Raiders blank Chiefs for first shutout of season

By Bryan Eubank

The Jackson Academy Raiders blanked the Magnolia Heights Chiefs on Friday night in a matchup of a pair of teams that both played in their respective state title games last year. It was all about defense for the Raiders on this night as they held the Chiefs to 1-for-5 on fourth down conversions, picked up three sacks and also forced a pair of fumbles. They limited Magnolia Heights to 139 total yards of offense while racking up 328 yards of offense of their own.

Coach Sykes implemented a quick strike offense as none of the 5 scoring drives for JA lasted longer than 2:34 on the clock. Daniel Kennedy scored the game’s first TD with a 20yd carry from the Wild Raider formation. It was Kennedy’s 3rd of the season. Duncan Maxwell added a pair of scores from 21 and 62 yards out while notching his third straight 100+yd game of the season. He also caught a pass for 15 yards and had a punt return for 21 yards which carried him over the 2000+ yard mark in all purpose yardage for his career.

Nick Conley managed the Raider offense with a 5-for-17 night behind center with 108 yards and a Touchdown pass to David Ford. It was Nick’s second TD pass of the year and Ford’s second TD catch of the year. Ford finished with 3 catches for 57 yards.

Defensively JA was led by Hayes Walker with 10 tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass break up. Peyton Adams and Sam Rayburn each finished with 8 tackles while K.C. Lucious continued his sack-minded ways with 1.5 sacks for a total of 5.5 sacks on the season. As a team JA had 7 tackles for loss and 7 pass break ups.

The Raiders head to north MS to take on Heritage Academy (3-0) in their second straight Conference Game of the year. Kickoff is at 7:00pm at C.L Mitchell Field in Columbus MS. The Countdown to Kickoff Pregame Show will start at 6:00pm on SuperSport 930.