Beavers’ air show subdues Jessieville
JESSIEVILLE — After a slow start, Glen Rose rallied around its star player Friday night.
Overturning a 7-0 deficit, quarterback Jarred Rodgers tossed four touchdowns in the second quarter and ran for a third-quarter score as the Beavers rolled over Jessieville 42-14 at Phillips Field.
Rodgers had touchdown passes of 7,
24, 25 and 4 yards in the second quarter and ran 33 yards for another score in a
42-0 Glen Rose run.
“He’s our big-play guy; we don’t have very many of them, but he’s definitely the one,” Glen Rose coach Mark Kehner said. “When he’s making those big gains for us offensively, getting chunks of yards, it just makes the ability to score a little easier for us.”
Jessieville led 7-0 after Mayson Bradshaw’s 41-yard punt return in the first two minutes but never found a rhythm offensively. The Lions were held to a season-low 115 yards.
“You’ve got to move some people up front if you’re going to be able to run the ball,” Jessieville coach T.J. Burk said. “They were sitting back in zone coverage, and it’s hard to pass the ball when you’ve got four guys in routes and they’ve got six covering. You have to be able to run the ball when they’re doing that, and we just got whipped up front.”
Capping a 65-yard drive, Rodgers passed seven yards to Ryan Taylor for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. The senior later connected with Adam Day for two scores while Logan Taylor hauled in another as the Beavers went up 28-7.
Jessieville, meanwhile, ran for six yards in the first half and failed to reach the red zone.
“We gave them long fields in the first half,” said Kehner. “Anytime you can force a team to go a long way to score, it gives us a little bit better chance to get a stop somewhere along the way.”
Jessieville’s offensive woes spilled over into the third quarter with the Lions losing 17 yards on a bad snap on fourth down.
Seizing an opportunity to put the game out of reach, Rodgers broke loose for a 33-yard touchdown and a 35-7 lead two plays later.
“Getting the ball coming out in the second half, you’ve got to capitalize, especially when you’re behind already,” Burk said. “We needed to get a little of that momentum back, and we shot ourselves in the foot. You just can’t do stuff like that; you’ve got to capitalize against teams like that when you’ve got chances.”
Following a quick three-and-out possession by Jessieville, Glen Rose enacted the mercy rule and running clock when Ryan Taylor rumbled 58 yards with 7:35 left in the third quarter.
The Lions set the final margin on a one-yard plunge by Adam Saveall with
8:15 remaining.
Saveall completed seven of 20 pass attempts for 73 yards, Hunter Ault with two catches for 25 yards. Dylan Wright paced Jessieville with 40 yards rushing on seven attempts.
Rodgers finished with 128 yards passing and 40 yards rushing, but could return to his natural position at wide receiver with sophomore quarterback J.T. Towers expected to return to the lineup next week at Bismarck.
“Jarred’s done a great job for us to this point, and hopefully we can get J.T. back soon and move Jarred back where he wants to be out wide,” said Kehner. “We should become a little bit of a different offense with that, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Jayshawn Cox led the Beavers with
67 yards on the ground.
Both teams are on the road next week, Glen Rose (4-1, 2-0) at Bismarck and Jessieville (3-2, 1-1) at Haskell Harmony Grove.
“It’s not when you’re doing good that defines how good of a football team you can be; it’s how you respond to adversity,” Burk said. “You’ve just got to bounce back. The big message is we’ve just got to keep fighting and believing in what we’re trying to do.”