Droppleman’s extra point.
Belt scored again in the second quarter on a 19-yard run.
Belt has been impressive and is making the most of his chance to play with the injury to Devin Atkinson. He is a one cut runner who can find the crease on the edge and has some speed. He had a 28 yard touchdown run called back by a holding penalty.
“We had a couple penalties and next week it is going to be hard to overcome holding penalties,” Waldrop said. “We missed some tackles and we will have to get that cleaned up.”
A personal foul penalty on the Jets defense was on the same play LaBryan Ray had his second sack of the game. Decatur later ran a fake punt and got a first down.
Chris Sanders had an interception for the Jets in the second quarter.
Jackson Nowlin started at quarterback and worked two series. Jamil Muhammed came on and led the second scoring drive.
“They handled the ball well. We had one good quarterback run. We missed two pass plays one a screen we threw into the ground,” Waldrop said.
Nowlin connected with Skelton for a long pass to set up the Jets third score, a pass from Nowlin to Immanuel Wilder.
Waldrop actually got some good news on the injury front this week. Starting right tackle Brodie Collier will miss only two weeks and expects to play in the Bob Jones game. He was off crutches and the knee injury was not a torn ligament.
“Brodie got a second lease on life not having an ACL injury so we’re real happy about that.”
Tyrell Winn and Zach Seals rotated at right tackle and will provide needed depth when Collier returns.
Another area of concern was the turf at Madison City Schools Stadium which was laid on July 26. For the most part it held up nicely despite a rain shower before the game.
Nowlin reported the footing “was pretty good, better than what I expected.”
James Clemens opens at 6A Gardendale next Friday night.
