Jacksonville Closes Non-District With Loss To Alvarado

JACKSONVILLE -- Cameron High is one of those little gems in East Texas. He's small in size at 5-foot-9 and 158 pounds, but he has the ability to be a dominant running force with support.

High went for 159 yards on 28 carries from the quarterback spot Saturday at the Tomato Bowl. Unfortunately, that was pretty much it in meaningful time toward a 35-21 loss to Alvarado in the non-district finale.

Three other ball carriers ran for 68 yards on 16 carries.

Collectively weak in the throwing game, High completed 6 of 11 passes for 52 yards but threw two interceptions while another two mid-range strikes were dropped. One pick was a heave on fourth down beyond midfield.

"We just cannot keep relying on him," Jacksonville coach Wayne Coleman said. "It's so weird that defenses will just actually let our quarterback keep the ball when he continues to run for 150, 200 yards. But we have got to find a way to get our running backs more involved because that poor kid is carrying the ball way too much. We've got to give him a break every now and then."

Alvarado (4-1), a Class 4A Division I program from the south-central part of the Metroplex and also nicknamed the Indians, had no issues sharing the wealth in the run-oriented contest.

Three of its five ball carriers recorded at least 66 yards mostly out of variations of the I-formation, one recorded 49 yards and the fifth was a blocking fullback that averaged 5.5 yards on his two touches. Alonzo Shaw led the way with 17 attempts for 141 yards, an average of more than eight yards per touch, and was the only player on his side to score twice.

Jacksonville (3-2) wanted to see how it matched up with Alvarado precisely because it knew it would be physical matchup. It hoped it could contain the run game by putting eight defenders in the box and then punch back offensively.

"I thought it was nice to get a team out of East Texas to let the kids see a different style of football," Coleman said. "You don't see that style of football in East Texas. We want to be a playoff team and you don't want to wait until you get into the playoffs to see a different style of football. They're going to be a good 4A Division I playoff team. It got us ready and showed us some of our physical weaknesses."

The two teams traded fumbles to open the game.

Alvarado lost its first drive at its own 47-yard line to safety Deahvion Spencer, but a personal foul penalty forced Jacksonville to start at the opposite 38-yard line.

High drove the team down to Alvarado's 19-yard line, but he fumbled into the end zone after breaking a 13-yard run.

Alvarado scored on its next three possessions for a 21-7 halftime lead. High had made it a 14-7 contest from 10 yards out with 2:28 left in the second quarter.

Jacksonville got the ball to start the second half and High led the offense with 41 yards of a 57-yard drive capped by his own 19-yard draw to make it a one-possession deficit.

Alvarado scored the next 14 points and combined to burn a full quarter through four second-half drives for a 35-14 lead with 2:25 to play.

Zaquarius Hinton ran in from a yard with 1:40 left on the clock just after Camryn Franklin caught a 42-yard pass from late game passing specialist Dontrail Session against Alvarado's second string defensive backfield. Jacksonville failed to recover its onside kick attempt afterward and allowed the clock to be kneeled away.

"They are dedicated to running the ball," Coleman said. "Most teams that we play aren't like that. (Most teams) have been running the same system for 10 years and are very comfortable with it. It's a tough style of offense to get ready for in one week."

The offensive system Coleman referred to is the four-receiver spread. That's the offense four of the five teams Jacksonville will face in District 17-5A competition utilize.

Ennis, the favorite to win the district and the Class 5A Division I state champion just two seasons ago, runs a Wing-T power run set.

Interestingly enough, Jacksonville is still undefeated against 5A competition. It has wins against Pine Tree, Hallsville and Mount Pleasant while its other loss to date came against Palestine of 4A Division I.

However, the three 5A opponents have combined for a 1-14 record. Hallsville defeated Pine Tree earlier in the week.

Jacksonville will enjoy its open date this upcoming week. District competition begins Oct. 7 against Corsicana.

There might be some room to run within the district, where four out of the six teams will clinch playoff berths.

The five teams around Jacksonville combined for a 13-12 non-district record. Lindale and Corsicana have losing records.

"We're in pretty good shape, health wise," Coleman said. "What I really like is our mental growth. We're maturing and not making the mistakes we were earlier in the year. It really was a pretty penalty free game. It was a clean game and the team that made the most plays won the game. My hat's off to them."

Alvarado 35, Jacksonville 21

Non-District

The Tomato Bowl, Jacksonville

Alvarado           6    15    7    7    --    35
Jacksonville      0     7    7     7    --    21

First Quarter
ALV--Blake Henderson 10 run (kick failed), 1:46
Second Quarter
ALV--Alonzo Shaw 9 run (Bradley Boulton pass from Brayden Ramsey), 6:18
JAX--Cameron High 10 run (Ceasar Guerrero kick), 2:28
ALV--Jacob Shockey 24 run (Trevor Stovall kick), 1:04
Third Quarter
JAX--High 19 run (Guerrero kick), 8:42
ALV--Shaw 14 run (Stovall kick), 3:11
Fourth Quarter
ALV--Henderson 26 run (Stovall kick), 10:15
JAX--Zaquarius Hinton 1 run (Guerrero kick), :40
                                           ALV                 JAX
First Downs                         19                     16
Total Yards                        386                    329
Rushes-Yards                 39-335               44-227
Passing Yards                      51                   102
Comp.-Att.-Int.                3-6-0                8-13-2
Punts-Avg.                         0-0                 1-32
Fumbles-Lost                     2-2                  1-1
Penalties-Yards                 3-30                5-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Alvarado, Alonzo Shaw 17-141, Blake Henderson 8-68, Brayden Ramsey 6-66, Jacob Shockley 6-49, Colten Robles 2-11. Jacksonville, Cameron High 28-159, Vandall Johnson 10-42, Deahvion Spencer 4-16, Dontrail Session 1-10, Zaquarius Hinton 1-1, Scooter Baker 1-0.
PASSING--Alvarado, Ramsey 3-6-0--51. Jacksonville, High 6-11-2--52, Session 2-2-0--50.
RECEIVING--Alvarado, Trevor Stovall 2-30, Robles 1-21. Jacksonville, Camryn Franklin 2-72, Johnson 1-14, Ashton Melton 3-11, Hinton 1-6, Spencer 1-(-1).