Big plays by Chapman, Bozeman, Crowell help No. 1 Jackson explode past Mobile Christian, 42-14

 

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

MOBILE — Mobile Christian shoved No. 1-ranked Jackson into an uncomfortable corner. Then the Aggies shoved back.

With star receiver Keeyun “Red” Chapman and left tackle Jaquan Brown missing with knee injuries, highly rated cornerback and receiver Jamarrion Gordon out due to concussion protocol and five-star running back and Alabama commitment E.J. Crowell slipping and sliding, twisting his ankle and being held to 65 yards in the first half, the Aggies relied on Keegan “Black” Chapman to restore order to their universe.

Chapman had a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown and sprinted 97 yards with a free kick for another score and Jackson pulled away from the No. 10-ranked Leopards in the second half for a 42-14 victory at Harrison Stadium Friday night.

The Aggies (4-1, 2-0 4A Region 1) won their 20^th straight game against Class 4A teams — and have scored 40 points or more in 19 of their last 23 games in their class — but it took Chapman’s big plays, Donnivan Bozeman’s blocked punt for a safety and Crowell’s 72-yard TD run in the third quarter to finally subdue Mobile Christian (4-1, 2-1), which led 7-0 on Jason Todd’s 56-yard scoring run in the second quarter and trailed just 13-7 at halftime. Crowell finished with 171 yards on 17 carries.

“We didn’t play real well offensively to start the game and they had something to do with that,” Jackson coach Cody Flournoy said. “We’re playing on their home turf and we’re not gonna get any calls. That was a playoff team we played and they’re playing a lot of guys both ways. We knew we were going to have to wear them out.”

Pivotal plays are Jackson’s

The game pivoted around a few crucial plays and they all went the Aggies’ way as Jackson got a safety off the blocked punt, Chapman’s kick return and Crowell’s long scoring run in a span of just 41 seconds in the third quarter to boost a 13-7 lead to 28-7.

Mobile Christian was in position to take a 14-0 lead in the second quarter after Damarien Gatson intercepted Aggies quarterback Landon Duckworth’s overthrown pass at Jackson’s 37. But on the next play, Gatson’s short, wobbly pass on an end-around was hauled in by Chapman, who raced 78 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 7-6.

Shortly afterward, the Aggies’ Demetrius Wilson recovered a fumble at the Leopards’ 47 after quarterback Israel Benard got slammed, resulting in defensive tackle A.J. Hayes’ 3-yard TD run with 11 seconds left in the first half and a 13-7 lead.

On Mobile Christian’s first series of the second half, the 6-foot-6 Bozeman blocked Carter Lewis’ punt, sending the ball ricocheting over the fence behind the end zone for a safety.

“It almost went through the goalpost,” Flournoy said.

Chapman watched Lewis’ ensuing free kick roll 77 yards to his 3-yard line before picking it up and scorching the sideline for a 97-yard touchdown.

Trailing 21-7, the Leopards drove from their 47 to Jackson’s 23 behind Todd, who moved to Wildcat quarterback, but turned it over on downs and Crowell, who twisted his ankle late in the first half, burst 72 yards up the middle on the next play for a 28-7 lead.

Crowell shook off the injury and several slips on the artificial turf to run for 171 yards on 17 carries on his 18^th birthday, giving him 700 yards and eight touchdowns in just four games this season and 4,401 yards and 69 TDs in his career.

“I just twisted my ankle and had to get up and take it like a man and wrap it up,” he said.

Crowell wrapped up the victory with his 72-yard TD run and added a 3-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

“Coach said it was not gonna be easy,” said Crowell, who blamed his slips on new, knobby cleats. He even slipped slightly on his long touchdown run before regaining his balance, mashing the accelerator and splitting Mobile Christian’s defense in two.

“I slipped, gained my balance and then next thing you know, I’m in the end zone,” he said. “I’ve got to break these cleats in and get them right.”

Flournoy said the Leopards’ defense was sound against Crowell in the first half.

“They’ve got good guys out there,” he said. “And E.J. slipped a little bit out there. He didn’t look great cutting tonight. But he looked good when he busted through the line.”

The inevitable happens

Mobile Christian coach Charles Lawson feared Crowell would break a big play despite the Leopards holding him to just four double-digit gains.

“We knew there was gonna be one or two plays that he was gonna make,” Lawson said. “He’s a D-1 guy. He’s a Bama commit.”

Todd, who had averaged 194 yards rushing in the previous 10 games, had 129 yards on 29 carries before suffering groin and ankle injuries in the second half.

The Aggies struggled in the first half with two new sophomore offensive line starters — Brayden Gamble at left tackle and Jayden Campbell at right guard — Keeyun “Red” Chapman recovering from knee surgery and the Leopards’ defense staying gap sound against Crowell and playing two deep safeties to prevent Duckworth from hurting them with big plays. Duckworth passed for 551 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-7 win over Mobile Christian last year.

“We’ve got a lot of new pieces that we’re trying to get reps and I think you saw it some tonight where we just didn’t execute like we normally do,” said Flournoy, who said Brown is likely lost for the year with an ACL injury but Chapman could return for the playoffs. “Some of our big pieces are out and hopefully we get a couple guys back and it’ll look a little bit different. … The offensive line takes the longest to come together. We like those 10th graders but they just need more seasoning.”

Off the ropes

Lawson said the exchange of interceptions near the end of the first half, when Mobile Christian was poised to take a two-score lead, turned the game.

“That one hurt,” he said. “That was game-changing. I take the blame for that. If we drive the ball there, hindsight is 20-20 but it kind of puts more pressure on them. It leaves them with a goose egg going into halftime and that changes everything. … I feel like our guys played hard enough and had them on the ropes, especially that first half. The second half, we kind of got winded and things got out of hand. The kids played hard but Jackson is a tough team with great athletes. If things would have went differently in that first half, we could have put up the points and it wouldn’t have bothered us. Hindsight is kind of eating me up right now.”

Keegan Chapman, who has committed to North Carolina along with his brother and Gordon, showed his astonishing speed on the pick-six and the length-of-the-field return of the free kick. He also had a 66-yard kickoff return to open the second half.

“Man, that guy looked explosive,” Flournoy said. “I wouldn’t kick it to him no more. That might be the only game this year that he gets any balls kicked to him because now everybody else knows. I mean that guy’s committed to North Carolina. He is what he looked like tonight. He’s got elite speed. He’s the 100- and 200-meter 4A champ on the 4-by-100 (meters) state championship team. He’s never really returned balls for us and this year he’s been asking to, so we put him back there. And, hey, it makes us great coaches out there.”

Chapman said he knew Jackson needed to change the momentum and he staggered the Leopards with his 97-yard return of the free kick after the safety to make it 21-7.

“The ball went over my head, so saw it went rolling toward the end zone,” Chapman said. “I picked it up and I didn’t see anybody in front of me. I just had to get to the sideline and when I did, I saw touchdown.”

Mobile Christian controlled the ball and the clock, holding it for 30:44, but it made no difference as the Aggies had 401 yards of total offense to the Leopards’ 169, including 260 on the ground. Duckworth was just 6-of-14 passing for 101 yards but added 87 yards on five carries.

Jackson has won 22 of its last 23 against Class 4A teams and its average winning margin in those games is 37 points.