FORNEY, Texas — The “Friday Night Lights” of 2015 for the Forney Jackrabbits has featured solid defense and a very strong offense. Turns out, Thursday night’s game was no different than a Friday.
FORNEY, Texas — The “Friday Night Lights” of 2015 for the Forney Jackrabbits has featured solid defense and a very strong offense. Turns out, Thursday night’s game was no different than a Friday.
A solid 58-13 win over the visiting South Garland Colonels at City Bank Stadium brings the Jackrabbit record to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in District 12-5A play.
The 1st quarter brought back unpleasant memories of last week’s shootout in Royse City, as South Garland scored first and took a 6-0 lead. In one of the more unusual plays you will see during a football season, that score was short-lived as senior defensive back Cooper Roe scooped up a fumbled snap on an extra point try and returned it 94 yards for two points for Forney. What could have been a big momentum starter for South Garland turned sour on the botched point-after attempt.
Luke Skipper and the offense, who turned it over on downs on their first possession, righted the ship quickly and drove 56 yards for their first touchdown of the night. This was a preview of many things to come on the evening. Skipper scored on the second play of the drive with a 51-yard run, to make the score 9-6.
The ensuing possession saw the Colonels benefit greatly from an egregious non-call of offensive pass interference as wide receiver Brodris Mathews caught a 37-yard pass from quarterback Kevion Grissom down the right sideline. This led to a Vincent Jordan 4-yard rushing touchdown to give the Colonels the lead at 13-9.
This was when the flashbacks to Royse City started. Little did we know, the Jackrabbit defense had seen enough and had other plans.
The Colonels never found the endzone again as the speed and ball pursuit of the Jackrabbit defense got things figured out. South Garland would finish the game with 339 total yards of offense, almost half of which was gained on those first two touchdowns.
The Jackrabbit offense once again put up some amazing numbers with 565 yards of total offense. Luke Skipper once again led the way with 121 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown and 215 yards through the air with three touchdown passes. Michael Prox and Aaron Rideaux also added rushing touchdowns of their own. The receiving core showed their depth with Prox, Cody Cook, Rideaux and Malik Woods all catching touchdowns.
You might notice the receiving touchdowns don’t add up. This is the result of a Skipper pass caught and ran to the one-yard line before being fumbled into the endzone and recovered by Cook for his second touchdown of the night. He doesn’t get credit for a touchdown catch, but he did put the six points on the board.
The final score of 58-13 put a cap on the game and the first half of the season for the Jackrabbits. Forney now has a bye week on the schedule, which will be put to great use as they prepare for a stretch of four games against the playoff teams from 12-5A from 2014. First up, on October 9, 2015, is the Mesquite Poteet Pirates at the newly renovated Mesquite Memorial Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
The remaining gauntlet of playoff teams is Terrell on October 16, 2015, at home, Rockwall-Heath on October 23, 2015, away, and West Mesquite on October 30, 2015, at home. The Jackrabbits hope to find themselves in a secure playoff seed at the end of this stretch and before they face cross-town rival North Forney on November 6, 2015.