Sports
Preview: Jackson Looks For Continued Success
By: James Massara
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The Waverly Tigers travel to take on the Jackson Ironmen at Alumni Stadium Friday night. Both teams are looking to keep their winning streaks alive, as both teams are coming off victories in their season openers.
Jackson dominated the field, beating the Wellston Rockets, 54-18. The Ironmen used a strong ground attack by rotating Derek Rafferty, Jake Crabtree, and Gabe Griffiths in at running back. Rafferty led with five carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Crabtree supported the running game with four carries for 54 yards and two touchdowns, while Griffiths had six carries for 43 yards and one touchdown of his own.
Jackson quarterback Hunter Sexton broke the century mark passing, going 6-for-8 for 101 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Jackson’s defense will be facing a run focused offense as Waverly’s Amin Gilbert, who also threw for more than 100 yards in the 14-7 win over Piketon. Gilbert finished with 17 carries for 103 yards in the contest. Tyler Dray tallied 10 carries for 39 yards and Devon Rigsby totaled six carries for 22 yards supported Gilbert.
Jackson will be expected to use a traditional 4-3 defense to stop the Tigers ground attempts.
Jackson defeated Waverly, 28-7, in the 2012 matchup at Waverly.
Jackson has gone 5-0 in the past five seasons against the Tigers. Waverly’s last victory in the series was in 2007 when the Tigers defeated the Ironmen at Jackson, 42-7, in an season where Waverly finished 10-2 and Jackson was 6-4. Since that 2007 Tiger victory, Jackson has outscored Waverly, 158-54.
To win the game, Jackson will need to get out to an early lead and utilize the Ironmen three-man running rotation to keep from getting fatigued throughout the contest.
Waverly must dominate the line of scrimmage on defense and keep the score low. When Jackson gets in an offensive groove, the floodgates open.
Kick-off will be at 7:30pm Friday night.