Pleasant Valley and Jacksonville renewed their next-door rivalry, and it proved to be a good decision. Host Pleasant Valley came out on top in the back-and-forth game with a 33-27 win to move one game above .500 at the season’s midway point. After staking itself to a lead, Pleasant Valley watched it disappear before its late rally.
“We thought we had the game won,” PV quarterback Michael Lockridge said Friday night. “(Pleasant Valley coach Jeff Davis) told us we needed to play our butts off on defense (at halftime).”
The Raiders went up 12-0 on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Lockridge to wide receiver Ben Haynes with 4:32 remaining in the first quarter followed by a 5-yard scoring run by Kyle Bean with 10:11 left in the second.
“The go route was working for us and the line did a heck of a job,” said Lockridge, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound junior.
Lockridge threw for 173 first-half yards, completing 4 of 7 attempts for two touchdowns in the half. His second scoring strike came on a 71-yard toss and catch to Haynes with less than a minute to go before the half.
After touchdowns by Jacksonville running backs Omar Bowie and Coryell Elston, the Golden Eagles jumped back ahead 14-12.
That put the Raiders regained the lead 18-14. Pleasant Valley survived topsy-turvy second half that saw a trio of lead changes until Lockridge hooked up again with Haynes for a 20-yard touchdown pass on a deep fade route to the corner of the end zone for his fourth and final touchdown pass.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Haynes won a jump ball over Golden Eagles defensive back Tyler Naser to come down with the catch while dragging a foot in bounds and retaining possession.
The two connected again, this time on a slant route, to give the Raiders a 33-27 lead. Lockridge finished with 241 yards passing while completing 8 of 11 attempts for four touchdowns.
“We made a lot of adjustments,” said Haynes of the Raiders’ best passing output of the season. “We watched a lot of film this week even more so than usual. The line did a great job and the quarterback put it in there. All we had to do was run the routes.”
Haynes, a senior, racked up 136 yards receiving and three touchdowns on four catches. Taylor Burgess ended with two catches for 54 yards including a 16-yard touchdown.
Jacksonville’s Jackson Pearson led all rushers with 139 yards on just 10 carries. He bounced an end-around outside for a 59-yard touchdown run that gave the Golden Eagles the lead with 10:21 on the opening possession of the second half.
Elston, just a freshman, carried the ball 12 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns, including a powerful 30-yard run up the middle for a score in which he muscled through a gang tackle before barreling through to the end zone. The final of three fumbles Jacksonville lost came with seven minutes to go in the game and proved costly as the Golden Eagles were trying to put together a potential game-winning drive.
Pleasant Valley running back Kyle Bean was a workhorse for the Raiders, leading his team on the ground with 120 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries. Joe Faucett contributed with 46 yards on eight carries for Pleasant Valley.
Trey Knight picked off Jacksonville quarterback Matthew Thompson to secure the victory for the Raiders in the game’s waning stages.
Pleasant Valley travels to third-ranked Leeds while Jacksonville (1-4) is off to Hokes Bluff next week.
“This helps us a lot going into next week,” Haynes said. “Because this team was a lot bigger than us and Leeds is going to be a lot bigger than us.”
