For many high school football teams, the season opener involves all sorts of inconsistency – bad snaps, penalties, turnovers, a general sense of nerves that can prove costly.
None of this was a worry for Jamesville-DeWitt in Friday’s 2011 debut against Fowler. A big first quarter foreshadowed a strong effort on both sides of the ball as the Red Rams handled the Falcons by a score of 41-6.
Moved from a Class AA-2 division where it was overwhelmed last fall, Fowler expected to find it easier to navigate in Class A’s American division. That might remain the case, but J-D gave them a harsh greeting.
That came in the form of 19 unanswered points in the first quarter. Sticking to a powerful ground attack, the Rams quickly found the end zone, senior quarterback Eric Thompson scoring on a two-yard run and adding the extra point to make it 7-0.
Quickly, J-D got the ball back, again drove close to the goal line, and again scored, Amani Jackson going the final three yards. Then, late in the period, Thompson threw his only pass of the night, finding Josiah Williams on a 13-yard scoring pass.
Things quieted down in the second period, but Thompson still found time to add his second TD run, from 13 yards out, plus a PAT that gave J-D a 26-0 halftime cushion.
During the third quarter, Thompson, who finished with 85 yards on 14 carries, scored a third time on a three-yard run, this after Taumeras Howard contributed an 11-yard scoring run.
J-D could not maintain the shutout, but otherwise little went wrong, and the Rams will look to go to 2-0 next Friday when it hosts New Hartford, who lost its opener to Carthage 28-18.
