By Mark Monosky

For The North Jefferson News



MORRIS — Friday night, the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils opened their season with a victory over the the Curry Yellow Jackets 14-6 in a game dominated by both sides’ defenses.

The game was the 5A, Region 6 opener for both schools.

“Curry played real hard,” Blue Devils head coach Greg Watts said. “Those folks are doing a good job. I was disappointed in the second half. We started moving the ball and doing stuff better, then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot when we had to get a first down. It was frustrating.”

In the first quarter, both teams struggled offensively and combined to have three turnovers in the opening 12 minutes alone.

The scoring started on Curry’s opening possession of the second quarter. Yellow Jacket quarterback Koty Woodard passed to a wide open Daniel Evens for a touchdown. The play covered 57 yards and gave Curry a 6-0 lead.

On the next offensive possession, Mortimer Jordan drove the ball 66 yards in 16 plays only to be held on downs at the Curry 3-yard line.

The Yellow Jackets took the 6-0 lead into half-time.

Late in the third quarter, Mortimer Jordan finally got on the board. Blue Devil running back Desmond Brown broke off an 85-yard run for a touchdown. After a Caleb Harber’s point-after kick, Mortimer Jordan had the lead at 7-6.

On the next offensive possession, Mortimer Jordan scored again after Dantrell Purifoy ran it in from 23 yards out. The touchdown completed a four play, 45-yard drive. After another Caleb Harber point-after, the Blue Devils lead 14-6.

The fourth quarter saw two great defensive stops by the Mortimer Jordan defense. The first came on Curry’s second offensive possession of the quarter. The Yellow Jackets drove the ball all the way to the Blue Devil 7-yard line only to fumble and turn over the ball.

Mortimer Jordan’s Noah Goggans recovered the fumble to stop the drive.

The final one came with less then a minute play in the game. On fourth down, Mortimer Jordan’s Luke Harris intercepted a Woodard pass to preserve the victory for Mortimer Jordan.

Despite only putting up 14 points, the Mortimer Jordan offense rushed for 151 yards.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Watts said. “I believe we can be a good football team, but we’ve got eliminate the mistakes. We’ve played two straight weeks where we put the ball on the ground offensively.”

The Blue Devils play on the road this week at Brewer in another Region 6 match up.