Published: October 17, 2009 12:41 am      

FOOTBALL: Jennings goes South, beats Jeff

JEFFERSONVILLE — Jennings County’s Tieler South out-jumped Jeffersonville defenders on two second-half touchdown receptions to lead the visiting Panthers by Jeffersonville on Friday at Blair Field, 12-6.

South caught three passes on the night, scoring the two touchdowns — one in each corner of the end zone — and also caught a 16-yard first-down pass from Skylar Fergason on fourth-and-6 to keep the final drive of the game alive.

On fourth-and-goal from the 8 with 55 seconds to play, Ferguson threw a fade pass to the back of the end zone, where South out-leaped Jeremy Martin to score the game-winning touchdown.

South’s three receptions were his second, third and fourth of the season.

“This is his first year of playing football,” Buening said of the 6-foot-4 senior. “He struggled early picking up on the nuances of the offense. Obviously, we’re glad he picked it up for tonight.”

The final drive took over nine minutes, giving Jeff only 48 seconds left to try to pull off a miracle comeback.

“They ate the clock and hammered us up front,” Jeff coach Steve Cooley said of the 67-yard drive.

“That’s what we base our plan of attack on,” Buening said. “We don’t have the athletes that a lot of other teams do in this conference. We have to be physical and run the football and work the clock. We can’t match up with Jeff athlete-for-athlete, so that drive was exactly what you want out of your team in the fourth quarter.

“I could not be more proud of a football team than I am of this one.”

For Jeff, losing to a Panther team on a five-game losing streak was not what it wanted heading into sectional play next week against Castle.

“We made too many mistakes,” Cooley said. “Both teams played in the slop, but they were made for this as a power-running team. My hat’s off to Jennings County. They made the plays and we didn’t.”

There was no scoring in the first half, but Jennings County scored on its first drive of the second half. It took the Panthers five minutes and 14 seconds to go 64 yards to put the ball in the end zone. On fourth-and-7, Ferguson completed an 18-yard scoring strike to South for the senior’s first score of his career. This time, South made the reception over against the defense of Darien Tatgenhorst.

Ferguson finished the contest 8-for-8 for 75 yards.

“Skylar was our unsung hero,” Buening said.

On its scoring drive, Jeff took over possession on the second play of the fourth quarter. Andrel Williams carried the ball four times for 28 yards to get the Red Devils into the red zone. On first down from the Jennings 13, sophomore quarterback Dalton connected with freshman receiver Ricky Embry on a 12-yard pass to the Panther 1. Conway snuck the ball over the goal line on the next play to tie the score at six apiece.

On the two-point conversion, Conway was forced out of bounds just outside of the goal line.

Williams finished the game with 99 yards on 27 carries. Conway completed all five of his passes for 38 yards in the second half. He was 7-for-9 for the contest.

The good news for Jeff is that its defense was strong for almost the entire contest. The Devil defense held Iyan Bass, the Hoosier Hills Conference’s leading rusher, to 116 yards on 28 carries and kept the sophomore out of the end zone.

“They have one of the better defenses I’ve seen all year,” Buening said of the Devils.

Three of Jeff’s four possessions in the first half ventured inside Jennings County territory. Twice in the first quarter, the Red Devils to the 26-yard line.

On the first drive of the game, Jeff drove 43 yards to the Panthers’ 26. On fourth down, Williams was stopped for a loss on a fourth-and-4 run. After Jennings took over and fumbled after three plays, Jeff again failed on a fourth-down conversion attempt. This time, Conway’s pass went off of the fingertips of Evan Lindsey.

“We’ve got to score when we get that close,” Cooley said.

“The defense was huge tonight,” Buening said. “On a night like this, you know you’re going to have a hard time passing the ball and you’re going to have a hard time making cuts, so we knew it could come down to which team would execute. Tonight’s the first time all year that we’ve made the plays on third and fourth downs – both on offense and defense.”

Jeff’s best opportunity to score came on the final drive of the half. Following a defensive stand of its own, Jeff took over on its own 19 when Jeremy Martin made a first-down saving tackle of Tommy McDaniel on fourth down.

Jeff proceeded to drive 77 yards to the Panthers’ 4-yard line. In less than six minutes. However, on second down, Williams was stopped for a loss. With just four seconds left in the half, Williams took a pitch on third down and again was stopped, this time for a 4-yard loss by Bass as time expired in the half.

“We missed a block (on speed option),” Cooley said of the final play. “If we hit the outside linebacker, (Williams) walks in.”

Williams’ biggest gain of the first half came on the final drive when Conway rolled right and threw back to the left to Williams, who scampered 28 yards to the Jennings’ 6. Williams was bottled up on the ground in the opening half, carrying the ball 19 times for 52 yards, including six runs that went for a loss.

Jeff finished the regular season with a 5-4 mark, dropping its final two games. The Red Devils will host Castle in a first-round sectional game next Friday.

Jennings County hosts 6-3 Floyd Central in Sectional 8 next Friday. The Highlanders finished the regular season with a 17-15 loss to New Albany.



JENNINGS CO. 0 0 6 6—12

Jeffersonville 0 0 0 6—6

Scoring Plays

3rd quarter

JC — South 18 pass from Furgason (Bass run failed), 6:46



4th quarter

J — Conway 1 run (Conway run failed), 9:51

JC — South 8 pass from Furgason (Bass run failed), :48