Jackson Christian looks to stop Nashville Christian's win streak

Jackson Christian (10-1) hits the road Friday night against Nashville Christian (9-2) in the Division II-A semifinals with a spot in the state championship in Chattanooga on the line.

The Eagles are coming off a big comeback win at home last week over Middle Tennessee Christian, a game in which JC outscored MTCS 20-7 in the second half for a 27-25 victory.

“We had a slow start, but really proud of the way the guys stayed in the moment and continued to fight all night,” head coach Darby Palmer said after the game.

Nashville Christian’s two losses came in its first two games, falling to Division II-AA teams Franklin Road Academy and Goodpasture. Since then, Nashville Christian has outscored its opponents by an average score of 42-13.9.

Nashville Christian freshman quarterback Jared Curtis is a Mr. Football semifinalist, having thrown for 1,784 yards and 21 touchdowns with three receivers having more than 300 receiving yards and two more with more than 100.

The home team does run the ball, but there’s not a workhorse as three backs have between 300 and 600 yards for the season, according to Nashville Christian’s statistics listed on MaxPreps.com.

They actually had more rushing yards last week in a win over Trinity Christian after TCA scored the first touchdown and Nashville Christian took over to run out to a 42-7 victory.

Jackson Christian’s win over MTCS was one in which the Eagles rushed for their second-most rushing yards of the year at 303 combined with their 47 passing yards.

They had to overcome problems with ball control early on as they turned it over three times in the first half, with two of those turnovers leading to points for MTCS.

Jackson Christian will try to avoid those problems as coming from behind against Nashville Christian appears to be more difficult than against last week’s opponent.