By ART LAWLER

KEMP —The Jackets finished 2-7 for the season and last in District 14-3A.

Coach Greg Anderson will tell you they’re a better team than that.

But like Eustace, Kemp has battled injuries all season long, and they were never quite so severe as last Friday night.

The Jackets lost star quarterback Jeremy Quick a week earlier, and backup quarterback Blake Murray went down in the first quarter.

So the Jackets had to go with a combination of Jeff Goldman and running back Wesley Kerr at quarterback.

Both are good players, but neither was ready to play quarterback in the Jackets’ system last Friday.

So Canton, a terrific passing team, and a highly questionable defensive team, took advantage for a 35-14 victory.

Quarterback Chance Wallace threw for 324 yards on a 37 for 50 night passing.

With the injuries, Kemp was able to gain 205 total yards, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

Kemp was coming off a Cinderella season a year ago in which the Jackets rallied to make the playoffs and then beat Farmersville in bi-district before bowing out of the playoffs the following week against Texarkana Pleasant Grove.

But after a promising pre-season, the Jackets lost to the same two teams that beat them a year ago.

Then, the Mabank game got cancelled, and the Jackets went on a two-game tear against Class 2A competition.

The Jackets played an extremely tough game against Van, losing 3-0 after two overtimes in a classic defensive struggle.

But injuries began to mount, and star running back Chris Murry had trouble regaining his early-season, broken-field running form the rest of the way after a series of painful chin problems, and an ankle problem.

Anderson pointed out that Murry had over 700 yards after five games.

And he finished with less than a thousand.

“He could just never regain his burst of speed after those injuries,” Anderson said.

Still, the Jackets had a great opportunity to go into overtime, or even defeat Eustace, but a missed extra point allowed the Dogs to escape with a 21-20 victory.

That was the difference in this team and the one that finished in spectacular style a year ago.

Physically, this may have been an even better team. But the magic, whatever that is, wasn’t with the Jackets this time around.

The magic may mean nothing more than untimely injuries.

As for the season-ending loss to Canton, Anderson said, “I knew offensively we would have trouble because Murry was not full speed, and not having Jeremy in at quarterback.

Blake Murray took a shot in the back that slowed him.

The Jackets were reduced to running the Wildcat, i.e. snapping the ball directly to different backs in the backfield.

Still, Anderson was disappointed over the final game, in spite of the injuries.

I thought we could have done a little better against their defense,” he said. “But we were just too handcuffed.

The Jackets had three turnovers.

Murry, who had been the Jackets best defensive player prior to the leg problems, couldn’t play defense the last five games.

“We haven’t been well since about week three.”

“We have some young ones who are going to make good players. But it’s hard to stick a freshman or a sophomore in there and expect the same kind of production you’d get out of Murry or Jeremy Quick, who have started since they were sophomores.

“We’ve got to regroup during the off season, and get back to work. The cupboard’s not bare.”

Beginning with sophomores James Forest and Cody Parker, a pair of 230-pound plus tackles.

And don’t forget No.49.

“I think Johnny Kilgore was the best defensive player in the district,” Anders said flatly. He’ll be a senior next year.

John Jennings (220) will be back at nose guard. He started this season as a sophomore.

Jerrod Lane, 180, played outside linebacker until he took Murry’s spot on defense in the secondary.

Justin Lawler started at free safety, and he’s back. He will probably also double as a running back.

Kyle Kimberly, actually, brought up from JV this year, is similar to Murry, but bigger. ‘He has good vision. He may not have the breakaway speed Cris had, but he’s got potential.”

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