FC falls to Jefferson County, 30-28, in penalty-filled varsity football affair

For more than 100 pictures from Friday's Franklin County-Jefferson County varsity football game, visit The Franklin Advocate's official dotphoto page at https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=franklinadvocate&AID=6844043&T=1

FAYETTE — Franklin County's bid for a 7-3A district victory came up short as the Bulldogs fell to the Jefferson County High School Tigers, 30-28, in a penalty-laden contest for both football programs.

"This one hurt us because I thought our kids played awesome during much of the game," FCHS Head Football Coach B.J. Smithhart said after the contest. "Losing the way we did was painful for all of us and puts us into a position of having to win next Friday night at home against Port Gibson to stay alive in the district with a shot at the post-season."

Despite the loss, FC had one of its biggest offensive production efforts on the season thanks largely to 180 rushing yards on 33 total carries with seven Bulldogs advancing the ball in the contest. Quarterback Quez Rancifer paced the effort with 49 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown while Tyrese O'Neal gained 46 yards on seven totes and Donovan Moore picked up 43 on five handoffs.

Xavier Rankin rushed four times for 26 yards and Jailon Brown toted the ball twice for eight yards and a score. Additionally, Keyundre Felton had three carries for seven yards and Josh Smith gained a yard on a single touch of the football.

In the passing department, Rancifer went 9-20-2 for 121 yards and his primary target turned out to be Jaquez Anderson, who had a pair of catches for 68 yards — including a 50-yard early touchdown strike. Reshon Baker finished the night with four receptions for 31 yards and Moore caught four passes for 22 yards.

However, the Bulldogs were hamstrung by a bushel basket full of infractions — 19 in all for 132 yards being stepped off against FC from start to finish. But Jefferson County fared no batter where penalties were concerned as the Tigers were flagged 18 times for 150 yards.

Franklin County received the football on the opening kickoff to start the contest near its own 47. Rancifer had back-to-back carries to move the ball to midfield before he dropped into the pocket and hit Anderson in stride on the aforementioned 50-yard scoring strike with 10:31 remaining in the first quarter.

Rancifer's two-point conversion pass attempt fell incomplete, but the Bulldogs had taken the early momentum and the 6-0 advantage over Jefferson County.

The Tigers' first offensive drive ground to a halt primarily due to a holding call on second down and an incomplete pass on third down to bring on the punt team to end the series.

FC took over on its own 31 yard line and moved the ball ahead four yards before a third-down pass by Rancifer was picked off and returned by Jefferson County to the Bulldogs' 14.

The Tigers used four plays to find the end zone with J.J. Claiborne racing in from two yards out for the touchdown with 5:02 left in the opening stanza. JCHS quarterback Jabari Watson ran in the two-point conversion to put his team on top, 8-6.

Both teams had one offensive series each through the remainder of the first quarter, but could gain no momentum due to a hailstorm of penalty flags for everything from personal fouls to running into the kicker.

While the infractions continued to mount up through the entire second quarter — with neither team able to find the goal line — Franklin County was able to sustain two clock-draining drives before the midgame break.

FC initially held the ball for 5:13 to start the frame and drove from its own 16 to near the Tigers' 32 before the drive died when the Dawgs failed to covert on a fourth and eight.

Then, the Dawgs had a 4:48 drive beginning near their own 30 and got as deep as the JCHS 10, but FC folded after a false start call, a four-yard loss on a pass play, a one-yard rushing gain and a delay of game call on fourth and goal from the 18 as time expired in the half.

Jefferson County took the second-half kickoff and added to its lead thanks to an eight-play drive — aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct call against FC —capped when Claiborne ran in his second touchdown from 15 yards out with 6:59 showing on the clock. Watson then connected with receiver Luke Bolin on the two-point conversion to open a 16-6 bulge over the Bulldogs.

FCHS answered on its next drive, just not in an easy way. The Bulldogs strung together an eight-play drive that was hobbled by two holding calls in the series and appeared to end with a punt on fourth-and-19 from near the FC 41 yard line. The Tigers fumbled the football in fielding the kick with Franklin County's Kameron White falling on the loose football inside the Jefferson County 5 yard line.

From there, Rancifer gave the ball to tailback Jailon Brown, who scampered in from 4 yards out for the touchdown with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter. Rancifer then hit Baker for the two-point conversion to pull back within two points of Jefferson County's 16-14 lead.

The Tigers scored twice in the fourth quarter — all within a 13 seconds span. The first score resulted from a FC fumble that was recovered near the Dawgs' 19 yard line and punched into the end zone five plays later. Watson connected with Bolin on a nine-yard touchdown pass with Watson then adding the two-point conversion on a completion to receiver Jalen Johnson to take a 24-14 lead.

On the post-touchdown kickoff, JCHS special teams player Michael McComb stripped the ball from FC return man Moore and returned it 27 yards for a score. Watson's two-point conversion pass attempt failed, but the Tigers had opened a 30-14 lead with 8:12 remaining in the game.

FC answered with an impressive six-play drive that saw O'Neal have back-to-back carries to move the ball from the Dawgs' 43 to the Tigers' 29. From there, Rankin took a handoff forward for 14 yards and Rancifer hit Baker for a 12-yard pass play to advance the ball to the Tigers' 3 yard line.

O'Neal took the subsequent handoff and scored with 6:40 showing on the clock. Rancifer's two-point conversion pass attempt fell incomplete, but FC had pulled two within 10 of Jefferson County's 30-20 lead.

Rankin came up big on the Tigers' next drive when he intercepted a Watson pass and returned the ball to the Jefferson County 8 with just over four minutes left in the contest. O'Neal gained two yards after FC's offense took over with Rancifer racing in for the score on the next play from six yards out. Rancifer connected with Jaiden Hunt on the successful two-point conversion pass to see the Bulldogs trail by only two points, 30-28.

Jefferson County got the ball back with 3:09 remaining in regulation and methodically moved the ball to seal the Tigers' victory.

FC's defense was led by O'Neal, who had a team-high nine tackles, while Ja Norman recorded seven take-downs and Peyton Touchstone finished with six. Brown, Rankin and Remontae Cameron each had four tackles while Felton and Baker were credited with three each.

Brown, Felton and Larry Pernell each had a sack with Rankin having his team's lone interception and White picking up a critical Tigers' fumble.

The loss dropped Franklin County to 4-3 on the season and 0-2 in 7-3A regional play with two more district games to be played in as many weeks. FC will return home on Friday, Oct. 14 to face Port Gibson in what will be Senior Night for the Bulldogs, and will travel to face Wilkinson County on Friday, Oct. 21.

SCORING BY QUARTER

FCHS 6 0 8 14 — 28

JCHS 8 0 8 14 — 30

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

FCHS — 10:31, Quez Rancifer to Jaquez Anderson 50-yard touchdown pass. Rancifer two-point conversion pass fails.

JCHS — 5:02, J.J. Claiborne 2-yard touchdown run. Jabari Watson two-point conversion run.

THIRD QUARTER

JCHS — 6:59, Claiborne 15-yard touchdown run. Watson to Luke Bolin two-point conversion pass.

FCHS — 2:26, Jailon Brown 4-yard touchdown run. Rancifer to Reshon Baker two-point conversion pass.

FOURTH QUARTER

JCHS — 8:25, Watson to Bolin 9-yard touchdown pass. Watson to Jalen Johnson two-point conversion pass.

JCHS — 8:12, Michael McComb 27-yard fumble recovery for touchdown. Watson two-point conversion pass fails.

FCHS — 6:40, Tyrese O'Neal 4-yard touchdown run. Rancifer two-point conversion pass fails.

FCHS — 3:29, Rancifer 6-yard touchdown run. Rancifer to Jaiden Hunt two-point conversion pass.

TEAM STATISTICS

FIRST DOWNS — FCHS 17; JCHS 11

RUSHES-YARDS — FCHS 33-180; JCHS 28-59

PASSING — FCHS 9-20-2; JCHS 7-13-1

YARDS — FCHS 121; JCHS 103

PENALTIES-YARDS — FCHS 19-132; JCHS 18-150

PUNTS-AVERAGE — FCHS 1-35.0; JCHS 4-33.0

FUMBLES-LOST — FCHS 4-2; JCHS 1-1

THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS — FCHS 5-of-10; JCHS 4-of-8

FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS — FCHS 0-of-3; JCHS 0-of-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Quez Rancifer, 11-49; Tyrese O'Neal, 7-46; Donovan Moore, 5-43; Xavier Rankin, 4-26; Jailon Brown, 2-8; Keyundre Felton, 3-7; and Josh Smith, 1-1.

PASSING — Quez Rancifer, 9-20-2 for 121 yards.

RECEIVING — Jaquez Anderson, 2-68; Reshon Baker, 4-31; Donovan Moore, 4-22.

TACKLES — Tyrese O'Neal, 9; Ja Norman, 7; Peyton Touchstone, 6; Jailon Brown, 4; Xavier Ranklin, 4; Remontae Cameron, 4; Keyundre Felton, 3; Reshon Baker, 3; Jaiden Hunt, 2; Larry Pernell, 2; Donovan Moore, 2; Josh Smith, 2; Jaquez Anderson, 1; Jay Malone, 1.

SACKS — Jailon Brown, 1; Keyundre Felton, 1; Larry Pernell, 1.

INTERCEPTIONS — Xavier Rankin, 1.

FUMBLE RECOVERY — Kameron White, 1.

Statistics by Trey Hill, Mark Davis, Lane B. Reed and Sean Dunlap