By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils find themselves in a must-win situation when it hosts the Little Rock McClellan Crimson Lions on Friday at Jan Crow Stadium.
Jacksonville had high expectations since a very successful summer, and can still attain those lofty goals, but results so far have been disappointing.
The latest letdown came last week in the conference opener, a 38-18 road loss to Helena-West Helena Central, a team Jacksonville beat 35-0 last year.
Jacksonville (1-3, 0-1) has made a habit of starting well on offense only to begin sputtering. Sacks, turnovers and dropped passes have all played a role in the disappointing first half of the season.
In the loss to the Cougars, just like in an earlier home loss to Benton, the Red Devils marched down the field easily on their first drive and scored. Things went poorly most of the time afterwards.
Jacksonville was in the red on rushing yards, thanks mostly to five sacks, and receivers dropped seven passes. Jacksonville began experimenting with a read-option offense two weeks ago, but running lanes haven’t been open in varsity competition.
The Red Devils were considered the 5A Central’s best hope to knock Pulaski Academy off the champions’ perch in the preseason, but with the emergence of Sylvan Hills, Mills and Helena-West Helena Central, Jacksonville finds itself on the outside trying to play its way back in to playoff contention in just the second week of conference play.
The Lions should provide Jacksonville with a decent chance to get back into the win column. They are 0-4 so far this season, but played their best game to date last week in a 28-14 loss to undefeated Mills.
The 28 points scored was the second fewest for Mills this season after scoring 32 against Parkview and 36 against Hall. They also beat Blytheville 19-6 before last week’s win over the Lions.
McClellan had been blown out in its first three games, losing 38-13 to Searcy, 28-6 to Central Arkansas Christian and a 35-8 mercy-rule loss at Lonoke.
The Lions have fast skill position players, but are small on the lines. The interior play is the main area of improvement in last week’s game.
Under first-year coach Maurice Moody, McClellan employs a two-quarterback system. Senior Hayden Peters is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound drop-back passer while senior Sydney Tillman is a 5-11, 195-pound converted wide receiver that runs the read option package for Moody.
The Lions try to get the ball into junior Ezekiel Baldwin’s hands in many ways and from various positions. Baldwin’s slight stature, 5-5, 160, is made up for by his 4.4 speed and elusive quickness.
McClellan has several other capable skill players who are a threat to score if they get into open field. Senior Darion Galvin and junior Malik Scott are capable running backs, while Aaron Smith, Deon Johnson and Martez Moore line up at wide receiver.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m.
