Lee County Beats Southern Nash 42-24, To Host Jacksonville In Round 3

The Lee County Yellow Jackets used a 21-point 3^rd quarter to break open a tight game and raced to a 42-24 win over Southern Nash in a 2^nd round matchup in the State 3A Football Championship.  BJ Brown ignited the crowd with a 65-yard run on the Yellow Jackets first play of the 2^nd half to increase the Lee County lead to 21-6.  After a quick answer by Southern Nash on a 43-yard run by Sammy Gandy, the Yellow Jackets used a 2-yard TD by Jo Jo Jennings and a 82-yard pick 6 by Kenyon Palmer on the Firebirds next possession to put the game away.

BJ Brown led the Lee County rushing attack with 172 yards on 20 carries and the Yellow Jackets outgained the Firebirds with 304 yards of total offense to 266 for Southern Nash.   Will Patterson was 9 of 15 for 101 yards and two scores as Lee County did not throw a pass in the 2^nd half.

Lee County (9-3), the #5 Seed in the East, will host #13 Jacksonville (9-2) next Friday in Sanford.   Jacksonville beat #4 Hunt 21-20 in Wilson to earn the right to face Lee County.

Scoring

Southern Nash    0     6    12    6    24

Lee County          7     7    21    7    42

Scoring Summary

1^st Quarter

9:31 – LC – Kenyon Palmer 31 Pass from Will Patterson (Kennedy Hernandez kick)

2^nd Quarter

9:51 – SN – Jackson Vick 3 run (kick blocked)

1:36 – LC – Palmer 18 pass from Patterson (Hernandez kick)

3^rd Quarter

9:55 – LC – BJ Brown 65 run (Hernandez kick)

9:11 – SN – Sammy Gandy 43 run (2-pt conv failed)

6:08 – LC – JoJo Jennings 2 run (Hernandez kick)

2:47 – LC – Palmer 82-yard INT return (Hernandez kick)

1:26 – SN – Gandy 55 run (2-pt conv failed)

4^th Quarter

3:07 – LC – Kendall Morris 17 run (Hernandez kick)

0:16 – SN – Gandy 1 run (2-pt conv failed)

Rushing

SN – Gandy 21-162, Mitchell 7-7, Vick 18-63, White 9-0, Braswell 2-5, Alford 1-(-1), Hernandez 1-5  Team Totals 59-241

LC – BJ Brown 20-172, Kendall Morris 7-44, JoJo Jennings 2-10, Mark Schlesinger 1-5, Will Patterson 3-(-28)  Team Totals 33-203

Passing

SN – Alford 0-2-0, White 1-1-(-3), Mitchell 1-2-28   Team Totals 2-2-25

LC – Will Patterson 9-15-101

Receiving

SN – Jackson Vick 2-25

LC – Kenyon Palmer 3-70, Tyric McKendall 3-14, Eli Garrison 1-11, BJ Brown 2-6  Totals 9-101

• Lee County finished with 18 first downs to 16 for SNash and won the battle of turnovers 2-1.
• Jeremiah Eatmon and Kenyon Palmer each had an interception to give Lee County 15 on the season and Lee County has now returned 5 interceptions for scores in the last 4 games.  Eatmon’s was his 2^nd interception of the season and Palmer now leads the Yellow Jackets with 4 picks.
• Kenyon Palmer was named the Normann Financial Group Offensive Player of the Game.
• JoJo Jennings was named the Normann Financial Group Defensive Player of the Game.
• Join us for the Steve Burdeau Coach’s Show on Tuesday night at 7:00 on WFJA Sports.