The North Pike Jaguars hosted their second game this season at John I. Hurst Stadium of Southwest Mississippi Community College on Friday night and defeated the Richland Rangers 64-21.
It was senior night for the Jaguars, and North Pike head coach Chris Smith was proud to see his team overcome multiple distractions that came with such a huge night in order to get the win. “We’ve got a great group of seniors that have been working with us for a while,” Smith said. “It’s big to get this win on senior night. We had a great crowd, and I was real proud that we had a good game. We had a lot of distractions and emotions involved tonight and they took it all in stride and played well.”
The Jaguars were able to put the first points on the board within a single minute of play. Leading the first drive, senior quarterback Juwan Adams took off on a 21-yard run from the North Pike 32-yard line to the Richland 47-yard line. On the very next play, senior running back Nakia Trotter ran in the 47-yard touchdown to put North Pike out to an early 7-0 lead with 11:14 remaining in the first quarter.
Late in the first quarter, after forcing the Rangers to a long fourth down, North Pike’s Ronnie Bates drew the penalty on defense for roughing the punter, allowing Richland to move deep into North Pike’s territory of the field. They took advantage of the penalty, and with 1:29 left in the first quarter, Richland quarterback LaDarius McLin ran in the 1-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7.
Following the Rangers’ lone first half touchdown, the Jaguars scored 50 unanswered points.
Adams found Taz Fountain deep in the back of the end zone for the 47 yard touchdown pass with 0:52 to play in the first quarter, putting the Jaguars ahead 14-7. The Jaguars kicked the ball off to the Richland 4 yard line, where on 2nd and 13, defensive back Marquez Lee intercepted a McLin pass, and set the Jaguars up at the Richland goal line. The offense took the field for the Jaguars and Trotter ran in the 4-yard touchdown to take a 20-7 lead.
Adams connected with Fountain again for a 31 yard touchdown pass with 8:16 remaining before halftime to go up 27-7. North Pike successfully recovered an onside kick following the touchdown, giving them a short field of 37 yards to work with. After Adams found Javian Jackson for a 13 yard completion at the Richland 24 yard line, from there Trotter ran in another touchdown to make it 34-7 with 7:42 remaining in the second quarter.
The Jaguars wouldn’t stop there either, coming back again with another successful onside kick and a short 35 yard field. Adams completed 15-yard passes to both Jackson and younger brother Dylan Adams, before finding Jackson in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass and a 40-7 lead after the missed extra point with 6:48 left to play in the first half.
Trying their luck once again with the onside kick, the Jaguars came up short, but were still able to force Richland to punt the ball away on their possession to the North Pike 31-yard line. Driving all the way down to the Richland 6-yard line, on fourth and goal the Jaguars brought out their kicker Trent Coleman to send in the 32-yard field goal to make it 43-7 with 1:42 left in the first half.
Just right before halftime, Taz Fountain completed an 8 yard touchdown pass to Jacob Gill with 0:04 to spare to give the Jaguars an overwhelming 50-7 lead at the half.
Chanze Taylor ran in a 5-yard touchdown for the Jaguars with 7:45 left in the third quarter to make it 57-7 as the running clock began and the game started to wind down. Breland Jackson ran in a 73 yard touchdown for the Rangers with around 5:30 left in the third quarter, finally responding to the long-lasting 50-0 run by North Pike. Jackson’s touchdown would make the score 57-14 going into the final quarter of play. Fountain connected with Dylan Adams for an 18 yard touchdown pass to go up 64-14 with 11:30 left in the game. In the closing seconds of the game Richland’s Alec Burtnett completed a final touchdown to Tyler Higgins.
Juwan Adams completed 15 of 21 passes for 265 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 31 yards off of two carries. Fountain completed 2 of 3 passes for 27 yards and two touchdowns. Fountain also rushed for 23 yards off of 3 carries. Trotter finished with 121 yards off of 10 carries along with three rushing touchdowns. Taylor finished with 42 yards off of 5 carries with one touchdown. Jackson had 7 receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown. Fountain had 6 receptions for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Dylan Adams had 2 receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown. Gill had 2 receptions for 27 yards and a touchdown. Jake Spears led the defense in tackles with 7, followed by Connor Travis with 6 tackles. Lee had 3 tackles and one interception. Trent Coleman made 7 of 9 extra point attempts and went 1-1 in field goals, with one from 32 yards.
During last week’s game against the Florence Eagles the Jaguars had a senior receiver, Tyler Adams, suffer an injured spleen.
Smith has stated that Adams was released from the hospital this past Monday, and returned to school on Friday for the pep rally.
“He got released from the hospital on Monday and he was back with us tonight,” Smith said. “Of course he didn’t get to play, but he was on the sidelines. He didn’t have to have surgery, which is what we were worried about last Friday night. They airlifted him to Jackson on Friday night, so they were serious about it. I just figured that when they sent him up there, that it was a done deal. He’s still weak, but it could’ve been a whole lot worse,” Smith said.
North Pike will be on the road at 7 p.m. Friday against the McComb Tigers.
