By todd traub
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville continued its football revival Friday night.
The Red Devils notched their sixth victory, taking a 28-14, 7A/6A-East Conference victory at Little Rock Parkview.
The Red Devils avenged last year’s home loss to the Patriots, but then, Jacksonville has been getting a lot of payback this year after winning just two games last season.
In their first year under coach Rick Russell, the Devils have matched their 2008 victory total with two more games to play. Jacksonville last won a conference championship in 2006, when it won seven games.
Russell is Jacksonville’s former defensive coordinator who returned to the program after one year as North Pulaski’s head coach.
On Friday at Parkview, which beat Jacksonville 26-21 last year, the Red Devils shut out the Patriots in the second half, breaking a 14-14 halftime tie.
Jacksonville (6-2, 4-1) took the opening kickoff of the half and drove to score on quarterback Logan Perry’s one-yard run.
The Red Devils then recovered an onside kick and made it 28-14 when Jamison Williams caught a six-yard pass from Perry.
The Red Devils had first and goal in the closing seconds but took a knee to run out the clock.
Jacksonville’s first-half touchdowns came on a run by Antwone Mosby and a 60-yard reception by D’Vone McClure as the Red Devils overcame deficits of 7-0 and 14-7.
Jacksonville is back at home next week to start what could be its toughest two-game stretch of the year.
Preseason conference favorite West Memphis, which has won the past six conference titles and 61 games in the previous six years and beat Jacksonville 42-0 last season, comes to Jan Crow stadium.
The Red Devils, already assured of making the state playoffs, follow that with a game at Marion, a postseason qualifier last year, on Nov. 5.
The state football playoffs begin this year on 12.
It is shaping up as a big week for Jacksonville. The junior high “Chili Bowl” against crosstown rival North Pulaski, begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Jan Crow.
Athletic director Jerry Wilson also announced a booster club meeting at the fieldhouse at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
