Jacksonville High School - Red Devil Yearbook (Jacksonville, AR)

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lContinued from Page 1151 We had the ball about 60 percent of the time, said Reed but could not over- come our inability to score. The Devils received the second half kick and quickly mounted a drive and a near score. Long runs by Fortson and Henry kept the drive alive, but it was finally stified by the Cyclone defense. Late in the third quarter jacksonville had the ball first down at the 35. A fake sweep halfback pass was called, but the play failed and was intercepted. Then the Cyclones mounted a good drive. Terry Crakk finally crossed the goal from the 17 yard line. The point after was good and the score was 13-0 Russellville. The following kickoff was taken by Fortson and returned to the 35 yardline. On second down Bollen connected with Ken Temple and the Devils had the ball at the 47 yard first and ten. The Cyclone defense held them and forced a punt. But the Devils tried a fake punt with Gordon passing over the head of the receiver. On the last play of the game Gardon intercepted a long pass and returned it 55 yards as time ran out. Conway jacksonville's Red Devils put it all together before a spirited crowd on Friday, November 7, and defeated their opposing team 13-7. The reason for the spirit, it was the 1975 jacksonville Homecoming Game, and the night's activities began with the defeat of the Conway Wampus Cats. With jacksonville receiving the opening kick, Mike Fortson returned the ball to the 3 116 Football 29. jacksonville failed to make a first down, and Ray Cardwell pu nted. The Conway receiver was stopped on his own 27. After being stopped by the Devil defense, the Cats punted to the end zone, giving jacksonville a first down from the 20. jacksonville again failed to advance and punted. A bad bounce gave the ball to the Cats at the Devil 33. The cats made the best of good field position, and managed to score on a fourth and one situation. The point after was good. The half ended with the score 7-0 Cats' favor, as no other scores were made in the first half. The second half opened as jacksonville kicked to Conway. A Conway drive into Red territory was ended as Dewey and Steels blocked the Conway punt. The fired-up Devils then started a drive of their own, as the game's momentum seemed to change. The score didn't come, however, as the drive stalled on the Wampus Cat 13. After a series of unsuccessful plays, the Cats punted back to the Devils. The punt nine was fielded by Gordon and returned yards to the Cat 35. Piloted by Bollen and aided by Henry, Fortson, and jernigan, the drive ended as jernigan scored on a third and three. Holcomb's point after attempt good, tying the game 7-7. The Cats received the kick-off, failed to advance. jacksonville received punt, but was also stopped. The punt was the WHS but the downed at the Wampus 15, and impenetrable Devil defense held them to only four yards. The Devils got the ball back, but an illegal procedure penalty forced the Devils again to kick it away. With Conway on their own 16 the Devil defense took over, and the second and 10, a Conway back fumbled, with Devil defender Mark Ratcliff making the recovery. With first and goal, David Gertsch took the ball to the seven. A second down pitch- out to Fortson failed to gain yardage, making it third and seven. Bollen took the snap, and faking a pass to another receiver, hit Mark Dewey, who danced in for the, second Devil touchdown. With the score fContinued on Page 117j 1 1, Anthony Steels hauls down a Catholic j player after a short gain. Mark Dewey looks 1 on. 2. A Devil strives for perfection in practice. 3. David Gertsch breaks through the Benton line to block this punt. i ll I l l 1 .

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McClellan l N jacksonville received the kick-off and started a drive with three penalties on the first three plays against McClellan. The Devils got no further the next three plays and oiley Ray Cardwell got off a poor punt and McClellan got the ball on their own 43 yard line. The Lion's could move neither. An exchange of punts and McClellan had the ball back at their own 35 yard line. ln two plays the Lions were at the Devil 33. The Devil defense then went to work and s-topped McClellan on fourth and two. i The Devils offense still couldn't get on tracks and punted away to the 22 yard line of NlcClellan. The Lio'1s finally got it in gear and drove the ball 78 yards in l2 plays. Rusty Tripp carried the ball in from the seven yard line for the score. The point after was good and McClellan lead 7-O, early in the second quarter. With a minute left the Lions intercepted a jerry Gordon pass. Unable to move the ball the Lions kicked a 26 yard field goal with three seconds left. That made it 10-O at the half. Late in the third quarter the Lions drove to the three yard line where Greg Mogness went over for the score. The kick was good and the Devils fell behind l7-0. In the fourth quarter the Devils were hampered with three turnovers. With this the Lions scored once more from the two, The kick was wide and that's the way it stayed 23-0. Russellville The Red Devils of jacksonville outplayed their opponent Russellville, everyplace except on the scoreboard. lt was an all defense game like the games jacksonville has played before. The Devils outgained the Cyclones 78 yards total offense. On their Hrst possession the Devils drove the ball to the 27 yard line before turning the ball over. Again on their second possession they drove to their 16 before turning the ball over again. We moved the ball well but then stopped ourselves, said head football coach Bill Reed. We stopped ourselves twice with penalties, once by losing a fumble and one on the 'punt'. 'That punt' came early in second quar- ter when another jacksonville threat was stalled at its own 45. Ray Cardwell was back to punt and the left side of the Cyclones defense broke through and blocked the punt. The Cyclones took over at the Devil 29 yard line. Aided by a trick penalty the Cyclones pushed it over the score. The point after was good. The Devils came back with a sustained drive that again fizzled at the goal. The drive depended on draw plays at crucial moments for long gainers. At the Cyclone lO Greg Bollen rolled around to the right but under- threw his receiver on fourth and four. fContinued on Page 'I l6l l. Ray Cardwell iust barely gets off a punt as Russellville put on a rush. 2. The Devil bench anxiously watches the game. 3. Mike Fortson heads downfield as a Panther is hot on his heels. 4. An unidentified Devil manhandles a Sylvan Hills runner to save a score. ,- .A. s. -4 v ' '- xi' Football 1 15

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Devils look ahead fo next year fContinued from Page 1161 13-7, it was up to the defense to hold a still tough Conway team. They did just that, and with 54 seconds left, the Devils offense ran out the clock, winning before a Homecoming Crowd by a score of 13-7, giving the Devils a record of 4-6, and ending a four-game Wampus Cat winning streak. Benton On November 16, the Red Devils met Ben- ton at Benton for the last game of the season. Benton won the game 7-6, but as Coach Reed had put it during the week that it would go down to the wire. It went a little bit further than that. The Panthers took the opening kick-off to the Devil 26, On first and ten the Panthers tried an option play that the Devils read perfectly. Matt Henry hit the pitch man who then fumbled with the Devils recovering the ball at the 21 yard line. The Devils couldn't sustain a drive and kicked the ball away to the 50 where the Panthers took over. Benton couldn't do much with it either. On the ensuing punt the Devils were called for roughing the kicker and the ball was brought back. With the ball at the 36, the Panthers started a drive. But on third down the Panthers fumbled and jacksonville recovered as the first quarter ended. The second quarter opened with the Devils starting from their 36. On the first play from scrimmage Mike Fortson carried the ball 24 yards but couldn't hang on to the ball any longer as the ball was jarred from him. Benton recovered the fumble but the possession was shortlived as the Devil de- fense forced them to punt, A fake punt was called, but the Devils read it perfectly. The Devils got the ball then but it wasn't long before they had to punt it away. The Panthers started a drive that carried them to the Devil 13. On first down Benton quarterback dropped back for a pass. He threw it into the wrong hands. lt was picked off by Mike Polston who returned it four yards out of the endzone. The half ended before the Devils could start rolling. Early in the fourth quarter Benton began a drive that finally ended in a score. T he loss brought the Devils disap- pointing season to 4-7. The Devils wound up with sixth place in conference. 1.Tony Tademy shakes off a Cougar defender to gain more yardage. 2.Greg Bollen breaks through the line as Rocky Mantooth and Mike Stoneking look for someone else to block. :W f'-NV Vi' F . P. 1 t We ' -4 Oman 117