Perry’s defense shines in region-shaking domination of Jones County

PERRY — Perry (3-4, 2-1 Region 2-5A) has come a long way since their season opener against Peach County.

The Panthers jumped out in front and stayed there in a domination of Jones County (4-4, 3-1 Region) on Friday, 45-20.

“Just start fast, that’s what we’ve been preaching,” said Perry head coach Kevin Smith. “We’ve been able to do that in the last three games.”

On the first drive of the game the Greyhounds made a gutsy call to go for it on 4th-and-2 from their own 39-yard line. Perry stuffed the attempt, took over at the 40-yard line and converted on 4th-and-4 with a 30-yard pile push to set up Kam Oliver’s touchdown.

Sophomore linebacker Trystan Rhoades’ second-down sack set Jones County up with 3rd-and-19 from their 11-yard line on the ensuing drive, and a shanked punt gave the Panthers another short field to work with at the 23-yard line. A couple of plays later Oliver dragged three defenders with him into the end zone for his second touchdown.

The Greyhounds’ punter dropped the snap on the next punt and Perry took him down at the nine-yard line. Oliver juked, trucked one defender and hopped forward while another held on to his ankle before he snuck in a third score.

Less than four minutes of game time passed between the first touchdown and the third.

“I’m going to tell you now, our defense stepped it up,” Smith said. “[Jones County has] three running backs that can go the distance at any time. And to contain them as much as we did, I was real proud of our defense.”

Watching the unit that trotted out on Friday compared to earlier in the season was like night and day. In every way they looked more polished, and the seniors that were expected to show up going into the season made their presences known.

“We told them, y’all ain’t new no more. You’re seven ball games into it, and it’s time to grow up and start being a Panther, a guy that’s been used to being out there,” Smith said.

Linebacker Kyle Jones and defensive back Quai Greene were two names called frequently. Jones had a pair of tackles for a loss late in the third and early in the fourth quarter, and Greene had several key pass breakups to go with a great performance on special teams.

“The light has come on,” Smith said. “I couldn’t be more proud of Quai Greene. He played a heck of a game [on] special teams, went out there [and] played great on defense.”

One of the more impressive aspects of the defensive effort was how consistent it was through all four quarters of the game.

Jones County broke off a few explosive plays to keep things interesting early in the second half, but overall they were seldom able to put together lengthy drives.

“Great teams are consistent, and we’re seeing more consistency,” Smith said. “[Jones County is] good enough to make explosive plays. Everybody we’ve played so far is good enough to make explosives. We got to understand that we got to get them on the ground and make them snap the ball again.”

Kicker Carson Camp earned some celebratory praise, too, as he knocked through the longest field goal in school history from 54 yards out. The previous school record was also held by Camp, at 53 yards.

“Don’t forget about Carson Camp, we broke a school record that he set a few weeks ago. 54-yard field goal tonight. I’m proud of him, too,” Smith said.

UP NEXT

With Perry’s win, Warner Robins has sole control of the region as the only team with no region losses. Jones County, Ola and Perry all have one loss and have yet to play the Demons.

Perry will take their second bye week next week before returning home to play Union Grove on Oct. 23.

Jones County will also take a week off before returning to Gray to host Eagle’s Landing on Oct. 23.