CCC BATTLE: St. James answers talk with impressive win over rival Trinity
St. James quarterback KJ Jackson readies to throw as Trinity’s McClain Brown closes in on the sack in the Trojans’ win on Friday. (Ryan Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
KJ Jackson and his St. James’ teammates had heard all the talk.
The Trojans had allowed 220 points in their first seven games and rarely looked like the team that marched through the playoffs to the Class 3A state championship last year. Prattville Christian and Southside had thrown scares in the Trojans and Handley and Charles Henderson had handed them lopsided losses. And what about an undefeated Trinity team coming to Carlisle Field on Friday night?
“I don’t think we’ve played as bad as people think this year, I just don’t think they see the light like we see it,” Jackson said. “Seeing that we weren’t respected as much as we should be, that really hurt us. We took that as a chip on our shoulder and we came and worked all week and it showed tonight.”
The Trojans scored on each of their four possessions in the second quarter to turn what was expected to be an exciting, well contested game into a 47-8 rout of the Wildcats that gave St. James its third consecutive region championship with its 22nd consecutive region victory.
“I’ll be honest with you, they came ready to play,” Trinity coach Brian Seymore said. “They jumped on us a little bit. KJ is an incredible athlete. He made some incredible throws. But this is my responsibility as a coach. I’m going to own this one and have our kids ready to play next week. It’s upsetting and very frustrating.”
The last time Trinity was 7-0 was in 2021 when the Wildcats lost the eighth game at Catholic 52-7. While the score was similar, this year’s Trinity team was a solid veteran team that marched to the end zone on its first possession for an 8-0 lead, then mysteriously fell apart in the second quarter with a fumble, a blocked punt and defensive breakdowns by its rushing defense.
“We didn’t stay engaged up front on blocks,” Seymore said. “I thought we were going to be able to run the football better than we did. I don’t know. Had a chance to hit some early deep shots and we missed a couple of those. It’s a work in progress. It’s a humbling experience, but that’s why they’re the defending 3A champions. They showed up and showed out. They did a tremendous job.”
Then there was Jackson. The University of Arkansas commit shook off some early struggles in finding open receivers with a personal-best seven touchdowns, running for three scores and throwing four more in just two and a half quarters.
“We can do that because of good receivers like Tabor Offord,” Jackson said. “Tabor can run past anybody, Clint (Houser) can run past anybody, Jake Huff can jump with anybody. We’ve got great receivers, a great line. And that running game? I think our third drive, we marched it down the field. We could have run it as much as we wanted to.”
His four touchdown passes give him a school-record 111 in his career and his 11-for-18 performance for 239 yards gave him a school-record 7,706 career passing yards, but he’s never accounted for seven touchdowns in one game.
“KJ’s good, there’s nothing else to say,” St. James coach Neal Posey said. “He makes plays. We’ve got some really good receivers. Tabor Offord got his 12th touchdown reception tonight. He’s playing really good. We were able to get Clint Houser back (from an injury). Having some guys on the outside really helps KJ. And the way our line plays, giving him protection and time to throw it, usually he gets the ball in the right place. He played really well tonight.”
Jackson scored on runs of 3 and 6 yards, then waved Offord open as the quarterback was rolling left, hitting the junior with a 14-yard pass in the back of the end zone for a 21-8 lead.
“There wasn’t a lot of pressure, but I felt like my internal clock went off,” Jackson said. “I left the pocket. Coach Corey Wright has been great, helping the receivers and me with the scramble drill. I saw (Offord) wide open and I felt it was going to take too long. (Trinity defensive back) Webber McClinton was running over there and I pointed (Offord) the other way and he slipped right behind him. He didn’t even see him. How about that?”
Posey pointed out his offensive line’s ability to keep Jackson protected against a good Trinity defense deserved some credit as well.
“If you don’t have time behind the line, you can’t wave anybody open,” Posey said, “so you’ve got to give props to them. Sometimes, you need extra time for those routes to develop so he can get open.”
The next drive was capped by a 17-yard pass to Houser over the middle for a 28-8 lead and Jackson scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak just before the half for a 34-8 lead.
He picked up where he left off on the first two possessions of the second half, hitting Offord on a crossing pattern for 43 yards and a touchdown, then launching a 49-yard bomb to Offord for a 47-8 lead with 6:21 remaining in the third quarter.
Offord finished with 155 yards and three touchdowns on five receptions. His 12 touchdowns this season are just three shy of the school record set by Ethan Beard last season.
St. James (6-2) also got 110 rushing yards on 20 carries from Cole Anderson and the Trojan defense allowed just two first downs in the final three quarters while holding the Trinity offense to 39 rushing yards on 24 attempts and just 106 total yards after the Wildcats’ first possession.
“Coach always says five things are going to happen in a game and I think all five things that were game changers happened for us,” Jackson said. “We had a blocked punt, we got a fumble, the defense played great. Our defense and our O-line are the two areas of our team that have gotten the most heat and they showed up the most tonight. That’s a great confidence boost for them.”
The Trojans travel to Sumter Central next week before returning home to play Class 5A Carroll on Nov. 3. The Wildcats can wrap up second place in the region next week with a home game against Prattville Christian before closing out the regular season the following week at Greensboro.