Charleston QB returns in fine form
CHARLESTON — It didn’t take long for Charleston junior quarterback Jackson Rowland to find his rhythm in his first game back from injury Friday night at Alumni Field.
Jackson completed 24 of 39 passes for 293 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for another score to lead Charleston in a 34-23 victory against Danville in the 4-3A Conference opener.
“Everything we do offensively goes through him,” Charleston Coach Greg Kendrick said. “We really enjoyed having him back. It gave us a big boost and gave us some momentum.”
Charleston (2-2, 1-0) scored on five of its six first-half drives to take a 34-7 lead into halftime.
Danville, which punted twice and turned over the ball during its first three drives of the game, started slow offensively and came up short in a second-half comeback attempt.
Danville (1-3, 0-1) cut the lead to 34-15 when junior quarterback Jake Madding found Jamey Holbrook for a 48-yard touchdown pass and added a two-point conversion with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
The Little Johns scored when Madding found Chris Thurman for a 34-yard touchdown pass and another twopoint conversion pulled Danville within 34-23 with 9:32 left in the game, but that was as close as Danville could get.
“We hadn’t gotten to see their quarterback on film,” Danville Coach D.J. Crane said. “I can see they are going to be hard to stop with him, but in the second half our kids played their tails off.”
Madding finished 11 of 24 for 161 yards with 2 touchdowns and had 74 yards and 1 touchdown on 21 carries. Holbrook finished with 6 catches for 103 yards with 1 touchdown to lead Danville’s wide receivers.
“Jake played well and we have some good guys around him with his line,” Crane said. “Once we adjusted, I thought we had them on the ropes a little bit. If we could have slowed them down in the first half this game might’ve been a different story.”
The Charleston offense led by Rowland got going early and was too much for Danville in the first half.
Rowland found wide receiver Sean Michael Flanagan, who finished with 11 catches for 174 yards and 1 touchdown, early and often to help secure the big lead.
“I really liked what I saw coming out of the game,” Kendrick said. “I was a little worried we might have some rust. We didn’t, but I think we were a little content in the second half.”