Leading Jessieville 14-8 at halftime last Friday, Fordyce had plenty of reason to step up its game.
Junior Zavier Jones took over at quarterback after freshman Andreal Ellison Jr. was injured on a 20-yard touchdown throw to JaMarcus Cranford late in the first quarter. Neither team scored in the second quarter, but Jones ran for a touchdown and 2-point conversion in a 32-0 second half for the Redbugs (12-0) to advance to the 3A state football quarterfinals.
“When I had seen he went down, it hurt my heart, but we’ve just got to go crazy, play good,” Jones said after the game. “(I have to) just be there, be a leader for this team. We lost a big leader. Even though he was the youngest on this team, he was a great quarterback.”
Ellison broke part of a bone below his knee and underwent surgery the next morning, Coach Tim Rodgers said. With Ellison out for the season, Jones and the Redbugs host a third straight playoff game Friday night against defending champion Booneville (11-1), with kickoff at 7 p.m.
“We just have to stay locked in. They’re going to depend on me. I’m going to depend on them,” Jones said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Redbugs are playing in their fourth quarterfinal since 2019, when they started a run of back-to-back state championships along with a runner-up finish in 2021. This year’s run won’t be without the on-field adversity that led Rodgers to help the Redbugs refocus for a strong second half.
“I didn’t know how they were going to react, but once the game got back going and we got in there, our defense stepped it up a lot, which is the main thing we’ve been counting on, anyway,” Rodgers said. “… Everybody stepped up. You could tell everybody was a lot more focused after that because it kind of really bothered them, a kid getting hurt. They weren’t going to lose; that was the main thing.”
Jessieville (9-3) was the sixth opponent Fordyce held to fewer than 10 points this year. The Lions’ only score finished up a drive from the Fordyce 5 after they sniffed out a fake punt. Cranford, who had also caught a 37-yard TD pass on the opening drive of the game, returned a fumble 80 yards as part of the Redbugs’ defensive effort.
Not to be forgotten was Fordyce’s sophomore Micah Gamble’s 175 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries. He went 74 yards for a fourth-quarter score.
Fordyce’s defense will face a run-heavy offense for at least the fifth week in a row. Booneville, which masters a Wishbone offense, has scored fewer than 31 points just twice this season — in a 14-10 season-opening win over Poteau (Okla.) and a 34-22 loss at Mansfield, which hosts Dumas on Friday.
Rodgers said to win state, the Redbugs will have to go through Booneville — but it’s the Bearcats who are journeying to the Timberlands this time.
“They just pound the ball at you and give the ball to the fullback most of the time,” Rodgers said. “They played fundamental, sound, option football, and we’ve got to be able to do our jobs and make sure we have everybody covered. They play sound defense. They don’t make mistakes. They play sound in everything they do. Teams like that, you have to match them on that part of it.”