By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

For Jones County, this is nothing new.

“Three years in a row, we’ve started on Thursday,” Jones County head coach Justin Rogers said. “This is how we open the season.”

It’s not completely intentional.

For two years, the Greyhounds were in the temporarily-regionalized Corky Kell Classic, playing Lee County and then Houston County at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

This time, it’s logistical, taking on Howard (7 p.m.) at the Ed DeFore Sports Complex, which hosts Southside and Westside on Friday, in a marquee game.

Jones County is ranked sixth by the Georgia Sports Writers Association and eighth by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Howard is coming off its first playoff season with a solid number of returnees.

A win would get Howard closer to another milestone: getting some poll attention. But first-year head coach Paul Carroll just wants to see the Huskies maintain the momentum from a fundamentally sound scrimmage against Tattnall.

“I was very pleased in the scrimmage game," he said. "We executed well on both sides of the ball, and also in special teams.”

While a healthy Class 4A team smacking around a Class A team that has lost four starters in the preseason to assorted health issue isn’t news, there were other aspects from last Friday night that are relevant.

“Sometimes with a scrimmage game, you usually have probably six or seven penalties and you fumble the football," Carroll said. "And you’ll have one knucklehead over there on the sideline not paying attention and not getting out on the field on a punt or extra point.

“We didn’t have any of that.”

Jones County took on a Region 2-4A opponent of Howard, Upson-Lee, last week in a scrimmage. Officially, no score was kept. Rogers said the Greyhounds played OK, but didn’t take care of the ball properly.

They’re in a transition on offense, with a new quarterback and main running back, replacing multi-year starters Teldrick Ross and Drake Bolus.

But that transition is softened by the fact that both quarterback Hunter Costlow and back Semaj Engram got some quality snaps when Ross and Bolus were injured late last season.

Costlow led the Greyhounds to a playoff win against Wayne County, and was big in a comeback that fell just short in a loss a week later at Carver-Atlanta.

“He’s done well,” Rogers said of the QB who is more of a pocket passer than Ross was. “He’s worked hard in the offseason and in camp.”

The games feature contrasting offenses, although both are in some hurry to get the snap off. Jones County is more balanced and wide open, while Howard brings in a Wing-T.

Howard has an edge in experience at some skill positions with quarterback Quintan Sewell (132-610 rushing, 781 yards passing, 22 TDs combined) and running backs Jeremiah Kelly (147-1,064, 8 TDs) and Jarquavius Coleman (77-386-3).

Jones County counters with a pretty decent offensive line, led by Trey Bonner, who is getting power-5 conference attention. The receiving group, anchored by returnee Jontavis Robertson, appears to be about a normal Jones County receiving group: explosive.

Both defenses have some attention-getters, namely linebacker DeAndre Shelton (62 solos, 11 tackles for loss) and defensive back Lorezno Hargrove (17 solos, three INTs) for Howard and linemen Jadarien Boykin (82 tackles, 19 sacks) and Garrett Baughman (five sacks) for Jones County.

“That Mike linebacker is good,” Rogers said of Shelton. “He can run.”

Both programs have a “prove something” mentality.

Jones County is trying to establish itself as a consistent statewide contender, so it doesn’t want a loss to a program that has had two winning seasons in 10, matched by consecutive 0-10 seasons.

Howard wants to build on the momentum of a playoff trip and make a statement that it can actually contend in a tough region, as well make a stronger name in Bibb County.

Obviously, Carroll wants a win, but there are long-term considerations beyond that, like the practice tempo and energy converting well on game night.

“The biggest thing we’re running into right now with our guys, and they’re starting to grasp that concept and did a great job in spring, is understanding the way I want them to practice and the way the coaches want them to practice,” he said. “I’m a tempo guy, I’m a passionate, energy guy, and I want guys moving around.”

And it’s a bit of a stage for the Huskies.

“My thing is, you got a bigger crowd coming up,” he said. “It’s the only game in town. The lights are gonna be turned on.”