With the biggest crowd I have personally seen in two years of broadcasting Forney Jackrabbit Football, the Jackrabbits put on an entertaining show with a great ending. Beating the Bulldogs from McKinney North by a score of 36-29, the Jackrabbits answered many questions about this edition of the team. By all accounts, the Bulldogs were the toughest opponent to this point of the season. Forney had two nice wins already on the books, but many folks were looking to see those wins validated with a victory over a team many consider a step-up in competition.

Peter Smith turned in another stellar 200+ yard game on the ground (24 rushes for 250 yards and 2 TDs), but he wasn’t the biggest star of the game in my eyes. The real star of the game was JR QB Blake Branton. Branton had an impressive game with 122 yards of his own on the ground, 100 yards passing, a key onside kick recovery and just all around great effort. The Offensive Line deserves their own accolades as well, pounding the McKinney front 7 to the tune of 372 total rushing yards.

The game was a back and forth battle through most of the first half, with each team scoring two touchdowns. The Jackrabbits then took control of the game by scoring two consecutive TD’s to close out the half and give themselves a 26-14 halftime lead. A missed extra point and failed two point conversion were about the only negatives of a great first half for Forney.

McKinney came out from the break and immediately tried to get momentum on their side with an impressive TD drive to close the gap. Forney answered with 10 straight points courtesy of a huge 34 yard field goal from Tucker Burke and a 16 yard touchdown run by Branton. McKinney kept the game interesting with another touchdown run by their best runner, Jr. RB Josh Matthews. McKinney was threatening to score shortly thereafter but was intercepted by Phillip Patterson in the end zone. (The DMN credits the pick to Kezie Camp, but I really thought it was Patterson. My apologies if we got the call wrong.)

McKinney scored late in the fourth quarter on a TD run of 2 yards by QB Brenton Griffin and a succesful 2 point conversion my Matthews to close the gap to 7 points. The ensuing onside kick was covered beautifully by none other than Forney QB Branton. The ball was then put in the hands of Peter Smith to gain a couple of first downs and run out the clock. Smith knew the game was on his shoulders at that point and ran as hard as he had all night to gain a couple of first downs and never give the Bulldog offense a chance to retake the field.

Forney comes away with their first ever 3-0 start in 4A competition and the first 3-0 start since 2002. The excitement at City Bank stadium, on the field, in the coaches box and on the sidelines was very evident when the final gun sounded. The 2008 edition of the Jackrabbits seemed to gain a stamp of legitimacy on this campaign with the big win.

The final pre-district game is this week against Sachse. The game is a Thursday night tilt and will be held at Garland’s Williams Stadium with an early 7:00 kick-off due to the weeknight contest. Sachse is 2-0 and has an extra week to prepare for Forney, so they should be well prepared. Tune in to Sportsgram (http://www.sportsgram.net) for all the coverage, if you can’t make it on Thursday.

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