1 week Ago By Lauren Rosenberg
The undefeated, 10-0 Jefferson Bulldogs continue their season as they head to Lindale to face off against the 2-8 Mineola Yellowjackets on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs first season with Coach Ty Taylor at the helm has been nothing short of phenomenal. Expectations were high from the get go, but it was the coaching staff and players who bought into Coach Taylor’s way of coaching for their best season in program history. On the season, Tihmyus Taylor threw for a career high 1,945 yards and 29 touchdowns.
UNLV commit Kamran Williams rushed for 1,818 yards and 19 touchdowns. Chris Love led all receivers with 585 yards and 12 touchdowns, with Travis Gray Jr. trailing closely behind with 552 yards and six touchdowns.
On defense, Kobin Tomlinson continued his stellar career with 97 tackles, seven tackles for a loss and an interception. Daniel Smith followed with 81 tackles. Love led the team with four interceptions for 36 yards and a pick-six.
For Mineola, their season was not as stellar as Jefferson’s. They technically finished fifth in the district but won the head-to-head against Mount Vernon for defeating Rains. Mineola’s offense is heavily run based, led by a three-headed running back tandem in Braelyn Geremonte, Aidan Shepherd and Kipton Neighbors.
Geremonte leads the Yellowjackets with 707 yards and 10 touchdowns, Neighbors is second with 688 yards and six touchdowns, while Shepherd trails behind with 630 yards and six touchdowns. The running game makes up for the deficit at the quarterback position. Zane Phillips is not having the season Mineola wanted, throwing for 511 yards and four touchdowns with eight interceptions.
Defensively, Blaine Harris is the star for the Yellowjackets. He is the only defensive player to eclipse 50 tackles with 80 on the season. Neighbors is the leader in the secondary with two interceptions while Eduardo Guerra and Steven Reyes have one for a team total of three.
Jefferson can easily overwhelm Mineola, who only got hot in their final two games of the season against Eustace and Rains, the worst in the district. Mineola comes from a district full of talent at the top led by state favorite Malakoff and Winnsboro. Overall, Jefferson needs to play their tough nosed game and not let Mineola’s 2-8 record effect their mentality.
Even though this should, in essence, be a breeze for the Bulldogs, stranger things have happened in sports and playing with all their effort is key..
