Defense stifles Cocoa with surge in 2nd half
COCOA — Early in Friday night’s opener with Cocoa, it appeared that the Space Coast Tigers were going to make it an even dozen victories in a row over their Orlando counterparts.
Jones was sluggish in the first half, turning the ball over three times and picking up costly turnovers as Cocoa took advantage to lead the game 13-6 at halftime. That’s where everything changed. Jones coach Elijah Williams told his squad to get back to basics and they took over after the intermission.
Williams was not pleased at the break, but whatever he said to his team in the locker room at halftime resonated throughout the second half. Jones dominated in the second half, especially on defense, and the Tigers snapped a nearly 20-year losing streak to Cocoa with a 29-19 victory. The last time Jones defeated Cocoa was in 2004.
“We played real bad first half ... unforced mistakes, turnovers, dropped balls, penalties,” said Williams, who also sat three players in the first half for disciplinary reasons. “We did everything to lose that game.”
Jones is usually known for its offensive play-making and putting points on the board. Friday night, it needed the defense to step up.
Jones came out in the second half, after allowing big plays by Cocoa in the first half, and looked like a different team. Cocoa barely crossed into Jones territory in the second 24 minutes as the Jones defense got back to sticking to its keys.
“It was really just discipline. We keep trying to explain to them that it’s a mental game,” Williams said. “We had way too many mistakes on alignments and assignments. I told them at halftime that it was the worst half Jones High had ever played [under Williams]. The worst.
“But our guys finally locked in a put it together.”
Seabreeze transfer quarterback Blake Boda and Cocoa receiver Da Da Farmer gave Jones fits in the first half, and Cocoa had the momentum early.
But the Jones adjustments at halftime were crucial. The Tigers came out fired up in the third quarter and looked like a different team. Chris Tooley opened things with an interception on the first series. Donnell McCray, Jayden Gillens, and Caleb McCaskill, among others, also made huge plays in the secondary while Malik Bryant, D’Antre Robinson and the defensive line wore down the Cocoa offensive front.
Jones struggled a bit offensively, but the offensive line also did its part in overpowering the Cocoa line to get things going for running back Jerrian Parker, who scored a short touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards of tough yardage.
The depth along the defensive and offensive front lines for Jones this season gives Williams to ability to rotate players and keep them fresh.
Jones tied the game 13-13 on a Maxon Jean-Denis to Jaylen Williams 25-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter, but the biggest Jones plays came from the defense.
The play that had Cocoa quite flustered offensively was a 35-yard pick-6 by Jones linebacker Tyriq Hollinger. That put Jones on top 20-13 and the Orlando squad had a big boost of confidence.
“That was huge,” Williams said. After the Parker TD, Boda hooked up with a late 35-yard TD pass to Kyon Calhoun to make it 27-19, but the damage had been done. Appropriately, the Jones defense would provide a safety as the finishing touch.
“We were very fortunate and happy to get out of there with a win,” Williams said. “And we stopped the streak.”
Things don’t get easier for Jones, which will be on a long road trip next week when the Tigers travel to Duncanville, Texas, for a 3 p.m., showdown Sept. 3.
They’ll have a week off after that trip before facing Edgewater, West Orange and IMG Academy, which lost Friday night to 21-14 to Miami Central.