Jefferson hosts Lovett in playoff round two Friday

For the first half of last Friday’s round one playoff contest between the Jefferson Dragons and the Coosa Eagles, it looked like Coosa could still find a way to rain on Jefferson’s parade, as they held the region 8-AA champs to a ten-point lead going into the third quarter.

But the Dragons turned up the heat, and came away with a whopping 31-13 victory to advance to the second round of playoff action.

The win means Jefferson extends its win streak to 11 in a row, the longest in school history.

It also means that the Dragons will host region 6-AA second seed Lovett Friday night, and attempt to win its first second-round playoff game in recent memory.

On paper, Lovett may prove to be the biggest challenge thus far for Jefferson. The Lions are 5-2 in region 6-AA, and 8-3 overall. They have scored 384 points this season, an average of 34.9 per game, while Jefferson has scored 417 total, a 37.9 per game average.

But it’s in the points allowed column that the Dragons have a big edge. Jefferson has allowed only 125 points to be scored against them all year, an average of 11.4 per game. The Lions have allowed almost 100 more points to be scored against them, with a total of 223 for the season. That averages out to 20.3 per game.

Lovett advanced to round two by solidly beating Macon County last week 45-12.

It will be the fifth meeting of the two schools in history, and the first since 1969.

Jefferson lost the first meeting back in October of 1966 13-7. The next two games ended in ties, 0-0 in 1967, and 7-7 in 1968.

In their last meeting on Sept. 19, 1969, the Dragons defeated the Lions 7-6.

With a history of close games between them, Friday’s contest promises to be another game to remember.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.