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Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009

West Jessamine edges rival East

NICHOLASVILLE — East Jessamine had a chance to extend its win streak over its county rival to five straight games and hand West Jessamine its first loss of the season.

But neither happened Friday night as the Colts pulled out a 13-12 win.

The Jaguars had two chances at the end, but a fumble on a fourth down play and a stalled possession with less than 30 seconds left in the game equalled a West Jessamine victory. The Colts moved to 7-0 on the season.

Both teams set themselves back with turnovers on a wet, sloppy field. East Jessamine (3-4) had four miscues and West Jessamine had two.

"It was tough, like I thought it'd be," West Jessamine Coach Randy Wood said. "I knew the field conditions would be really brutal. We had a good plan for the muddy field, but it was still really hard to execute it.

"We knew it'd be that way, and I told our guys I'd take a 2-0 win with a safety if we could get it. We just wanted to win."

Both team's game plans kept the ball out of the air.

"Even on a dry field, we hardly ever throw the ball," Wood said. On a water-logged night, East Jessamine attempted just seven passes, three of which were Hail Mary passes on the game's final possession.

The Colts didn't throw it the entire game.

"I really thought about throwing it a couple of times, but a couple of things affected me," Wood said. "As we got a lead and as I saw how the defense was playing in the mud, I didn't want to take that chance. We didn't really need to."

Keeping the ball on the ground meant a slow start for West. The Colts didn't record a first down until a little more than five minutes remained in the second quarter.

After that first down, the possession stalled again. Faced with a fourth and 5 from East's 24-yard line junior Blake Davis took a handoff and bounced off the right tackle.

He coasted untouched 24 yards for the game's first score.

Other than that run, the Colts had just one more play go for more than 10 yards: a 12-yard quarterback scramble on a drive offset because of a fumble.

What West's offense lacked, the special teams unit more than made up for.

After East's first touchdown early in the fourth quarter, Colts kick returner Tom Craven picked up the kickoff at the 7-yard line.

"I looked down to pick up the ball and when I looked up, I saw this big hole and just went for it," Craven said.

That hole was along the right sideline, and Craven sprinted untouched to the end zone.

"With a hole that big, I knew I had to make it happen," Craven said. "My teammates did all the work, I just ran it in for them."

West Jessamine's win broke the Jaguars' four-game winning streak between the two and extended West's record this season to 7-0.

"We have Boyle County next week, so we might be 7-1 next Friday," Wood said.

His team has come this far because it has executed well in games, Wood said. That included Friday night's game against the Jaguars.

Even on a rain-beaten field only gaining handfuls of yards at a time, the Colts executed.

"Even with a few bad turnovers, we got it done," Wood said. "Now these kids can keep saying they're undefeated, at least for another week."