Jacksonville plagued by early turnovers in loss to Crandall
Sep. 9—CRANDALL — Crandall's Kendrick Jones made his presence known early and often in the Pirates' 49-17 win over Jacksonville Friday night at Pirate Stadium.
Jones had three interceptions in the first 10:13 of the game, which included a 46-yard pic six as Crandall (2-1) forged ahead 21-0 after the first 7:30 of the affair.
The game was called due to lightning at the 2:37 mark of the third quarter.
With 5:01 left in the opening frame, Jesus Nunez booted a knuckle ball through the uprights for a 33-yard field goal, that cut the Pirate lead to 21-3 and got the Indians on the scoreboard.
Crandall went on to add two more touchdowns late in the first half to take a 35-3 lead into halftime.
The Pirates got the ball first to start play in the second half and promptly marched 69 yards in five plays to add another touchdown, this one coming on a 6-yard run by Andre Anderson. Following the successful point after touchdown, the Pirates owned their biggest lead of the night, 42-3, with 9:41 to go in the third.
Jacksonville (0-3) answered by scoring its first rushing touchdown of the season at the 7:56 mark of the third when Reese Hicks plunged in from three yards out on a run up the middle.
The Tribe needed just six plays to cover a distance of 51-yards.
The big play on the progression was a 35-yard run from scrimmage by Jayden Boyd.
Jacksonville's final touchdown was a bitter-sweet moment. Junior Andrew Diles returned a Crandall kick-off 60 yards for a touchdown, but as he was tackled near the goal line he landed awkwardly and suffered a significant injury to his left arm. Diles was taken off of the field on a stretcher after being attended to by the training staffs from both schools, along with Dr. Todd Parrish, Jacksonville team doctor.
Jacksonville had driven from its own 11 yard line all the way down to the Pirate 32 when time was called.
The Indians had 213 total yards in the game, with 110 yards coming on the ground in 27 carries for an average of 4.06 yards per carry. That was a significant improvement over the 1.06 yards per carry that the Tribe managed against Whitehouse last week.
Boyd led the Tribe with eight carries for 52 yards, while Mares tacked on 49 yards in 11 carries.
The Indians will be back at The Historic Tomato Bowl next week to host Pine Tree in the homecoming game. Kilgore led Pine Tree 3-0 Friday when the game was suspended at halftime due to the weather. Pine Tree had a 1-1 record going into the game.
