“I didn’t sense one bit of nerves this week, and it honestly surprised me a bit. You would think that as a young football team, an inexperienced team, that there would be some jitters, but these guys just prepare so well and there was none of that. They were ready and it showed.”
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Jordan knew they belonged among the big dogs in District 19-6A.
Even if others didn’t believe, they did, and the Warriors knew that have what it takes to compete with teams for a playoff spot.
The Warriors (3-1, 2-0) started the season with impressive performances and have shown that they are a talented team, but they took things up a notch on Friday with their biggest win of the season, beating Paetow (3-2, 2-1), the reigning Class 5A-Division I champions 41-13 and staying unbeaten in district in the process.
“We knew what people thought of us, they wanted us to be underdogs,” said junior quarterback Colin Willetts. “We had a bye week heading into this and we just spent every day getting ready and preparing. We had a great gameplan tonight and we came out and executed it. It was a great performance and exactly what we expected out of ourselves.”
Jordan did it just as they have all season, with a strong defense and a smart, efficient offense that took advantage of every opportunity they were given.
The Warriors may be the new kids on the block, but they showed no fear in the game.
“I didn’t sense one bit of nerves this week, and it honestly surprised me a bit,” said Jordan head coach Mike Rabe. “You would think that as a young football team, an inexperienced team, that there would be some jitters, but these guys just prepare so well and there was none of that. They were ready and it showed.”
Jordan came out and immediately made a statement, marching down the field on the games opening drive and scored on a 25-yard pass from Colin Willetts to Andrew Marsh.
Jordan got the ball back but Paetow’s defense made a huge play, forcing a fumble and recovering in Jordan territory, setting up Paetow for it’s only score of the night, as Koby Truehill tied the game on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jabari Bush. But Jordan came right back and scored a touchdown early in the second quarter on a 2-yard run from Kanaan Ibarra and took a 14-7 lead into the half.
“We knew this was our game going into halftime,” Willetts said. “We went into halftime up seven and got the ball to start the second half and we knew, we just have to take care of business from here on out to get the win.”
And take care of business is exactly what the Warriors did. They came out and scored on their opening drive of the second half with a 64-yard touchdown pass from Willetts to Zechariah Sample before Nicholas Olinger got a defensive score on an interception return for a touchdown, to bring things to a three score lead.
Willetts added another touchdown in the fourth quarte on an 18-yard pass to Connor Babin before Chad Gasper sealed things on a 34-yard run.
Paetow got one score back but it came on the last play of the game, as Brock Nichols threw the first touchdown pass of his varsity career on the last play of the game.
Jordan’s defense was huge on the night, holding Paetow to just over 200 yards of offense and only 50 yards rushing, and they shut down the Warriors shut down everything Paetow attempted on the night.
“We understood that they have a lot of good offensive players, the quarterback has a strong arm, their running back is good and they have a really big offensive line,” said senior defensive lineman Tosin Odulate. “We knew that we had to shut down the run and keep them in the pass game and that’s what we were able to do. We were able to stop the run and keep them off their game all night.”
Jordan is now one of only two teams in District 19-6A to be unbeaten against district opponents, along with Katy, and after next week that number will trim to just one school, as the Tigers and Warriors are set to face off with first place in district on the line.
“These kids have taken football seriously since the day they stepped foot on campus,” Rabe said. “They wanted to be good and prove they could compete in this district once they got here. Now they’re doing it and that’s just awesome as a coach.”
Jordan 41, Paetow 13
Paetow |
7 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
-- |
13 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Jordan |
7 |
7 |
13 |
14 |
-- |
41 |
First quarter
J: Colin Willettts 25 pass to Andrew Marsh (Jake Kilander kick) 8:23
P: Koby Truehill 17 pass to Jabari Bush (Gabriel Schaeffer kick) 0:44
Second quarter
J: Kanaan Ibarra 2 run (Kilander kick) 11:19
Third quarter
J: Willetts 64 pass to Zechariah Sample (Kilander kick) 10:19
J: Nicholas Olinger 26 interception return, 8:30
Fourth quarter
J: Willetts 18 pass to Connor Babin (Kilander kick) 11:11
J: Chad Gasper 34 run (Kilander kick) 6:02
P: Brock Nichols 11 pass to Jamarius Bates, 0:00
Team stats
Paetow |
Jordan |
|
First downs |
11 |
10 |
Yards rushing |
26-50 |
25-115 |
Yards passing |
159 |
176 |
Passes |
16-47-2-1 |
11-18-3-0 |
Punts |
5-32 |
4-36 |
Fumbles-lost |
0-0 |
1-1 |
Penalty-yards |
2-7 |
5-30 |
Individual Statistics
Rushing – Jordan: Chad Gasper, 16-93-1; Kanaan Ibarra, 5-12-1; Colin Willetts, 1-9; Zechariah Sample, 1-(-2); Paetow: Jamarius Bates, 4-22; Damyrion Phillips, 8-17; Brock Nichols, 4-8; Koby Truehill, 7-5; Alex Kilgore, 1-1; VanKeith Brown, 1-1; Derrick Johnson, 1-(-4)
Passing – Jordan: Colin Willetts, 11-18-3-0; Paetow: Brock Nichols, 7-31-95-1-0; Koby Truehill, 8-15-59-1-1; Jabari Bush, 1-1-5-0-0;
Receiving – Jordan: Zechariah Sample, 4-95-1; Andrew Marsh, 3-44-1; Connor Babin, 2-27-1; Chad Gasper, 1-9; Deacon Stanfield, 1-1; Paetow: Jason Blue, 4-49; Jabari Bush, 4-45-1; VanKeith Brown, 3-30; Saymon Taylor, 2-19; Jamarius Bates, 1-11-1; Koby Truehill, 1-5; Damyrion Phillips, 1-0;