Jacksonville Christian stared its first win of the season dead in the eyes Friday night. While it turned out not to be, the big thing for the Thunder is it has just as good of a chance to get that win again on Friday night as it takes on winless Jefferson Christian.
“I think we’ve got a chance to win,” JCA coach Tommy Miller said. “Of course, I thought we had chance to win Friday night.”
Miller’s thoughts nearly came true in Jacksonville last Friday. Actually if the game had been one quarter shorter, it would have. A Victory Christian 21-point fourth-quarter rally was the only thing that stood in the way, and ultimately made the 28-14 loss.
Jacksonville Christian (0-3, 0-2 Class 1A, Region 5) lead 14-7 going into the fourth quarter, but an interception and consecutive three-and-outs proved to be the difference.
“I thought we played solid football for the first three quarters,” Miller said. “We just gave out was what happened. … Where we played about 13 kids, they played about 18 --- maybe one or two more than that --- and they got to rest their quarterback (Michael Kirby) a lot on defense.
“He looked a lot fresher in the fourth quarter.”
After a scoreless first half, the Thunder began to make its push in the third quarter. Stephen Hurst hit Jacob Bollinger on a 35-yard scoring strike with 8:10 remaining in the quarter to put the game’s first points on the board.
After Victory Christian tied the game on a Kirby touchdown, JCA fullback David Parris, who rushed for more than 100 yards, broke loose on a 55-yard run to retake the lead 14-7 with just under five minutes remaining in the third.
A near five-minute drive in the fourth tied the score at 14. With 3:20 left to go, Victory Christian took its first lead. VCA put the game out of reach with an interception return for a touchdown.
Where numbers made a difference on Friday night, that thing should be more even on Friday night. Jefferson Christian, which is also winless on the season, plays close to the same numbers as Jefferson Christian, Miller said.
Miller notes the play of the play of their quarterback as a main concern for his Thunder.
“He’s got a lot of speed, and like it was against ASD, that’s tough for us to deal with,” Miller said. “It was even tough for Ragland to hem him up.
“Then they’ll slip him out and put (another guy) back there just to keep you off balance.”
