Remaining undefeated, the Jaguar football team triumphed over the Piper High School Pirates at their homecoming game on Friday, Sept. 30.
Scoring the only touchdown of first quarter, junior wide receiver L.J. Hatch put the Jaguars on the board at 7-0 after the extra point by senior kicker Andrew Wesp was successful with 9:51 left in the quarter.
After many changes of possession in the second quarter, after the Jaguars went for it on fourth down and a facemask penalty called on the Pirates, the Jaguars found themselves on the Pirates 6-yard line with first and goal.
With 2:43 remaining in the first half, Hatch caught his second touchdown pass of the night from junior quarterback Skyler Windmiller to bring the score to 14-0.
“My touchdown receptions made me feel like my teammates could count on me,” Hatch said. “Hopefully we could worry less after the lead was established.”
The Jaguars quickly got the ball back after two close Pirate interceptions and a loss of yardage caused by the defense and a Pirate delay of game.
As the Jaguars opted once again to go for it on fourth down, the decision paid off when the Pirates jumped off-sides and gave the Jaguars a first down at the Pirate’s 38-yard line.
On the next play, junior wide receiver Staton Rebeck ran in for a 38-yard touchdown, but a holding penalty was called on the Jags and the ball was moved back to the 43-yard line.
A reception by Hatch put the Jaguars back in scoring position at the 27-yard line. This set up a play for sophomore running back Henry Midyett to score the Jaguar’s third touchdown of the night on a 27-yard pass from Windmiller.
With 17 seconds remaining in the half, the Pirates were forced to take a knee at their 32-yard line to end the half with a score of 21-0.
The Jaguar defense came out strong out of half time by forcing the Pirates to turn the ball over on downs after an unsuccessful fourth and 4 attempt at the Jaguar 27-yard line.
The offense then came onto the field and made it to their 47-yard line but could not further their possession due to a Pirates interception.
After many offensive plays, the Pirates had the ball on the Jaguar 5-yard line with first and goal. The Jaguar defense was able to keep them from scoring, but the Jags were called for roughing the passer and the Pirates were sent back to the 5-yard line with another chance at first and goal.
After three tries at the end zone, sophomore linebacker Micah Clarke and senior linebacker Marcus Grant sacked the Pirates quarterback on fourth down, keeping the score 21-0 and turning the ball over to the Jaguars with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter.
“Keeping [Piper] from scoring made me feel great,” senior defensive lineman Zach Callahan said. “It proved to everyone what our defense is all about. People can bend us but not break us.”
Senior wide receiver Wade Hanna put the Jaguars into Pirates territory with a 45-yard reception from Windmiller.
Two long-yardage gains followed for the Jaguars, the first to the 24-yard line by Rebeck and the second to the 5-yard line by Hanna.
After a loss of 3 yards and two offside penalties in a row, the Jaguars landed at the 18-yard line with third and goal.
Hatch then caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Windmiller, scoring his third of the night with 1:21 left in the quarter. The Jaguars increased their lead to 27-0 after the extra-point was blocked.
With the Pirates gaining possession at their 38-yard line and completing four first downs, they scored their first touchdown of the night from the 8-yard line.
The score was brought to 6-27 after the extra point snap was fumbled with 10:02 left in the fourth quarter.
After a forced punt by the Jaguars, the Pirates scored another touchdown with 5:48 remaining in the game on a 10-yard reception. The extra point was good and the Pirates cut the Jaguar’s lead with the score at 27-13.
Another quick punt by the Jaguars gave the Pirates the ball at their own 24-yard line.
The Pirates took advantage of the scoring opportunity and completed a 32-yard touchdown reception to bring them within six points of the Jags.
The score became 27-20 with 3:38 remaining in the game and an unsuccessful on-side kick gave the Jaguars good field position with the ball on their 49-yard line.
Windmiller was forced to punt after only three downs by the Jaguar offense, and put the Pirates on their own 1-yard line with 2:40 left to play in the game.
“[With my punt,] I felt like I gave our defense a good opportunity to stop [Piper] within their own territory,” Windmiller said. “But at that point, the offense was having trouble moving the ball.”
The Jaguar defense was able to hold off any additional scoring by the Pirates by forcing them to turn the ball over twice on downs.
The Jaguars were not able to add any points to the board on either of their last two possessions, but an attempt was made by Windmiller with 0:56 remaining. After the pass was almost intercepted by the Pirates, the Jaguars took a knee to end the game and defeat the Pirates 27-20.
After the close game, Windmiller had mixed feelings on how the performance of the team.
“We came out really well in the first half, which we hadn’t been doing much in the other games,” Windmiller said. “But we have to put together a whole game instead of playing one half.”
This win allowed the Jaguars to advance with a 5-0 record, and they will move on to play Basehor-Linwood at home for the Jaguar’s homecoming game on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.
