GAINESVILLE — Friday night’s 41-7 win over Gainesville was exactly what Jefferson coach Gene Cathcart had been looking for more than a year.
Not necessarily the score, but the manner in which the Dragons (2-1) dispatched the Red Elephants (2-2) at City Park Stadium.
Jefferson pounded out 321 yards on the ground and finished with 464 total yards. The defense stopped the Gainesville offense four times on downs, forced three punts, and scored on a fumble recovery that helped blow the game open in the second quarter. The Red Elephants, one week after scoring 55 on Class 7A Lambert, managed just 217 total yards against the Dragons.
A promising 2018 season for Jefferson was derailed by injuries. So far in 2019, they are showing what could have been.
“We had a great night,” Cathcart said. “We controlled the lines of scrimmage. Our secondary was tested but played well.
“We’re playing to the strength of our talent and I think we’re seeing just what they can do. Being able to distribute the ball on offense and the defense playing the way they did. I was very pleased with how we played overall.”
Senior quarterback Colby Clark seemed to make every correct read in the Dragons’ option attack, whether it was keeping the ball, pitching it to one of a half-dozen backs, or finding a receiver downfield. Clark finished with 63 yards rushing and was 5-of-6 passing for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
Five players, including Clark, finished with 40 or more yards rushing. Sophomore Malaki Starks provided three big blows catching a touchdown pass and put to rest any thoughts of a second-half comeback for Gainesville with a 64-yard sprint for a touchdown on the opening play of the third quarter.
Starks finished with 72 yards rushing and two touchdowns and 80 yards receiving and the one score on just six touches.
“Colby had a great night. Malaki had a great night. I thought our guys up front did a great job,” Cathcart said. “That’s option football when it’s done right.”
Gainesville coach Heath Webb could do little but shrug off a rough night for his Red Elephants.
“Jefferson is very, very good. We saw that tonight,” Webb said. “We talked about making our possessions count and we didn’t do that. That first play of the second half they set the tone for the rest of the game.”
The Red Elephants were their own worst enemy in the first half. That, combined with the Dragons playing a near-flawless first 24 minutes, led to a 27-0 Jefferson halftime lead.
Three times penalties helped stop Gainesville drives. The Gainesville defense forced a Jefferson turnover but the offense twice was stopped on downs in Dragons territory after abandoning a successful rushing attack early for an ineffective passing game.
After forcing a quick Gainesville punt to start the game, the Dragons went right to their punishing option attack with Starks capping a 10-play, 66-yard drive -- all runs -- in nearly five minutes with a 10-yard touchdown run on a beautiful pitch left from Colby Clark for a 7-0 lead with 5:26 left.
The next two Gainesville drives were stopped on downs sandwiched around a Jefferson fumble. It was all Dragons after that.
Jefferson went to the air as Clark found Starks on an 18-yard gain and capped a quick 3-play drive with a 33-yard TD pass to Starks for a 14-0 lead.
The teams traded punts and it looked like the Red Elephants would get one final possession with 2:39 left. But Gainesville’s Lenny Chatman fumbled at the 15 and Jefferson’s Kam Robinson returned it for a touchdown 11 seconds later.
The half didn’t end there. Gainesville was again stopped on downs with just 57 seconds left and Clark and Starks connected on a 24-yard pass to the Red Elephants 18 on the opening play of the drive. One play later Clark found Josh Cochran in the end zone with 6 seconds left for a 27-0 lead.
Gainesville’s only score came after Starks’s big run. The Red Elephants drove to the Dragons’ 35 and Walt Dixon snagged a 35-yard touchdown pass from the hands of a Jefferson defender to cut the lead to 34-7.
Jefferson’s Kolton Jones finished the scoring with 15-yd TD run late in the third quarter.
SCORING SUMMARY
| Jefferson | 7 | 20 | 14 | 0 | 41 |
| Gainesville | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
First Quarter
J -- Starks 10 run (Ivey kick) 7-0, 5:26
Second Quarter
J -- Starks 33 pass from Clark (Ivey kick) 14-0, 9:20
J -- Kam Robinson 15-yd fumble recovery (Ivey kick) 21-0, 2:28
J -- Cochran 18 pass from Clark (run failed) 27-0, 0:06
Third Quarter
J -- Starks 74 run (Ivey kick) 34-0, 11:44
G -- Dixon 35 pass from Williams (Martinez kick) 34-7, 6:30
J -- Kolton Jones 15 run (Ivey kick) 41-7, 2:47
