J-Hawks bounce back with 32-15 victory

By Jim Ecker

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Jefferson J-Hawks felt awful last week when they lost to Cedar Rapids Prairie by 70 points, but there was only thing for them to do.

Work hard. Keep their heads up. And bounce back.

Mission accomplished.

Anthony Hawkins passed for 252 yards and Tyree Turner rambled for 104 yards and two touchdowns as the J-Hawks defeated Dubuque Senior, 32-15, on Homecoming Thursday night at Kingston Stadium.

Practice was tough this past week.

“We were really hard on each other,” said Hawkins, who completed 18 of 30 passes. “We knew we could do better than that.”

Jefferson raised its record to 2-4. The Dubuque Rams fell to 2-4.

“Overall, a good job tonight, coming out and playing our game,” said Coach Ed Miles. “It wasn’t our best. We can play a lot better.

“It’s a good confidence booster. We have to clean up some mistakes and eliminate those stupid penalties.”

Turner broke loose for a 28-yard touchdown and a 4-yard score. He also had bursts of 24 and 41 yards and finished with 104 yards on just eight touches.

The J-Hawks collected 414 yards of total offense and also had big moments on defense, including a goal-line stand at the 1-yard line when they turned the Rams away with no points. Jefferson sacked Dubuque Senior quarterback Mason Birch five times and held him to just 7 completions in 26 passes, although he did connect with Mekhi Marsh on a 72-yard touchdown.

Hawkins was sharp all night for Jefferson and found seven different receivers.

“It was a good confidence game for him,” said Miles. “We thought coming in that this could be a breakout game. This was the type of game he needed.”

Hawkins was all smiles.

“It was pretty great,” he said of Jeff’s overall performance. “To win on homecoming. Coming off a loss like that.”

Jefferson took a 6-0 lead when Liam Wiesner scored on a 1-yard run on his first carry of the season, but the Rams took a 7-6 lead on the 72-yard touchdown pass from Birch to Marsh and the PAT.

Jefferson grabbed a 13-7 advantage on the 28-yard touchdown burst by Turner and the PAT, and the J-Hawks never trailed again. Jefferson made it 19-7 with 1:46 left in the first half on a 1-yard tally by Hawkins.

The lead ballooned to 25-7 on the 4-yard touchdown by Turner.

Dubuque Senior pulled within 25-15 on a 1-yard touchdown by Birch and a two-point conversion. The J-Hawks quickly retaliated when Lucas Ranard, a wide receiver who moved to the wildcat position on a series, found Osten Robertson for an 11-yard score on Ranard’s first pass of the season to make it 32-15 with 4:41 left and put the game out of reach.

Dubuque Senior        7   0   0   8 – 15
Jefferson                   13  6  0  13 – 32

J – Liam Wiesner 1 run (kick failed)
DS – Mason Birch 72 pass to Mekhi Marsh (Adam Marx kick)
J – Tyree Turner 28 run (Tyler Bartlett kick)
J – Anthony Hawkins 1 run (kick failed)
J – Tyree Turner 4 run (pass failed)
DS – Birch 1 run (Birch pass to Marsh)
J – Lucas Ranard 16 pass to Osten Robertson (Bartlett kick)