May 24, 2013
Jones County Football Prepares For Home Opener
Rick Devens
This season WGXA is letting the fans vote on who they want to see in The Big Game. This week you chose Jones County versus Putnam County.
Jones County has a new rally cry this season, "Hold the Rope." If your teammate is hanging off a cliff, what do you do? You hold the rope.
"They carry themselves as young men and on the football field we want them to be tough young men and I think they are that. But off the field they do a good job of doing what they're supposed to do and hopefully setting an example for the other kids to watch," says Dwight Jones, Jones County's Head Football coach.
Jones County is more than a bunch of high character kids. They have some ball players.
"We've got a good offensive line. Jackson and Thomas, they're the leaders of our line. We got Undre Williams, everybody knows him," says Alex Knight, Jones County's Senior quarterback.
Undre Williams rushed for 13 touchdowns and just under 1,200 yards last season on his way to an All-Middle Georgia first-team pick.
All that talent is nice but with Jones County moving up to Class AAAAA this season, is it enough?
"It's going to be a tough region. You say Northside, Warner Robins, and Houston County in the same three breaths that means it's going to be tough. But we're looking forward to it. It's a challenge and we ought to go out and see what we're able to do against those guys," says Jones.
"I think we have one of the best teams. If we just play with our heart and just play mistake free I think we can do anything," says Knight.
The Greyhounds have already overcome one major obstacle. Running back Alex Parkerson was sent to the ICU after rupturing his spline during Jones County's loss to Mary Persons.
"Alex is doing great. I talked to him today. He's going to be back in school on Monday. He will not play football the rest of this year," says Jones.
The injury has sidelined Parkerson physically but his effect will still be felt on the field in more ways than one... as his teammates hold the rope.
"We want to play for him. He got a pretty serious injury. He played hard. He played through the injury, he played the whole game, and I think he got hurt in the second quarter or so. We want to keep playing for him, remember him, and just know that when things get tough Alex would probably give anything to be out there," says Knight.
"One of our kids, our Seniors or one of our Juniors will actually wear his jersey on Friday night. And just honor him and play in that jersey on Friday night," says Jones.
Jones County takes on Putnam County this Friday at 7:30 on Greyhound Field. WGXA will be there live before kickoff and then you can see highlights of The Big Game on FOX Friday nights at 10:45.
