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| Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Chiefs can't upset No. 1 Cherokee County
Published November 21, 2009
The North Jackson Chiefs knew that their Class 4A state quarterfinal opponent Cherokee County had a lot of offensive firepower.
Unfortunately for North Jackson, the No. 1-ranked Warriors brought the full arsenal Friday night.
Visiting Cherokee County rang up 615 yards of total offense on the way to a 56-32 victory over North Jackson in a state playoff quarterfinal contest at R.D. Hicks Stadium in Stevenson.
The Warriors scored touchdowns on their first five possessions and totaled 29 first downs for the game. The yardage, first downs and point total are the most a North Jackson team has ever surrendered to an opponent.
Cherokee County's speed and quickness haunted the Chiefs' defense, which struggled to make tackles on initial contact.
"We just couldn't get them on the ground," said North Jackson coach Shawn Peek. "We were worried about that, but we had no idea that it'd be that bad. (Cherokee County) had a lot to do with that. They've got athletes everywhere."
North Jackson senior linebacker Robbie Padgett said the game films the Chiefs watched didn't do the fleet-footed Warriors' speed justice.
"They’re just so fast," Padgeet said. "Overall, that's a really great offense."
Cherokee County took a quick 7-0 lead when Gabriel Chambers scored on a 21-yard pass from Coty Blanchard just 1:18 into the game. North Jackson came roaring back, tying it at 7-all a minute later when Will Richard hit Montel Hale on a 29-yard TD strike.
The Warriors responded with a 9-yard touchdown run by Blanchard with 8:13 left in the first period. But the Chiefs answered quickly with a 1-yard touchdown run by Richard with 6:53 left in the first after catches of 53 and 19 yards by Jovani Taylor.
Cherokee County followed with three unanswered touchdowns — a 14-yard run by D.J. Fife, a 7-yard run by Desmond Brown and a 12-yard run by Blanchard — to take a 35-14 lead late in the second quarter.
A fumble recovery by North Jackson's Denzel Bynum at the Chiefs 2 halted another scoring threat for the Warriors late in the second period, and a 26-yard field goal as time expired in the half kept the margin from being worse.
North Jackson didn't fold despite the large halftime deficit.
The Chiefs' defense forced Cherokee County to turn it over on downs in North Jackson territory to start the third period, and Richard connected with Hale on the next play for an 81-yard touchdown to trim the Warriors' lead to 35-20.
But Cherokee County delivered a back-breaking score on the next drive. Facing third-and-nine, Blanchard hit Chambers on a slant route that he took the distance for a 74-yard TD and a 42-20 Warriors' advantage.
North Jackson responded with a 27-yard TD pass on fourth-and-13 from Richard to Kahne Cooper with 3:14 left in the third to make it 42-26, but again Cherokee County answered.
Two plays into the fourth quarter, Fife got free down the sideline for a score from 24 yards out to make it 49-26.
A 20-yard TD pass from Richard to Taylor pulled the Chiefs within 49-32 with 9:13 to play, but the Warriors iced the game on Blanchard's 11-yard TD pass to Brown with 5:57 remaining.
Blanchard completed 17 of 21 passes for 299 yards and finished with 82 of the Warriors' 316 rushing yards. Fife ran for 140 yards on 12 carries.
North Jackson finished with 435 total yards, 421 of which came from Richard. The senior quarterback completed 19 of 38 attempts and finished the season with 3,056 passing yards and 37 touchdowns. Taylor, another senior, caught eight passes for 216 yards and one score.
"Our offense battled the whole night," Peek said. "It's tough sometimes to keep going back out and trying to answer after giving up a scores, but they kept fighting."
Cherokee County (13-0) advanced to host Deshler Friday in Centre in the Class 4A semifinals.
North Jackson finished 9-4, rebounding from a 5-3 start to reach the state quarterfinals for the first time in four years.
"A lot of people got down on us after that. We came back and proved them wrong," said Padgett, a member of the Chiefs’ 14-player senior class that finished their careers with a 39-10 record.
"We went farther than any team has here in a while. I'm proud of that. We'd liked to have gone farther, but this is still a pretty good way to go out."
Don't count Peek among those surprised to see North Jackson reach the quarterfinals after that tough midseason stretch.
"It didn't surprise me because I've seen the way (the players) worked and battled since Day 1 (of the offseason)," he said. "I'm just so proud of this group."
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