OPINION: Sports: Hornets stall in Jacksonville
Sep. 24—Athens caught a case of the second half blues Friday falling to Jacksonville 34-17.
With the season now at its midpoint Athens has either led or been tied at intermission in each of its five games. That was the case again at the Tomato Bowl with the score 10-10 when the teams retreated to their locker rooms.
Jacksonville stopped Athens on its first possession and drove into the Hornets end on runs featuring Devin Mcuin. Athens stiffened and forced a 33-yard field goal to put the Indians on top 3-0 with 2.16 remaining in the first quarter.
The Hornets quickly went to work and gained the lead when Jorien Ray scored from 21 yards out. The drive was engineered by quarterback Ty Arroyo who returned to the starting lineup after missing the Kaufman game due to an injury.
Athens was soon back in business after recovering a Jacksonville fumble. With 8:27 left in the second quarter, Nicholas Castenada slammed home a 27-yard field goal to stretch the Hornets lead to 10-3. The celebration was short lived because Mccuin returned the following kickoff for a touchdown.
Athens had the makings of another drive, before intermission, but it was short-circuited by a Jamauri Manning fumble on the Jacksonville 35-yard-line.
The second half opened with a Jacksonville drive culminating in an 11 yard pass from Ryan Mccown to Jermaine Taylor. Another Jacksonville score sent the Indians up 24-10, before the Hornets staged their final touchdown march.
The Hornets were set up at the eight-yard-line after a defensive holding call on a pass into he Jacksonville end zone. From there Arroyo hit Ray for the score with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Indians picked off two Athens passes down the stretch to avoid any further Hornets scores.
The Hornets are 0-1 after their first district game and 2-3 for the season.
The win gave Jacksonville a 1-0 district mark and improved them to 2-3 for the season.
