Jessieville shakes free from Baptist Prep late in game

4-3A JESSIEVILLE 37, BAPTIST PREP 28

Sophomore Carson Hair passed for four touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Jessieville Lions to a 3728 victory over the Baptist Prep Eagles on Friday night.

Hair completed 20 of 27 passes for 239 yards, and added 57 yards rushing as the Lions (5-0, 2-0 4-3A) stayed in a tie atop the conference standings.

“We had a lot of sophomores step up tonight,’’ Jessieville Coach T.J. Burk said. “We are a banged up football team.”

The Lions never trailed Baptist Prep (0-5, 0-2), but it took them a long time to put them away.

“We challenged our guys at halftime to make some plays, especially on defense,’’ Burk said.

Jessieville grabbed a 14-0 lead when Hair hit Charlie Davis on a 56-yard scoring play, then scored on a 7-yard run later.

Baptist Prep came back with a 9-yard scoring pass from David Park to Jax Coleman to cut the lead to 14-7.

Hair hit Matthew Huff on a 20-yard touchdown pass, and the two-point conversion made it 22-7.

Baptist Prep’s Hayden Brent brought the Eagles back. He returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards, then broke off a 48-yard touchdown run on the next play. After Brooks Brown recovered a Hair fumble, Brent scored again on a 4-yard run. He kicked the extra point to cut the Eagles’ deficit to 2221 with 1:31 left in the half.

Jessieville called timeout with six seconds left, then Hair hit BJ Holloway on a 44-yard fourth-down touchdown pass for a 30-21 halftime lead after the two-point conversion.

“I will say this, Baptist is not your typical 0-5 team,’’ Burk said. “We had trouble stopping them. They have played a good schedule and they have some really good players.”

The Eagles got close again with a score on the first drive of the second half. With 9:13 left in the third quarter, Park and Coleman connected again — this time from 8 yards — and Brent’s extra point cut the deficit to 30-28.

With 5:30 left in the third quarter, the Eagles got a stop with a chance to finally take the lead. But starting from their 14, two plays netted nothing, and a first-down run was erased by a holding call that forced Baptist Prep to punt from its own end zone.

Taking over at the Baptist Prep 24, Hair hit Huff on a 26-yard touchdown. Baptist Prep never got on the Lions’ side of the field again.