Sophomore Carson Hair passed for four touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Jessieville Lions to a 37-28 victory over the Baptist Prep Eagles Friday night.
Hair completed 20-of-27 passes for 239 yards and added 57 yards rushing as the Lions (5-0, 2-0 3A-4) stayed in a tie atop the 4-3A standings.
"We had a lot of sophomores step up tonight,'' said Jessieville coach T.J. Burk. "We are a banged up football team."
The Lions never trailed Baptist (0-5, 0-2) but it took them a long time before they finally put them away.
"We challenged our guys at halftime to make some plays, especially on defense,'' said Burk.
Jessieville grabbed a 14-0 lead when Hair hit Charlie Davis on a 56-yard scoring play and scored on a 7-yard run. After missing the first PAT, Hair threw for the second, and it was 14-0.
Baptist came back with a 9-yard scoring pass from David Park to Jax Coleman, and Hayden Brent kicked it 14-7.
Hair hit Matthew Huff on a 20-yard TD pass, and the two-point PAT made it 22-7.
Baptist's Brent brought the Eagles back. He returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards then broke off a 48-yard scoring run on the next play. After Brooks Brown recovered a Hair fumble, Brent scored again on a 4-yard run. He kicked the PAT and it was 22-21 with just 1:31 left in the half.
Jessieville called time out with 6 seconds left then Hair hit B.J. Holloway on a 44-yard fourth-down TD pass and a 30-21 halftime lead.
"I will say this, Baptist is not your typical 0-5 team,'' said Burk. "We had trouble stopping them. They have played a good schedule, and they have some really good players."
The Eagles again got close with a score on the first drive of the second half. With 9:13 left in the third quarter, Park and Coleman connected again, this time from 8 yards and after Brent's PAT it was 30-28.
With 5:30 left in the third quarter, the Eagles got a stop with a chance to finally take the lead. But starting from their 14, two plays netted zero and a first-down run was erased by a holding call and they wound up punting from their endzone.
Taking over at the Baptist 24, Hair hit Huff on a 26-yard touchdown and the Lions had their cushion again.
Baptist never got on the Lions' side of the field again.
Sports on 10/05/2019