Here is the report for this weekend's Times-Journal. Enjoy.
Ironmen can’t keep Knights, Cavs in check
By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor
The Jackson High School football team put forth a good effort on Friday night.
But the Ironmen could not keep Caleb Knights, and the high-powered Chillicothe Cavaliers, in check.
Knights rushed for 104 yards and three touchdowns, as visiting Chillicothe scored 38 unanswered points en route to defeating Jackson 41-16 in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game at Alumni Stadium.
Knights also threw for 77 yards, but his three touchdown runs following an interception return for a score helped lead the Cavaliers to an easy league victory.
With the win, Chillicothe climbed to 6-2 overall, and remained undefeated in the SEOAL at 5-0.
The Cavaliers have captured five straight victories — all in league play.
“They (Cavaliers) are a very talented team, and I think everyone could see that tonight,†said Jackson coach Shane Wolford. “A team with that many weapons is hard to beat. Their offensive line was good, and we couldn’t get anything going running the ball. They are a big and physical team up front and they have fast linebackers. They were just all-out the better team, and sometimes you just run into a team that is better than you.â€
Jackson, meanwhile, suffers its second straight loss and third in its last four games.
The Ironmen slip to 5-3 overall, and dip below .500 in the league to 2-3.
Jackson needed a win to remain in the SEOAL championship chase, as well as the Division II, Region 8 playoff race.
Its postseason hopes are — in all likelihood — doomed.
Two years ago, the underdog Ironmen welcomed the heavily-favored Cavaliers to Alumni Stadium, and promptly crushed Chillicothe 42-15.
The Cavaliers, then led by Knights as a sophomore signal-caller, were kept off the field for all but 25 plays.
Chillicothe was again a heavy favorite for Friday’s affair, but the suspense this time around only lasted for an entire quarter.
In fact, with 72 seconds remaining in the first period, it disappeared into the arms of Chillicothe defensive back Ron Smith.
With Jackson leading 3-0, the Ironmen had just forced a Cavalier three-and-out, and got the ball back at their own 41-yard-line.
A 24-yard pass play from Tyler Boggs to Eric Landrum then put the Ironmen in Chillicothe territory.
But on the next play, Smith intercepted Boggs at the line of scrimmage, and raced 65 yards the other way for the Cavaliers’ go-ahead touchdown.
Chillicothe and Knights never looked back after that.
Drew Basil booted the first of his five extra-point kicks, and two field goals of at least 39 yards, to put the Cavaliers in front for good.
“Everything was going good, and possibly if we didn’t have that interception there, we could have maybe gotten at least another field goal out of it,†said Wolford.
After forcing an Ironmen three-and-out, Knights capped a 7-play, 64-yard drive with a 37-yard touchdown run on a keeper to the left.
Just two minutes into the second quarter, the Cavaliers suddenly held a 14-3 advantage.
It would only get better for Knights and Chillicothe after that.
That’s because two more Jackson possessions resulted in two more Knights touchdowns and two more made PATs by Basil.
After another three-and-out by the Ironmen, Knights engineered an 8-play, 45-yard drive which he finished himself with a 1-yard sneak.
The Ironmen were then stopped on a 4th-and-1 from midfield, as Knights needed just three carries and five total plays to make the score 27-3.
On 2nd-and-7 from the Jackson 48, he escaped for a 22-yard gain.
Three plays later, he was in the end zone again for a hat trick, scoring from 23 yards away with two minutes remaining in the first half.
But Chillicothe kept up the pressure.
Two plays later, Boggs was intercepted for the second time in the half, this time by Isaac Beverly near midfield.
The Cavaliers drove seven plays to the Ironmen 22, before Basil blasted down the middle a 39-yard field goal with 5.4 seconds remaining in the half.
Basil, a standout soccer player as well as the Cavalier placekicker, went 2-for-3 on field goals on the night.
He might have just missed from 51 yards in the third quarter, but redeemed himself from 50 yards away with six minutes remaining in the contest.
Basil’s boomer of a kick split the uprights, setting a new career-long and Chillicothe school record.
It also made the score 41-10.
Basil’s 50-yard field goal was sandwiched around a pair of Jackson fourth-quarter touchdowns, mainly involving the offensive reserves.
With eight-and-a-half minutes remaining, Landrum locked on to Derrick Meredith for a 23-yard scoring strike.
Ryan Mullins, who earlier nailed a 40-yard field goal for the 3-0 Ironmen lead, followed with his lone extra-point attempt of the night.
With 44 seconds to play, Jackson’s Drew Ervin made the score more respectable with a 7-yard run.
Chillicothe’s lone second-half touchdown came courtesy of Casey Oates, who capped a three-play, 26-yard drive with an 8-yard run with seven minutes left in the third.
The Cavaliers recovered a fumble after Boggs was hit from his blindside by Tyler Vest.
It was indeed a long night for Boggs and the Ironmen, which played without standout tailback and linebacker Cody Huff.
Huff, who has 905 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the season, suffered a sprained neck on the first play from scrimmage in last week’s loss at Ironton.
He never returned in that game, and could only watch from the sidelines on Friday.
Without Huff, Josh Brown played primarily running back, and led the Red and White in rushing with 44 yards on eight carries.
Sophomore fullback Klay Arthur added 19 yards on 10 totes.
Landrum, playing quarterback for a majority of the second half, rushed for 26 yards and threw for 86, including the 23-yard touchdown toss to Meredith.
He picked up 35 yards on the play prior to his touchdown pass, and located Lukas Lindamood for a 38-yard reception on the possession before.
Mullins made two receptions for 35 yards as a wingback, as Jackson actually had 20 more passing yards than rushing (126-106).
A lot of the passing yardage came on the initial Jackson possession, in which the Ironmen took advantage of a roughing-the-punter penalty on 4th-and-6 from their own 20.
The drive began on their own four, and included three first downs with Boggs operating the offense out of the no-huddle.
For the run-oriented, clock-conscious Ironmen, an empty backfield with four-or-five wide receivers was a new twist.
“Not having Cody tonight, we tried some different things,†said Wolford, who often has a staunch run-the-football and control-the-line-of-scrimmage philosophy. “The kids have a lot of fun with it (no-huddle), so we figured it was worth a try.â€
It worked, as Brown — on a direct snap — picked up 32 yards into Cavalier territory at the 27.
A four-yard pass from Boggs to Brandon Trace, followed by two straight incompletions, set up Mullins for his 40-yard field goal with 3:21 remaining in the first.
“Early on, I think they were shocked by it (Jackson no-huddle attack) and didn’t really know what to do,†said Wolford. “Once they adjusted, we’ve got so many kids playing both ways that when you’re not huddling and they’re not huddling, your kids get worn down. I think that’s what happened, and their speed just proved to be too much for us.â€
In addition, three turnovers — including the interception return by Smith on the next series — and four punts did not aid their cause.
Knights completed 8-of-17 passes, as Chillicothe carried 42 times for eight yards shy of 200.
Alex Grow caught three passes for 34 yards as tailback Eric Young added 41 yards on the same amount of touches as Knights.
All of those came in the first half.
While Chillicothe was indeed the superior squad on this night, Wolford was pleased with his Ironmen’s effort.
“That’s a very talented team that they have, but all-in-all I think our kids played hard,†he said. “I had questioned how hard they played last week and a couple of weeks before that, but tonight we came out and played hard and were hitting. It’s just sometimes you get kids like Chillicothe has in open space, they make you look like you are in quicksand.â€
The Ironmen’s schedule does not get any easier next week and, in fact, in may be more difficult.
That’s because the undefeated and four-time defending league champion Logan Chieftains come calling for Homecoming.
“It only gets tougher,†said Wolford. “But as long as we keep fighting and we don’t give up, we’re always going to be proud of them (Ironmen). That’s for sure.â€
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