By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Some things needed fixing, and some things got fixed around the Red Devil football program. The results showed in Friday’s 41-19 victory over Hot Springs.
We went back to the basics and we had a hard week of practice,” Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said. “Went back to technique and we told them, potential is interesting, execution is everything. We had some chance to make some plays and we kept our technique and executed. We played with emotion the right way, with passion. Had good attitudes, they trusted their technique and they followed through with it.”
Hot Springs tied the game at seven apiece with 8:52 left in the second quarter when Flinza Davis caught a 41-yard touchdown pass. From that point, Jacksonville scored the next 34 consecutive points to take a commanding 41-7 lead early in the third quarter.
It started with a 27-yard interception return by junior Kevin Richardson that set the Red Devils up on the Hot Springs 13-yard line. Two plays later, Cortez Brown rumbled 14 yards for the score with 5:06 left in the half.
Another Hot Springs turnover after just two plays gave Jacksonville the ball on the Trojan 31. On third and goal from the seven, quarterback Tirrell Brown found tight end Demerio Williams in the end zone. Frank Porto’s extra point made it 21-7 with 1:30 left in the first half. But Jacksonville wasn’t finished.
Hot Springs mishandled the ensuing kickoff and Michael Thornabar recovered it at the Hot Springs 34. It took just one play, a 34-yard pass from Tirrell Brown to Aaron Smith that made it 28-7 with 1:15 left in the half.
The one plays drives weren’t over.
The Red Devils got the ball to start the second half, and Richardson went 46 yards on the first snap. The extra point was no good, leaving Jacksonville with a 34-7 lead.
Hot Springs finally got some offense going on its next drive. After four plays, 13 yards and a first down, sophomore defensive lineman Darrelle White stripped Trojan running back Rolando Johnson at midfield and carried it the distance for the score.
Porto’s extra point gave Jacksonville a 41-7 lead with 9:15 left in the third quarter.
“Winning fixes a lot of things,” Russell said. “We still have some things we have to tweak. Had a few bad snaps, a few penalties. We have to keep fixing those things because conference starts next week. But they played hard. I’m proud of them.”
Hot Springs added late scores to set the final margin. Quindarien Coleman scored from 14 yards out with 9:53 left in the game to make it 41-13.
After Jacksonville turned it over on downs, quarterback Ryan Morrow scrambled and turned a busted play into a 17-yard scoring run to make it 41-19 with 4:24 left in the game.
Jacksonville scored first. The Red Devils took possession for the second time and marched 54 yards in eight plays with Jacarius Jordan running the last six for the score with 1:21 left in the first quarter.
Hot Springs compiled more total yards than Jacksonville. The Red Devils finished with 225 yards while the Trojans had 273. At halftime Jacksonville led in total yardage 176-93.
Hot Springs distributed the ball evenly, with four different backs finishing in the 50-yards rushing range.
Tirrell Brown completed six of 11 pass attempts for 73 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Aaron Smith had 30 yards rushing on four carries, and two receptions for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Cortez Brown had eight carries for 47 yards and a score. Richardson had two carries for 69 yards and a score.
The Red Devils improved to 1-2 on the season while Hot Springs fell to 0-3. Jacksonville goes on the road to open conference play next week at Mountain Home. The Bombers improved to 3-0 Friday with a 27-20 win over Batesville.
