Ja'Cari Jackson sparks Olympia football's big Homecoming win

With a few minutes left in the first half of this Class 7A, District 9 high school football matchup between East Ridge High and hosts, the Olympia Titans, the Knights were up 14-7 and driving into the Olympia red zone, in the hopes of increasing their lead to two possessions. 

Olympia (4-5) junior Ja'Cari Jackson had another idea. The two-way Titans' star simply decided to take over the game. 

Jackson caught an interception and returned it to the end zone, swinging the game from a possible 21-7 deficit into a 14-14 stalemate going into halftime. The 90-yard pick-six and big catch after big catch on offense was the spark the young Titans needed to get the 48-21 Homecoming win over East Ridge (3-5).

"Ja'Cari knows he's a special kid; he knows he has the talent to take over a game," said Olympia coach Travis Gabriel after the win. "That has been the challenge I've had for him all season. I've been waiting for him to take over a game because I knew he was capable of it. He understood that he's one of our best players, and I needed him to go be that on the field. His pick-six really set the tone for him to go be that tonight ... but the biggest thing was he showed leadership, and he made sure the rest of the guys rallied together. Honestly, though, everything Ja'Cari did tonight is what I expected him to do. He's that kind of player."

Led by Jackson on the outside, the Titans kept the momentum from his interception return TD — and the momentum from seeing senior captain Parker Moss get crowned Homecoming King at halftime — going when the second half started, outscoring East Ridge 34-7 in the second half. 

"We kind of know what we are capable of doing and like I told the kids all week — and I told them tonight, especially —nobody has seen Olympia play to their potential this whole season," Gabriel said. "We have underachieved every single game and I think in the second half the kids really started to realize what they can do when they play at their best. That's all I've wanted them to do, was be at their best, and we haven't been at our best all season. So, in this second half, even though we gave up that fumble return and touchdown, I finally saw the kids play at their best. Everything they did, offense, defense, even special teams, was them at their best and the outcome was a result of that."

Photo by Sam Albuquerque

Another bright spot from this district win for Olympia was the run game. Behind Moss and the Titans' offensive line, senior running back Raymond Green broke big runs throughout the third quarter that gave Olympia various goal-line opportunities to score. Green also scampered down the home sideline for a 60-yard TD run.

"Well, anytime you're running behind Parker Moss, it looks pretty easy," Gabriel said. "That's what we do, though, when we need to get these big runs. Ray is great and he's going to do what he does, but when he's running behind No. 50, he does it better. I couldn't be more appreciative of what our O-line did tonight, everything Raymond did tonight, and what Raymond has been doing all season behind Parker and our O-line."

Olympia will finish the regular season at home in Week 11 against Winter Park (4-3) Nov. 1.