SILER CITY — Exploiting a youthful Jordan-Matthews squad both on the ground and through the air, Carrboro combined a balanced offensive attack with a stingy defense that recorded 13 tackles behind the line of scrimmage while allowing the Jets only four first downs as the Jaguars romped to a 42-6 non-conference victory last week at Phil E. Senter Stadium.
Posting its third straight win over J-M in a series that began in 2013, Carrboro improved to 4-1 for the year, while Jordan-Matthews, which still holds a 4-3 all-time advantage over the Jaguars, fell to 1-4 for the season.
“One positive we can take away from this game is we had a lot of young kids who got some quality reps against a good team,” said Jordan-Matthews coach Sam Spencer said, “and hopefully that will benefit us as we open our conference schedule next week at High Point Andrews.”
Jowan Murdaugh rushed for a game-high 114 yards on eight carries, including scoring dashes of 64 and five yards, while T.K. Paisant completed 10-of-15 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, both to Dorian Stone, as Carrboro finished the night with 222 yards rushing and 230 passing yards.
Jaguars backup quarterback Jake Adams connected on three-of-seven passes for 99 yards despite being intercepted twice and ran for one score, while brother Luke Adams was Carrboro’s leading receiver with five catches for 119 yards.
“J-M loaded the box early in an attempt to stop our ground game, so we took what they gave us and played some throw-and-catch to loosen up the defense,” said Jaguars’ coach Ken Lathan. “I was pleased with our consistency on offense both running and passing the ball, while defensively I thought we did a good job limiting their yardage by containing their dives and sweeps.”
Jacquez Thompson was the Jets’ leading ground-gainer with 33 yards on nine totes as Jordan-Matthews was limited to 110 total yards of offense. Calvin Schwartz connected on three-of-10 tosses for 38 yards and was picked off twice, while Thompson completed a halfback option pass for 27 yards.
“Penalties killed us tonight,” Sam Spencer said. “We had two touchdowns (a 67-yard run by Thompson just before halftime and a 90-yard Jayden Davis interception return late in the third quarter) wiped out by holding calls, and several times we had drives stalled due to costly mistakes. Carrboro managed to stop our outside game early, then they shut down the middle. They just did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage.”
Starting from their own 35 after receiving the opening kickoff, the Jaguars scored on the second play of their initial series when Murdaugh burst up the gut through the Jets’ defense 64 yards to the end zone before Luke Adams, who was a perfect six-for-six on extra-point kicks, split the uprights to put Carrboro in front 7-0 just 61 seconds into the contest.
Regaining possession at their own 25 following a J-M punt two minutes into the second period, the Jaguars marched 75 yards in seven plays to forge a 14-0 advantage when Paisant capped the drive with a 26-yard touchdown strike over the middle to Stone with 8:09 left in the first half.
After a failed fourth-down Jordan-Matthews gamble at the Carrboro 25 turned the ball over to the Jaguars with 4:30 to go prior to intermission, the winners mounted a five-play scoring drive climaxed by Paisant’s 18-yard toss to Stone in the left front corner of the end zone to extend the margin to 21-0 with 2:22 remaining until halftime.
Then with less than a minute before the break, Thompson broke loose around the right side for an apparent 67-yard TD scamper, but the score was negated by a holding penalty that resulted in the Jets restarting from their own 23.
Following a failed fourth-down J-M gamble at the Carrboro 48 two minutes into the second half, the Jaguars moved 52 yards in six plays to increase their lead to 28-0 when Murdaugh concluded the drive by scooting wide left the last five yards to the goal line with 8:15 to go in the third quarter.
Tim Rogers-Neal’s 20-yard return of a Jordan-Matthews’ punt to the Carrboro 45 three minutes later set in motion a three-play scoring march, highlighted by consecutive runs of 26 and 25 yards by Rogers-Neal and Murdaugh, respectively, prior to Jake Adams crashing the final four yards off left tackle to boost the Jaguars’ advantage to 35-0 with 4:38 remaining in the period.
Exactly four minutes later Jets’ defensive back Jayden Davis appeared to register a pick-six when he stole a Jake Adams pass at the J-M 10 and outran his pursuit down the near sideline to the end zone only to have his score nullified by a holding call that caused Jordan-Matthews to begin its next possession at its own 16.
Starting its next series from the Jets’ 46 following a J-M punt two minutes into the fourth quarter, Carrboro traveled the distance to score in five plays, with Rogers-Neal finishing off the drive with a three-yard run around the left side to stretch the Jaguars’ lead to 42-0 with 8:31 to play.
Jordan-Matthews managed to avoid its second shutout of the season with three-and-a-half minutes remaining on the clock when free safety Luke Fuller made a perfect read on a pass thrown into the left flat by Carrboro third-string quarterback Calvin Martin and streaked 55 yards to pay dirt with his interception to account for the final spread.