Jets hope to build on 2019 momentum, improve on 2-9 record in Spencer’s second year

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SILER CITY — It may not have been the most ideal first season at 2-9, but for Jordan-Matthews’ head coach Sam Spencer, 2019 wasn’t all bad.

“We had three goals, really: beat Chatham Central, re-establish JV and win (our first PAC 7) conference game,” said Spencer, “and we checked all three of those boxes.”

While the win-loss record wasn’t pretty, Spencer appeared much more interested in improving the future of Jets football by garnering interest in a program that was previously struggling to get kids to sign up.

In total, about 24 freshmen came out to play in the 2019 season, allowing Spencer to restart the JV football team. That interest carried over to the start of 2020, which was officially delayed six months in August because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The biggest thing was just putting more experienced players on the field. We had real good momentum after the 2019 season as far as after-school weightlifting and that kind of stuff,” said Spencer. “We had a lot of interest among kids in the building that didn’t play last season and wanted to come out and play in the fall of 2020 … and we were making progress towards that until all of the COVID stuff hit.”

This season, the Jets will have between 30-35 athletes on the roster, making a JV team unlikely. Spencer said remote learning may have been a culprit, calling Chatham County Schools’ decision to remain in Plan C — entirely remote learning — for the fall 2020 semester “not good for our football program.”

Jordan-Matthews — like many other schools — has been severely affected by academic ineligibility, losing somewhere between 13-15 football players this season who were deemed ineligible.

“Even with the eligibility issues, we’re still older than we were last year. We’re still better than we were last year,” said Spencer.

Looking ahead

In 2019, each of the Jets’ losses were by 35 points or more.

“We got clobbered in every one of them,” said Spencer, laughing. “This year, if we lose a game, I think we’ll at least be competitive in that game.”

Jordan-Matthews has one of its three all-conference players returning from last season: senior linebacker and running back Jaquez Thompson, who registered 122 solo tackles, eclipsed 1400 rushing yards and scored 11 touchdowns in 2019 and plans to be one of the team’s premier defenders while simultaneously shouldering the workload in the Jets’ rushing attack.

Spencer called Thompson “all-conference caliber on both sides of the ball,” but said he chose to nominate him at linebacker last season to ensure he made it.

In addition to Thompson’s planned control of the run game, the Jets get their quarterback, senior Xavier Woods, back from a knee injury. Junior wide receiver Calvin Schwartz is set to have a big year, too, as the team’s likely leading target.

Defensively, many of the same names on offense are primed to also shine on defense, including Thompson and Schwartz, who Spencer said has the ability to be an all-conference-level safety for J-M.

Spencer also has his eyes on sophomore Dallas Richardson, who will take over as the SAM linebacker alongside Thompson and has plenty of potential after his freshman season on JV.

“He showed some flashes as a freshman, but he’s a pretty good athlete and he wrestled,” said Spencer. “He’ll get down there and get physical, so we’re excited about Dallas at linebacker.”

With all of the challenges and changes that come along with the 2020 season, including a shorter seven-game schedule, frigid winter weather and less-than-ideal field conditions, it’s hard to know what to expect from the Jets — or any other team — this year.

Spencer agrees.

“If you asked me (what my expectations were) last summer, I’d be able to give you a straightforward answer, but the honest answer is, I don’t really know what to expect,” said Spencer. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed that we don’t get bit by the COVID bug and we get this season in.”

Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.