Curt Jones has been a part of his share of special wins.
A 41-6 thrashing of Howard Friday night ordinarily wouldn’t be placed in that category, but the grip he had on the game ball his Pounders had awarded him afterwards was all the indication you needed to know it was.
“This one is special.
Very special,” Jones said pointing to the game ball. “I will cherish this one for the rest of my life.”
It was an especially long week for Jones and his Pounder squad and the culmination of it brought a much needed Region 2-4A win, keeping Central in the hunt for a region title and prime playoff spot. Aside from dealing with the week’s monsoon which limited Central to one practice outside, Jones’ father passed away on Tuesday and he was emotional about it as he spoke to the team afterwards.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much this game ball means to me and how proud I am of ya’ll for handling your business tonight. It’s been a long week, but you’ve handled the adversity like champions,” Jones told them as they gathered near the end zone.
And the Pounders (5-1, 3-0) handled adversity from the opening play of the game when Howard quarterback Marquez Williams found Ellis Robinson for a 72-yard catch and run when Central’s TJ Payne lost his footing on the one-on-one coverage. Just 22 seconds into the game, the Hustlin’ Tigers led 6-0.
The lead last all of 20 more seconds as Payne redeemed himself on the Pounders’ first play from scrimmage, streaking past a Howard defender for a 70-yard score from Jaheim Jones on Central’s first play from scrimmage. Jameson Willard’s PAT made it 7-6 Central, and it was the first of four TDs in the opening quarter for the Pounders.
“The first play was a fluke. I just got my foot caught up with the other foot and fell. After that, though, I knew I had to make a big play for my team to make up for it and fortunately it didn’t take long,” said Payne, who caught all three of Jones’ completions, two of them resulting in scores, for 81 yards.
“We had planned to run that play all week on our first play, but it really made sense after what happened on their first play,” Coach Jones said. “We were fortunate to have had a bye week last week, so we had our game plan in for this game and got four good days of practice last week to get prepared for this.
“We’ve played well most of the year, but we were ready to erupt tonight and tonight I thought we clicked on all cylinders, especially on defense and special teams. We call them special for a reason and it showed tonight,” Jones added.
After the score, Central immediately recovered an onsides kick when Jacobi Witcher fell on a perfectly place pooch kick at the Howard 42. Four Michael McGhee runs later and Central was in the end zone again, the final jaunt from the 2 giving the all-state tailback the first of his two TDs. McGhee finished with 151 yards on 17 carries and added a two-point conversion, but left the game in the final period with a lower leg injury that looked bad.
“We don’t know anything yet, but they are taking him to get it checked out. All we know is it’s a lower extremity injury and we will have to see,” Jones said.
Jaheim Jones picked off a tipped pass on Howard’s second play after McGhee’s score and returned it 44 yards for the score, but a block in the back nullified it. Or rather delayed it. Jones found Payne all alone on a third-down pass from the 7 and a failed conversion run left it 20-6.
Howard’s next drive ended in a sack by Central’s Donya Parker on third down and he immediately followed it up with another big play, blocking the Tiger punt on fourth down to set it up at the 30. Hunter Jones ripped off a 22-yard run on the second play and McGhee added the conversion run to make it 28-6.
From that point on, it was a whole lot of defense on both sides. The second quarter saw Howard turn it over on downs on both possessions and Central turned it over on downs when Davontay Smith sacked Jones on a fourth down drop back.
The third period was much the same.
Central tried a fake punt on its first second-half possession but Jarquell Wooten sniffed it out and stopped it short. Howard (1-4, 0-2) drove it all the way to the Central one, but a fumble was scooped up by Marquis Ray and returned to the 30 where the Pounders were forced to punt. Howard turned it over on downs again and McGhee took the final play of the period 64 yards after brushing off a hit in the backfield and out running everyone for the score. The PAT was blocked to leave it 34-6 heading into the final period.
Central added a final score thanks in part to three unsportsmanlike penalties on Howard aided the drive, and Jaheim Jones kept it for the score from five yards out with 5:46 left. Howard was flagged for 18 penalties on the night, including six off sides on defense and four unsportsmanlikes and a personal foul.
“I thought our kids did a good job holding their composure out there and doing what we coached them to do. Howard is physical and coach (John) Starr does a great job with them. They do a lot of good things on defense and with that offense. I was really proud of the way our defense stood up,” Jones said.
Howard had 10 plays for negative yardage and in turned forced Central into 12 plays which netted negative yards. Central’s Hunter Jones had four stops for lost yardage and LeBrian Morris had three for Howard while Telijah Snow and Wooten each had two.
Central will host East Ridge next week in another 2-4A showdown while Howard hosts Sequoyah in a region battle.
Central honored former Pounder football player Michael Anthony Perkins’ family. Perkins passed away during a football game in 1967 and his No. 80 jersey is the only Pounder jersey to ever be retired.
HOWARD 6 0 0 0 – 6
CENTRAL 28 0 6 7 – 41
H – Ellis Robinson 72 pass from Marquez Williams (kick failed) (11:38, 1st)
C – TJ Payne 70 pass from Jaheim Jones (Jameson Willard kick) (11:18, 1st)
C – Michael McGhee 2 run (run failed) (9:24, 1st)
C – TJ Payne 7 pass from Jaheim Jones (Jameson Willard kick) (6:37, 1st)
C – Hunter Jones 22 run (Michael McGhee run) (2:11, 1st)
C – Michael McGhee 64 run (kick blocked) (0:00, 3rd)
C – Jaheim jones 5 run (Jameson Willard kick) (5:46, 4th)
H STATS C
9 1st Downs 11
34-92 Rush 34-173
112 Pass 81
204 Total 254
6-12-1 Passes 3-4-0
18-129 Penalties 2-15
3-12.0 Punts 2-22.0
4-1 Fumbles 4-0
Individual Stats
Rushing: Eric Johnson 4-36, Davontay Smith 6-31, Javion Robinson 5-10, Tre’Montay Brooks 11-11 Marquez Williams 6-4 (H); Michael McGhee 17-151, Hunter Jones 5-25 (C).
Passing: Marquez Williams 6-12-1 112 yards (H); Jaheim Jones 3-4-0 81 yards (C).
Receiving: Ellis Robinson 3-96, Tre’Montay Brooks 1-15 (H); TJ Payne 3-81 (C).
Records: Howard 1-4, 0-2 (2-4A); Central 5-1, 3-0 (2-4A).