Fourth-downs key JF’s comeback against Heritage

FOREST — With its backs against the wall, Jefferson Forest’s football team was at its absolute best, Friday night in a back-and-forth Seminole District battle against Heritage at Sabre Stadium.

All four of the Cavaliers’ touchdowns in the 29-26 triumph were set up by or scored on fourth-down conversions, including the last two by sophomore slot receiver Marcus Jones.

“It’s a matter of the kids believing if we have time on the clock, we can win the game,” JF coach Don Rice said. “It’s a testament to our kids to believe, ‘We can do this.’”

With the Pioneers focusing on JF’s Rashad Hall — the area’s second-leading rusher who finished with 127 yards on 22 carries — and receiver Colby Rhodes, who was held to two catches for one yard, Jones proved to be an effective second option for senior quarterback Hunter Hannell.

“Tonight was Marcus Jones’ time to shine, because they were keying on Rashad and Colby Rhodes,” Rice said. “They had their best DB on Colby Rhodes and Marcus Jones kind of took over a little bit.”

On his game-winning run, Jones took a delayed sweep from Hannell and scooted up the left sideline for a 14-yard touchdown run with 51 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

“We had good blocking from the receivers and we had the fake going and got it into the end zone,” said Jones, who followed a fake dive to Hall.

“They crashed in on Rashad and Colby Rhodes made an unbelievable block on the perimeter,” Rice said.

“We seemed to execute perfectly at the end of the game when we needed to,” Hannell added. “We just never gave up.”

The Cavaliers (5-3, 3-1 Seminole), coming off a 28-21 loss to Liberty in which they surrendered 21 unanswered points, answered every Heritage touchdown with one of their own to hold out hopes of returning to the Region III playoffs.

“That’s what we were playing for, to stay alive,” Hannell said. “We knew if we lost, our chances of going to the playoffs were zero, so we gave it all we had.”

JF was opportunistic throughout the contest.

Trailing 7-0 and facing third-and-26 at its own 48 in the first quarter, Hannell completed a 10-yard pass to Harrison Loy before an unsportsmanlike penalty assessed to Sherman Ferguson for apparently taunting Loy after a teammate’s hit set up fourth and three at the 28.

“That was huge,“ Heritage coach Doug Smith said of the penalty. “Sherman said he was clapping for his guy and they said he was taunting. He’s not that kind of guy who does those things.“

Two plays later, Hannell found Ryan Gingrich cutting across the goal line for a 25-yard touchdown pass.

“We’re young in some areas in the secondary and they took advantage of some of that,“ Smith said.

Hannell was sacked five times, three by Heritage senior linebacker Doug Harris, for a loss of 28 yards.

“We knew if we could just get time, we knew we could cross our receivers across the middle and there would be nobody there,“ Rice said.

After Heritage failed on a fourth-and-1 try from its own 40 with four minutes left in the first half, the Cavaliers tied the game at 14 on Andrew Brown’s fourth-and-goal 1-yard run just 15 seconds before halftime.

Lawrence Blake put the Pioneers back on top with his 45-yard touchdown return of a Dylan Sims punt. But the extra-point attempt went wide and Forest seized its first lead on a 32-yard fourth-down pass play from Hannell to Jones on the right flat, followed by Sims’ kick.

That drive was set up by the game’s only turnover on quarterback Lakuan McPhaul’s fumbled pitch to Rondell Hamlett at the Forest 47.

“He’s got our best hands,” Smith said. “It happens. It was just one of those things.”

Heritage went back on top 26-21 on McPhaul’s second sneak for a touchdown, but Brown knocked down McPhaul’s two-point conversion pass attempt.

With less than two minutes remaining and the Cavaliers at midfield, the Pioneers’ appeared to finally get the stop they needed on fourth down, but a pass interference call on Hannell’s throw intended for Gingrich kept the drive alive at the 42. Four carries by Hall moved the ball to the 14 before Jones finished it off and Hannell connected with Loy for a two-point conversion in the right side of the end zone.

“It’s one of those games where who gets the ball last wins,” Rice said. “Both teams kept their composure and it was a great football game.”