Perry looking to build region momentum as they host Jones County in Game of the Week

The first half of Perry’s season has been all or nothing, for the most part.

Their losses (save the one to Ola) have been blowouts defined by opponents’ big, explosive plays and their victories have been equally dominant.

During their 57-14 victory against Locust Grove, quarterback Jhamard Cobb only threw nine passes and came away with 101 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

J.D. Arnette and J.D. Garman were the touchdown recipients, and both had an explosive catch at 37 and 28 yards respectively.

Five different rushers got a touch, and four of them had a run 20 yards or longer.

Plenty of other teams have done that same thing to them. Dublin rushed for 568 yards with runs as long as 80 and 63 yards. Peach County also had runs of 72 and 52 yards.

Jones County’s season has been eerily similar.

Their first three games were lopsided losses against difficult opponents. Valdosta scored four passing touchdowns with 38-, 45- and 68-yard tosses to go with a pair of rushing touchdowns and runs of 27 and 33 yards.

Peach County’s Ashton Barton punched in three touchdowns and had a run of 40 yards and Zion Ellison poured in two of his own to go with a 34-yard scamper.

Houston County running back Austin Stinson ran wild for 226 yards and three touchdowns with a long of 80 yards. Quarterback Ryan Maxwell tallied 211 yards and two touchdowns with a long of 48 yards.

Since then, however, they’ve won by five scores at least (again, save the game against Ola) in three games.

The Greyhounds beat Burke County and Locust Grove on the road 35-0 and 49-14 respectively. Travis Miller and Laquan Pendleton had nearly identical statlines against the Wildcats with 12 carries for 164 yards and long runs of 52 yards, each. The only place they differed was Miller had three touchdowns to Pendleton’s two.

They beat Ola 17-14 in overtime and returned home and scored 65 points, their current season high, to beat Union Grove 65-7.

Which team will reign in the explosives?

Historically, Perry leads the series 14-6, but they’ve only faced off twice in the 21st century.

The Panthers are currently on a four-game winning streak with victories in 2023, 2022, 1993 and 1992.

From 1970 to 1985 the two teams were on and off region opponents, and after 1987 the teams stopped playing each other regularly.

The first game they played was in 1954, the inaugural season for Perry’s football program, a 13-0 win for a Greyhounds program that had been in existence for 25 years by that time.

Kickoff is scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Panther Pit