Lions use big second half to stop Mustangs
JESSIEVILLE — Fans at Don Phillips Field at Lions Stadium were treated to two completely different games within a total of 60 minutes of gametime Friday night as Jessieville and Perryville faced off in the teams’ 3A-4 conference opener.
Jessieville (4-0, 1-0) struggled defensively in the first half as the Mustangs (2-2, 0-1) took a 14-13 lead into the break, despite the fact that the Lions led in first downs, total yards and time of possession, and they also had 21 fewer yards of penalties than Perryville. After head coach T.J. Burk straightened the team out during the break, the Lions came out and allowed just 68 yards of offense and less than four minutes of game time.
“The focus at halftime we talked about was you’ve got to step up and make plays,” Burk said. “The first drive of the game, we came out and mashed the ball down the field, didn’t have any problem moving it and then after that, we just kind of stalemated. So we challenged our offensive linemen at halftime. We’ve got to control the football; we’ve got to be able to run the ball, and it really comes down to those offensive line guys.
“In the second half, we were able to run the ball, control the clock, and the win really is on them. A great, great job by them. … At the end of the day, like I said, big time players made big time plays, and we had some guests step up offensively and defensively and make plays and we had to have it. So I’m extremely proud of our guys and the way they fought all the way to the end.”
Perryville head coach Chris Norton was not surprised to see the Lions step up in the second half.
“They’re a physical group,” he said. “They played really hard. Quarterback is a dynamic player. Now we know it was gonna be a battle; we’ve been here before, and we wish we could have got the ball back right there, but it’s part of it, a good game. Both teams played really hard, and, of course, this is one of those games that somebody’s got to lose.”
The Lions allowed just one touchdown for the Mustangs in the second
half, 1:39 into the final frame, after Jessieville pushed out to a 26-14 lead at the 10:43 mark in the period.
The Mustangs have six sophomores that were starting on offense Friday night, three of which were on the offensive line, a fact that Norton said he tried to disguise and work around.
“We started three sophomores on the offensive line, and that was something that we knew we had to try to cover up as best we could with screen game and some other stuff,” he said. “We had some drops early, and that’s a credit to them. They played well, but we knew it was gonna be a lot on our young guys.
“We start six sophomores on offense, three on the offensive line, and we’re having to make those guys grow up fast. … We tried to drill it over the last couple weeks to get prepared to defend it and did a decent job. Wish we could have done a little better and not took so many shots at quarterback, but it’s something we’ll get to work on going forward.”
Gabe Graves led the team defensively with 10 tackles, which was no surprise for Burk.
“He’s already enlisted in the military, and he’s just a tough kid,” he said. “He grits it out when it’s time to, so he came up huge for us tonight — big tackles there late in the game. He came up with one he tackled the running back for a loss, and it put them behind the chains, and we were able to capitalize on that. So, you know, Gabe was a huge asset for us tonight. I’m extremely proud of that kid, love him to death.”
Aaron Murders added eight tackles, and Dexton Hilton had five. The Lions tallied four sacks with Murders, Davis, Joseph Benson and Josh Witt each taking down the Mustangs’ quarterback.
Burk admitted that he was “at a loss for words” following the win, the first time he has led the Lions to this strong a start.
“My mind’s going 1,000 miles an hour right now, but when it comes down to it, what we talked about when we went into halftime is in big time games, big time players make big time plays,” he said. “And we had a few guys step up and make some huge plays over the course of the game. We’re extremely glad to be 1-0 right now in conference, which is the goal. It was a hard-fought game, a lot of credit to them. They had a great game plan. Man, they’ve got some tough kids, and they never quit. They play extremely hard.”
Jessieville quarterback Carson Hair was 13 of 20 for 188 yards and a touchdown while rushing 32 times for 118 yards and another score. Matthew Huff added 117 yards on 21 touches and a score, and Benson had two touchdowns — one through the air and one on the ground while combining for 86 yards.
Perryville was led offensively by quarterback Reid Standridge who was 7-for-19 passing for 213 yards and three touchdowns while rushing 14 times for 41 yards.
“The guy that scored five, six touchdowns, something crazy against Bigelow in Week 1,” Norton said. “He’s kind of our bell cow, what we build everything around. He threw the ball well today with some pressure in his face. We don’t see a lot of 33 stack stuff, and they do a good job with it. They got some dynamic guys at linebacker. [Benson] is a good player, but Reid stood in there, threw the ball well, hit some big plays down the field.”
Shane Hester had a pair of touchdown receptions for 104 yards, and Cole Griffin had three catches for 77 yards and a score. Nathan Gilbert led the Mustangs with 11 tackles and a sack, and Seth Pitts and Brandon Hoyt had nine stops each.
The Mustangs did not have a single penalty in the second half, but Jessieville had eight calls in the second half for 55 yards.