Reitenour sees where 8-man No. 1 Jefferson Davis can get better as playoffs near
Raiders are now 8-0 on the season after beating Richard Winn 46-12
Blackville – The Jefferson Davis Academy football team owned a 6-0 overall record and was ranked No. 1 in the High School Sports Report SCISA 8-man poll heading into its game against Community Christian on October 2.
Despite all of that gaudiness, Raiders head coach Anthony Reitenour thinks there is much more to get out of his team.
“I feel like we could be playing better than we are,” Reitenour said. “We haven’t really reached our full potential yet. There’s a lot we’ve got to clean up and get better at doing.
“One thing that’s been in our favor is we can outlast other teams. We’re always a well-conditioned football team, good year or bad year.,
JDA has since won two more games, beating Community Christian 46-0 and Richard Winn 46-12 to improve to 8-9.
Reitenour is not surprised JDA is sitting where it is. However, he is proceeding with caution.
“We knew coming in this team could be really special,” Reitenour said. “But that’s just half of the season we’ve played.”
Jefferson Davis has been particularly stout on defense. It has allowed just 37 points, and all of those came in two games. The Raiders beat independent Providence Athletic Club 24-19 in their season opener and topped defending 8-man state champion W.W. King 22-18 in their fourth game.
While he expected the defense to perform well, it has surprised Reitenour to a degree.
“Our defense has been a lot stronger than we initially thought it would be,” he said. “Coming in we had some holes we needed to fill. What we thought might be weaknesses have become strengths. The defense has been really tremendous this season.”
Junior linebacker Jake Harrington was the leading tackler with 53. Senior defensive back Harrison Ray had 45 tackles while senior defensive end Stance Youngblood had 40 stops with five of them being a team high in tackles for a loss.
Youngblood’s five TFLs are all quarterback sacks. Freshman linebacker Marquis Creech had two sacks. Senior defensive back Reece Still is a ballhawk in the secondary with six interceptions.
On offense, JDA primarily runs the football. It had thrown the football just 46 times while running it 163 times.
Sophomore running back Marquel Williams was the leading rusher with 466 yards and five touchdowns on 65 carries. Still, the quarterback, had 250 yards and five scores on 29 carries, Harrington had 152 yards and a TD on 31 attempts, and Creech had 120 yards and a touchdown on 19 totes.
Still had just 17 completions in 39 passing attempts, but they accounted for 437 yards and five scores. Ray had nine catchers for 232 yards and two TDs, while Williams had five receptions for 164 yards and three touchdowns.
Reitenour said the lack of passing has been somewhat by design.
“We haven't really opened things up too much,” he said. “We’ve been staying with a strong ground attack because we really haven’t had the need to throw it very much. We throw to keep teams honest.”
Reitenour is hoping to see improvement from the five players who make up the offensive line. The three normal starters are senior
Fisher Robinson and senior Davison Owens at the guards on either side of senior center Bryson Livingston. Spelling the trio are Youngblood and junior William Williams.
“That's one of the areas I feel like we need to be better at,” Reitenour said. “They’re strong, big, well-conditioned and block hard for four quarters, but we shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties.
“Offense as a whole is one of the areas we have to get better at. If we keep getting better every week we’ll get right to where we need to be. It’s just a matter of trusting the process.”
