White County trailed for 42 minutes against East Jackson in Cleveland on Friday night, but took a lead late on a passing touchdown and held on for a thrilling 22-21 victory in Week Four.
In a game delayed by over an hour due to lightning, with the entire first half played in the rain, the Eagles (1-3) took an early lead. They got a big night from RB Tristian Sloane, who scored twice in the first half to put EJ up for a long time over White County (3-1).
White County had a solid opening drive, but couldn’t turn it into points. East Jackson got a huge chunk play on a long run by Sloane, then Jalen Jennings capped the drive on a 1-yd TD to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead. That held through the first.
In the second, the Eagles soared to another score to double up on White County when Sloane broke free for a 56-yd TD run. Needing an answer, White County delivered on a Brinn Robinson pass to Gaines Clark, which resulted in a 52-yd TD to cut the deficit in half with 5:49 left in the half.
East Jackson wasted no time getting that score back, as Sloane rumbled in on a 5-yd TD less than a minute later, which pushed the EJ lead back up to 21-7.
Looking to go up huge with 1st & Goal at the 2-yd line, EJ was turned away on a pass intercepted in the end zone by the Warriors’ Kody Tuhey. Tuhey came up with another takeaway just seconds later, recovering a fumble on a punt return. The score remained 21-7 heading into the half.
The Eagles got the ball to open the second half, but Jennings was picked off on the second play with a pick-six by Zach Godfrey, putting White County within 21-14.
It got closer when East Jackson was punting from its own end zone and stepped on the back line for a safety, bridging the gap down to 21-16.
Both teams started in great field position over the next couple of drives, but came up empty. It stayed tight at 21-16 going into the final period.
At the midway point, Robinson hit John Jarrard for a go-ahead 45-yd TD to give the Warriors their first lead of the game at the 6:14 mark. The Eagles got gutsy and went for it (and converted) on a 4th & 4 from their own 25 on their final drive, and faced another 4th & 10 at their own 47.
They punted it away, and Jack Clark ran out the clock for the Warriors, clinching the win.
Robinson had two touchdown passes, one each to Gaines Clark and Jarrard. Godfrey had the other score for White County.
SEE ALSO
Don’t miss what everyone in town is talking about.
Join 4,000+ locals and choose our free newsletter covering news, events and the stories shaping our region.
