JEFFERSON — The Jefferson Dragons have shown all year why they are the class of the newly-formed Region 8-AAA by scoring throngs of points and making it tough for opposing offenses to get into Dragon territory, let alone the end zone.
On Friday night at Memorial Stadium, the dominance continued as the Dragons upended region nemesis Elbert County, 52-6.
Jefferson (6-0, 2-0 Region 8-AAA) was led by senior wide receivers Dalton Hill and TJ Skelton, who combined for 197 yards on six catches and two touchdowns.
Senior running back Sammy Williams rushed for 93 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown. Freshman running back Colby Wood carried the ball 12 times for 87 yards and two scores
Quarterback Evan Shirreffs passed for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
“We came out firing early,” Jefferson head coach Ben Hall said. “We were able to eliminate costly penalties that we’ve had the last couple of games and that was the focus this week.
“We just wanted to play a cleaner game overall. We knew we had to have our best performance to date, we felt, to have a chance with Elbert County. Our kids bought in to that and they played a nice clean game tonight.
Last week, the Dragons racked up more than 80 yards in penalties. Against the Blue Devils (3-3, 0-2), they had just 35 yards in penalties.
Not to be outdone, the Dragons’ defense forced three turnovers, two interception return for touchdowns by seniors Tradd Porter and Kendrick Robinson. The defense also recovered a Blue Devils’ fumble.
“Our defense is senior-laden. They are the leaders on this team. We’ve challenged them from day one to produce and they did that tonight,” Hall said. “We haven’t had a turnover in the last couple of weeks, so we challenged those guys to go out and cause some turnovers tonight and they did that. They responded well.”
The Dragons’ offense wasted little time in finding the end zone, taking just six plays on the game’s opening drive. The drive was capped by Williams’ 2-yard touchdown run to put Jefferson up 7-0 with 9:05 left in the first quarter.
On the Blue Devils’ third play from scrimmage, Robinson intercepted Turner Banks’ pass and returned it 35 yards for the Dragons’ second touchdown in less than a minute.
“Coach (Hall) told us they were going to run a 15-yard out and I baited (the quarterback) and I just went for the ball,” Robinson said of his score.
As the first quarter drew to a close, Shirreffs connected with Hill on a 30-yard touchdown strike to bump the Dragons’ lead to 21-0.
The Dragons’ next scoring drive started with a 60-yard hook-up by Hill and Shirreffs, which got the ball down to the Blue Devils’ 11-yard line. Two plays later, Wood pounded his way into the end zone to give the Dragons a 28-0 lead with 4:50 left in the second quarter.
Jefferson kicker Gage Lawson extended the Dragons’ lead to 31-0, connecting on a 20-yard field goal with 27 seconds left before halftime. The score remained that at the break.
On the Dragons’ first play of the third quarter, Shirreffs found Skelton for a 77-yard touchdown to propel the lead to 38-0.
Fifteen seconds later, the Dragons found the end zone again as Porter intercepted Banks’ pass and returned it 30 yards to push the Dragons’ lead to 45-0.
Wood finished the Dragons’ scoring, finding the end zone from a yard away with 3:37 left in the third quarter to give the Dragons a 52-0 lead.
The Blue Devils’ lone score came behind the legs of senior Rantious Reed, who found the end zone on a 5-yard run to cut the lead to 52-6 with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.
He finished the game with 68 yards on the ground and the lone score. La’Kel Hood added 62 yards on nine carries.
Jefferson travels to Morgan County next Friday.