FORDYCE — As soon as Andreal Ellison Jr. threw his second touchdown pass of the night, Fordyce suffered a big loss on the field while regaining the lead in a 3A state second-round playoff.
Junior Zavier Jones filled in at quarterback for the freshman and helped Fordyce total 401 yards of offense Friday in a 46-8 win over Jessieville on Friday night at Paul “Bear” Bryant Stadium. Ellison’s injury was unknown after the game, but Coach Tim Rodgers said he was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Sophomore Micah Gamble ran 12 times for 175 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Jones rushed 8 times for 61 yards and a TD and completed 9 of 13 passes for 79 yards with an interception.
“It was great teamwork,” Jones said. “All summer we were preaching about family. We lost a brother, but like we said in the summer, if little brother’s got his bike stolen, you go back in the yard and go get it. That’s what we did. We tried to play as good as we could. We had a few dumb decisions, but the scoreboard showed (who won) at the end.”
The Redbugs (12-0) will host Booneville, a 35-13 winner over Mayflower, next Friday in the quarterfinals.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Ellison, who was hit late near Jessieville’s sideline, was stretchered off by volunteers minutes after he threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to JaMarcus Cranford, his second scoring reception of the night, with 41.5 seconds left in the first quarter. That gave Fordyce a 14-8 lead.
Ellison completed 3 of 5 for 93 yards, including a 37-yarder to Cranford on the opening drive of the game. Many of Jessieville’s players surrounded him in prayer when he was helped up from the field, but it appeared he could not put any pressure on his legs and eventually had to be carried off.
Cornerback Tramane Turner stopped a long first offensive series for the Lions with an interception, but a fake-punt carry to the Fordyce 5 on fourth-and-9 gave the Lions a big scoring opportunity.
Senior Dalton Ellison took advantage after being sacked on a bad snap, throwing an 8-yard scoring pass to sophomore Jacob Graves with 2:46 left in the opening period. A quarterback keeper tied the game at 8-8.
Both teams had sustained long drives in the second quarter but could not capitalize. Jessieville (9-3), with Dalton Ellison and Graves sharing direct snaps, went 61 yards in 13 plays before a bad exchange on fourth-and-4 stalled the drive. Fordyce went 64 yards in 11 plays before linebacker Jacob Marquez intercepted Jones and made a short return to the Lions’ 41 with 54.7 seconds left before halftime. Jessieville made it to the Fordyce 13 as time expired.
“The first half, we kind of had some hiccups and stuff,” Rodgers said. “We went into halftime and told (Jones), ‘Relax. He’s the quarterback. We told the kids, we can’t give up. We’re ahead. All we have to do is play defense and get the offense rolling. We did. He did a great job. He got under the pressure and he responded.”
Jessieville totaled 226 yards on the night. Dalton Ellison carried 18 times for 74 yards and completed 7 of 14 passes for 33 yards with a pick.
Turner made two big pass breakups to end Jessieville’s first drive of the third quarter. Fordyce then gained four first downs, one of them on a leaping 22-yard grab by Keilin Ellison to the 2 to set up Gamble’s 2-yard TD run with 2:54 left in the quarter.
The play that all but put away the Lions was Cranford’s 80-yard touchdown fumble return with 1:27 left in the period after Dalton Ellison had rushed for a first down in Fordyce territory. In the fourth quarter, Gamble rushed 74 yards for a touchdown, and Jones scored on a 27-yard keeper to enact a running clock.