FORNEY, Texas — It’s has been a season of streaks for the Forney Jackrabbits who began the season with five straight wins. Now they are caught up in a three game losing streak.
FORNEY, Texas — It’s has been a season of streaks for the Forney Jackrabbits who began the season with five straight wins. Now they are caught up in a three game losing streak.
The Jackrabbits’ (5-3, 2-3) playoff hopes took another hit at City Bank stadium Friday night with a 41-18 loss to the visiting Rockwall-Heath Hawks (6-2, 4-1).
Forney opened the game with a kickoff return to their own 35 yard line by AJ Atnip. The offense then took the ball on a momentum building drive deep into Hawk territory. Then the game changed. A fumble on a run around the right side bounced right into the hands of a Hawk defender who returned the ball 76 yards for a touchdown. The Hawks turned this early momentum into 20 first quarter points.
The lone Jackrabbit highlight during the opening quarter was a huge one. Zadarius “Boobie” Miles took a kickoff from deep in the corner and returned it 97 yards for a Jackrabbit score.
The rest of the night featured the run heavy offense of the Hawks, straight out of 1985. Old school football fans surely enjoyed the throwback offense that featured a lot of straight ahead blocking, multiple running backs and smash-mouth football. Heath amassed 282 ground yards on 45 rushing attempts for the night. While only throwing the ball 16 times, the Hawks still gained 147 yards and completed 81 percent of their passes. As the final horn went off, Heath had gained 429 yards on the evening.
By contrast, Forney had one of their worst offensive nights of the year and could only manage 232 yards of offense. For a team that has scored at a prolific rate in many of their games, this one stat should give perspective on the struggle that faced the Jackrabbits.
In addition to the Miles kickoff return, the Jackrabbits were able to get Shakur Morrow and Jacob Gonzalez in the endzone via 8- and 12-yard Luke Skipper passes. In contrast to that 81-percent completion rate for Heath, the Jackrabbit passing game could only manage a paltry 44-percent completion rate. Skipper was under pressure for much of the night, resulting in several scrambles and in route adjustments by his receiving core that just didn’t result in a positive result on many snaps.
Heath now finds itself in contention for a district title, while the Jackrabbits playoff hopes are up against the wall. A win over West Mesquite at Hanby Stadium (7:30 kickoff) on Friday night is an absolute must. With a win over the Wranglers, the Jackrabbits can put themselves in a three way tie for the last playoff spot with one game remaining.