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GRANITE CITY – Aiden Talley and Chase Withrow each had two touchdowns, while quarterback Logan Schultz ran for one and passed for another as Jersey jumped out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead in going on to a 49-0 win over Granite City in the football season opener for both teams Friday night at Granite’s Kevin Greene Field.
The Panthers also got a 22-yard fumble recovery return by David Barrios-Madison in the first quarter as Jersey jumped to their 21-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back. And after the rough spring season the Panthers experienced, the big win was exactly what was needed.
“I feel pretty good,” said Jersey head coach RIc Johns. “I mean, it was such a brutal spring, and it was really good for our kids to come out and play pretty good, win on foreign soil, so yeah, we’re pretty excited.”
The Panthers took charge from the opening kickoff and also stopped the Warriors on a pair of long drives in going on to the win.
“Occasionally, they bent, but they didn’t break,” Johns said, “and I thought the defense played a pretty good game, I thought our special teams were really solid as well, so it was a pretty good effort by our guys.”
The fumble return touchdown was also a big play, as Barrios-Madison came up huge for the Jersey defense.
“That was,” Johns said. “That’s always a blessing when you can get a defensive score. That really kind of set the tone really, I mean, when we went up 21-0, we thought we were in pretty good shape.”
Johns had a simple strategy for the Panthers in the game.
“Just to execute,” Johns said. “Like I said, the spring was so brutal. Just after that spring, we just wanted to come out and execute, do our stuff, and I thought we protected the ball well, our penalties were down, we did a good job there. We wanted to play a good brand of football, and I think we did.”
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The Warriors made plenty of mistakes in the first game and never could get anything going, but Granite kept playing hard throughout and never gave up, a traditional trademark of the team.
“Yeah, it is,” said Warrior head coach Jake Janek. “That was a very tough Jerseyville team, a very athletic Jerseyville team. That was one of the most athletic Jerseyville teams I’ve seen, and I’ve been around for a while. Hats off to them, they were very well-coached, they didn’t quit, they were in very good shape, you could tell that our guys were dragging along a little bit. We’re going to definitely get that fixed this week. We had some breakdowns on the sideline, we had some breakdowns on the field, we’re going to work on that too, we’re going to move forward. I think it’s definitely something we can work over, work towards and fix and improve, and hopefully, get a win next week.”
The Warriors had two long drives that lasted over six minutes each, but couldn’t produce any points, which was a key point of the game. After stopping the second drive, Jersey scored on the first play immediately following.
“Yeah, we had some breakdowns on our pass coverage on that 60-yard pass,” Janek said, “but like I said, Jerseyville set it up very well, they must have saw our guys pitching hard, and they took advantage of it and, yeah, that’s definitely something we’re going to plug this week and work on for Carbondale.”
The good thing for Granite is that all of the mistakes are fixable and correctable, and the Warriors will be definitely working on fixing the mistakes during this coming week’s practice. And Janek still feels very optimistic about his team’s chances this season.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Janek said. “We’ve got a good group of guys, they know they’re hard-fought, everybody makes mistakes; we did a lot of that tonight. All fixable mistakes. The guys that were out there, especially starting the game, I think it was pretty apparent from everybody that they were tired, they were tired quick. So, I think that falls on the coaching staff, and we’re going to make sure that we’re not tired next week, and we’re not trying to tag out, and it’s something we’ll work towards.”
The Panthers took the opening kickoff and only needed five plays to go 52 yards for their first score, where Talley took of for 42 yards on the first play from scrimmage, then scored from two yards out, with Keegan Griffith kicking the conversion to make it 7-0 after only 2:05 elapsed. After stopping the Warriors on their first possession, Jersey got the ball at the Granite 25 and took only three plays to score as Schultz kept the ball going left and went in from 22 yards out to make it 14-0 after the convert.
The Warriors then got a pair of good runs from Marquese Berry and Brandon Rogers, but on a fourth down play, a fumble was recovered by Barrios-Madison, who took the ball 20 yards for the touchdown with 3:18 left in the first quarter to give Jersey a 21-0 lead after the convert. In the second quarter, Talley took a handoff and went up the middle 54 yard for another touchdown, making the score 28-0 after the conversion.
The Warriors then went on a long drive, taking 14 plays and 7:05, with Kayshawn White, Ian Poston, Rogers and quarterback Bay Domiano moving the ball well. But the drive stalled and the Panthers were able to take over on downs. On the first play after that, Schultz hit Talley for a 60-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-0, which was the halftime score.
After stopping another long Warrior drive, the Panthers went on a long drive of their own, taking 12 plays to go 89 yards in 6:36 seconds, with Schultz hitting Talley again, this time from 17 yards out to make it 42-0 early in the fourth quarter, kicking in the running clock rule. A late touchdown by Tanner Brunaugh with just over three minutes left made the final 49-0.
The Panthers start the season 1-0 and go on the road again next week, playing at Marion, and Johns knows his team will be ready.
“That’s right down to Marion we go,” Johns said. “Excited about it. We’d better be, they’ve got a really fine program, and we’re on the road.”
The Warriors begin the campaign 0-1 and host Carbondale next Friday night. Janek knows that his club will be working on fixing the mistakes made during the game, and while there’s nowhere to go but up, he also knows things could be different.
“It could be better,” Janek said.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
