Jays set to face Hannibal in Week 2

Jays receiver Levi Jobe sprints toward the end zone for a touchdown during Jamboree earlier this month at Hickman in Columbia.
Jays receiver Levi Jobe sprints toward the end zone for a touchdown during Jamboree earlier this month at Hickman in Columbia.

After being shut out 37-0 against Kirkwood in Week 1, the Jefferson City Jays quickly went back to work.

"Some of the younger kids are really starting to lock in and starting to compete really well. Some of the older kids we got their attention with our Saturday morning practice," Jefferson City coach Terry Walker said as the Jays prepare for tonight's game against Hannibal at Adkins Stadium. "It's not meant as punishment but it was meant as, 'Hey, we've got deficiencies we need to correct so we need to get out there and correct them.' We weren't going to waste any time to do that."

Week 2 features a much different matchup for the Jays. While Kirkwood spread it out, got the ball out quickly in the passing game and got its quarterback on the move, Hannibal will rely mostly on its running game. And the Jays will have to keep an eye on where the ball travels.

"We don't see a ton of true triple option football teams," Walker said. "I know Jeff City hasn't seen one for quite some time. We've got to be incredibly disciplined with our matchups on the option so we don't give them easy plays or easy scores. And that's challenging to do in one week."

Hannibal is coming off a 35-34 home loss to the Helias Crusaders. The Pirates were able to do their thing offensively with quarterback Gabe Worthington, and running backs JaQuez McGruder and Damien French combining for 205 yards on the ground.

"We've spent a bunch of time just on triple option matchups, the dive, quarterback and pitch," Walker said. "Then they run some midline and they run some counters and trap, so we've just got to be fundamentally sound and we have to gap discipline. They run a lot of two back, tight end, a lot of double tight ends, so we'll probably have eight or nine guys in the box if we can."

The Jays will also have to be mindful of Worthington, or even one of the backs, slinging it down the field.

Worthington completed five passes for 135 yards last week against Helias. McGruder connected with speedy receiver Dezi Jones for an 80-yard gain on a half-back pass.

Throwing the ball may be in the cards for the Jays against the Pirates, who surrendered more than 200 yards through the air last week.

"We'll see what they're doing coverage-wise and if we feel like there are some things we can do in the passing game we'll definitely work to do those things," Walker said.

The Jays struggled to get consistency out of the passing game last week, finishing with 80 yards. Pressure on quarterback Devin Roberson didn't help.

"We've made some adjustments to our protection to try and give Roberson a little bit more protection, give him a little bit more time to get the ball out," Walker said. "We have a good feel for what we think the kids can do, we've just got to get better at it."

The Jays are also hoping they can make the needed adjustments up front to help the ground game.

"We didn't really have a running game last Friday night," Walker said. "We've got to figure out how to put a hat on a hat and move people off the line of scrimmage."

Walker said it's business as usual at practice and hopes they can make the proper fixes to avoid an 0-2 start.

"We're just trying to do our very best to address the deficiencies that we had offensively and defensively and on special teams," he said. "And trying to get the kids to put out great effort so they can replicate that on Friday night. That approach has never changed. The only difference is we experienced a loss. You would hope that they would be more focused and more attentive so we don't go through that again."

Kickoff for the game is 7 p.m.

"They play really hard," Walker said of Hannibal. "They had a tough game against Helias, so I'm sure they are going to come in here ready to go."

Related Media: Jefferson City Jays Football Podcast [Hannibal preview, Aug. 31, 2018]