JHS season ends with loss to Metamora

Sooner or later, just about every football team runs up against an opponent that’s just better. For Jacksonville, that happened sooner rather than later.

On Saturday the Jacksonville High School (JHS) Crimsons lost 68-34 in the first round of the IHSA Class 5A playoffs to Metamora, a team that could have won the Central State Eight championship this season, if the Redbirds had been a member of the league.

Bold statement? Maybe. But no team in the CS8 did to Jacksonville what Metamora did on Saturday, both on offense and defense. Key to the win, the Redbirds made it a tough afternoon for All-State quarterback Elijah Owens. They sacked him twice – something that rarely happened this year. They intercepted two passes, running back one for a touchdown. That had never happened, before Saturday. And they pounced on a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

Jacksonville played hard. Metamora was just better.

“I felt like we prepared for this game all season,” Owens said. “We had a good week of practice. We came out here, started kind of slow. They got up on us early. But we kept fighting the whole game. That’s all I can ask out of my guys, just fight the whole game. And that’s what they did.

“Obviously, it’s a terrible feeling, knowing that that’s my last game ever here. But at the same time, I feel great because the guys that I played with, we left it all out there on the field, man. We put our all into this. And that’s all I can ask of them.”

The grass on Metamora’s field was cut almost as short as a putting green, indicating the Redbirds knew they could match Jacksonville’s speed. And they did. Metamora’s first drive took less than 3 minutes; their next three, each under 2. The Redbirds opened the scoring with a 31-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. A 10-yard TD run made it 16-0 with 5:18 left in the period.

Jacksonville answered, scoring on a four-yard run by Owens with 1:31 left in the first quarter to cut the lead to 16-8.

Later, trailing 24-8, Jacksonville’s Cam Ron Mitchell broke loose for a 24-yard run with 2:20 left in the second quarter as the Crimsons pulled to within 10, at 24-14.

Metamora answered with a three-yard touchdown run to bump the lead to 32-14 with just 37 seconds left in the half. But the Crimsons zipped downfield and scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Owens to Mitchell with just nine seconds remaining in the period. That cut Metamora’s lead to 11, 32-21, at the half, with the Crimsons set to receive the kickoff to open the second half.

But what might have been never materialized. Mitchell returned the kickoff to about the 40, but Jacksonville was flagged for a penalty on the play, moving the ball back to the 17. Owens ran for 10 yards on third down to set up a fourth-and-two play from the 25. But the Crimsons were called for illegal motion, and on fourth-and-seven, were forced to punt. Metamora’s shifting linemen caused JHS to jump off-side several times Saturday, usually at the worst possible moments.

Metamora scored eight plays later, driving 76 yards to increase the lead to 40-21. A 20-yard interception return for a touchdown on Jacksonville’s next possession made it 46-21, then Owens was hit and fumbled in the end zone. Metamora fell on the ball, and just like that, the lead was 54-21 with 4:16 left in the third quarter.

Jacksonville scored two more times Saturday. Owens ran 14 yards with 56.9 seconds left in the third quarter for his final TD as a Crimson. La’Marion Williams scored Jacksonville’s last touchdown on a seven-yard run with 3:13 left in the game.

Metamora finished with 481 yards of total offense. Jacksonville had 379.

“They were a very physical team,” Jacksonville coach Mark Grounds said. “They really did a good job of taking a lot of our bread-and-butter stuff away. We had to throw more. And fortunately, we did, and were able to get some scores. But it was hard to play catch-up with them because they ground up the clock, and they took advantage of any mistake that we made and turned it into points.”

Jacksonville called timeout with 3:58. Grounds walked onto the field and embraced each senior individually before they walked off for the last time. This group got better every season, making the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since the Crimsons did it in 2015-16. Jacksonville finished with a 6-4 record.

“These kids were sophomores during the COVID time, and were part of a really good team there, and part of a good playoff-qualifying team last year,” Grounds said. “They had a special bond. They elevated us and took us to a higher level of play than what we had even last year. That’s the key. Each group needs to try to build upon the successes of the class that preceded them, and I feel like this group did.”

Owens was glad to be part of the Crimsons’ resurgence.

“We were in middle school, and we had to watch kind of a painful 0-9 season,” Owens said. “And I think we all just kind of knew that we’ve got to get this program back where it needs to be, and back where it’s supposed to be. We set a good standard. The guys behind us can’t be satisfied. They’ve got to – we’re getting to the playoffs. We’re a playoff team now. We’re known as a playoff team. We’ve got to win some games in the playoffs.”

The Crimsons, who came into this season with a brand new offensive line and almost an entirely new defense, will return a lot of those players next year. But not Owens, one of the best football players Jacksonville has ever produced.

“He’s special,” Grounds said. “You don’t get a lot of them in your timeframe. I hope that I’m around long enough that we get another special player like that. He was fun to coach, and fun to watch. I had a front-row seat for a lot of amazing plays that that kid made, including his last game.”

What’s Owens going to remember most about his time as a Crimson?

“As weird as it sounds, it’s not the games,” he said. “Just hanging out in the locker room before a game. Bus ride to a game. Just hanging out. The brotherhood that we have is so much more important, and so much bigger than football.”

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