Minor QB Jackson leads Tigers past Pinson

By Bryan Brasher for The Trussville Tribune

ADAMSVILLE –A few too many miscues and far too many big plays by Minor quarterback Jacure’ Jackson led to a 45-13 loss on the road for Pinson Valley High School on Friday night.

The Indians (1-2, 0-1 Class 6A Region 6) fumbled twice, had a pass intercepted and gave Minor possession at their own 3-yard line on a botched punt attempt — all in the first half — as the Tigers built a 32-0 halftime lead. Jackson, a 6-foot-4, 223-pound senior, passed for 267 yards and four touchdowns before the break and ran for another score as Minor put the game away early.

Pinson struggled to get their offense going against Minor.
Photo by Danny Joiner for The Trussville Tribune

“They’re a really talented football team, and we gave them a lot of help tonight,” said Pinson coach Matt Glover. “We did some things you just can’t afford to do against a team like this — some things we’ve got to improve on.”

Jackson started his big night early with a 58-yard touchdown pass Jeffrey Lee on the Tigers’ first possession.

Then after struggling on its first offensive turn, Pinson lined up to punt. But a high snap that went over the punter’s head rolled all the way down to the Indians’ 3 and was recovered by Minor. Jackson scored on a 3-yard run two plays later to put Minor up 12-0.

Jackson struck again through the air with 9:52 remaining in the first half when he hit Jaylond Adams for a 37-yard score that increased the Tigers’ lead to 20-0 after a successful 2-point conversion try. Then the Indians fumbled on their next play, and Jackson threw his third touchdown pass of the night — a 26-yarder to Delonte Evans to push the lead to 26-0.

The Minor scoring barrage finally ended when Jackson heaved a 50-yard scoring pass to Adams with two minutes left in the half.

“We just couldn’t sustain anything on offense,” said Glover, whose team only managed 86 total yards in the first half. “That really hurt us, because we couldn’t keep our defense off the field.”

Pinson finally got on the scoreboard with a five-play, 59-yard drive to start the second half. The drive was capped when Jackie Matthews hit Liallen Dailey from 55 yards out to cut the Minor lead to 32-7. But Minor answered late in the third quarter when Jackson fumbled the ball into the end zone, only to have it recovered for a touchdown by Evans.

Jackson scored the Tigers’ final TD on a 3-yard run with 8:23 remaining. Then with the game far out of hand, Pinson added its final score on a 43-yard run by Khymel Chavrest.

“We’ve obviously got a lot of things we need to work on,” Glover said. “We’ll see some good things on film, I’m sure. But we’ll also see a lot of things we need to correct.”

Jackson finished 13-of-21 passing for 281 yards and four touchdowns with scoring runs of 3 and 6 yards.