By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The final score was not indicative of how completely Jacksonville dominated the Parkview Patriots Friday at Jan Crow Stadium. The Red Devils controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and controlled the clock in a 9-0 shutout of a Parkview team that had not been held to less than 26 points all season.
It was the Red Devils second shutout of the season, and the one on Friday featured several sophomores stepping up to make big plays at key moments.
“We’re banged up,” Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said. “We told the younger players to pay attention, be ready when your time comes. If you play well you’ll stay out there. They just finished up a great junior varsity season. They kept getting better and it showed on the field tonight. We’re very proud of our younger players tonight.”
The Red Devils unveiled a new look on offense, and it paid big dividends even if it didn’t put a lot of points on the board.
Junior Kevin Richardson moved to quarterback to run the wildcat. He led Jacksonville’s offense with 13 carries for 125 yards. More importantly, Richardson led Jacksonville on two long drives in the second half that kept the ball away from Parkview’s vaunted offense and protected the Red Devils’ 9-0 lead.
After the defense held the Patriots on the first drive of the second half, Jacksonville went on a 13-play, six-minute drive that ended with a 4-yard pass on fourth and goal from the 6.
Parkview was unable to get a first down from their own 2, but Aaron Smith fumbled the punt and the Patriots covered at their own 28. After one first down, Richardson stepped up on defense and intercepted a Caelon Harden pass at the Red Devil 34 with 11:53 left in the game.
From there Jacksonville drove 15 plays to the Parkview 3-yard line. On first and goal, Smith fumbled and Parkview covered. Despite the turnover, Russell was very pleased with the nine-minute, 34-second drive that left Parkview needing two scores with just 3:19 left in the game.
“That was a big drive,” Russell said. “Mistakes are going to happen in football. We’d of course like to punch it in the end zone, but I’m very happy with the way we controlled the line of scrimmage and chewed up that clock. That was huge.”
Starting from its own 4-yard line, Parkview went on its longest drive of the game, but still only made it out to the 30. On third down and needing four yards for a first, Smith helped make amends for the fumble with a big stop for no gain on third down. On fourth, James Reddick, Darrelle White and David Johnson clogged the middle and stuffed Patriot running back Rashad Earls for no gain to give the Devils the ball with 1:49 left in the game.
Jacksonville needed one first down to seal the victory, and got it with a 5-yard run on fourth down by Richardson.
All the scoring came in the first half. Jacksonville had first and goal on four different drives and got inside the red zone six times, but only came away with one touchdown and one field goal.
The Red Devils opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal by David Suairy that capped an eight-play drive with 10:56 left in the second quarter.
The Red Devils set the final margin with 4:01 left in the half with a five-play, 48-yard drive. Richardson scampered 23 yards on first down to the 25. An 8-yard run by Smith followed back-to-back completions to Brandon Brockman and D’vone McClure. On second and two, Richardson hit McClure in the end zone for the score.
The Red Devil offense piled up 309 total yards while the defense held the Patriots to just 112 total yards.
With the win, Jacksonville likely sewed up a four seed and a home game in the first round of the class 6A playoffs.
Jacksonville travels to West Memphis next week and ends the season at home against Marion.
