JACKSONVILLE — The Tomato Bowl should be buzzing with excitement Friday night as the Jacksonville Fight'n Indians raise the curtain on their 2012 home schedule by welcoming in an old geographical rival in the Palestine Wildcats.

Both clubs will enter the game off of strong showings last week.

The Tribe (1-0) upset the then No. 3-ranked Bulldogs of Carthage 34-30, while the Wildcats (0-1) lost in overtime, 24-23, to Waco LaVega, who is ranked No. 5 this week in Class 3A.

Many fans of both teams have probably had this date circled for months now, as the historic series is set to resume after going on hiatus for the past two years.

Some Indian followers may view this game as one of the Tribe's easier ones this year — after all Jacksonville has won 13 of the last 15 meetings against the maroon-clad Class 3A Wildcats — but Indian bench boss Chris Taber says that Palestine should be considered a formidable challenge for the Indians.

“There are no (so called) patsies on our schedule,” Taber said. “Palestine is nothing short of a great football team. They are big, athletic and they really should have realistically beaten LaVega last week.”

Trailing 24-23 in overtime, Palestine choose to go for the win, instead of attempting a higher percentage PAT try that if converted would have sent the contest into the second bonus round.

On the game-deciding play, Wildcat quarterback Brian Gummelt went in motion as a receiver, with former signal caller Caleb Cargill taking the snap instead.

Cargill's pass was thrown behind the receiver, which enabled LaVega to escape Wildcat Stadium with a single-point decision.

Even though Jacksonville has seemed to have had the recent advantage in the series that stands at 36-36-3 overall, the last five meetings on the average have been decided by a scant 6.6 points.

If that trend holds true Friday, this game could be a real barn burner, regardless of who wins.



Jacksonville Indians

The Tribe entered the opener last week needing to answer questions at quarterback and along the offensive line.

Sophomore quarterback Carter McCown answered the bell by going 22-of-36 through the skies for 369 yards and four touchdowns.

He showed a great deal of poise for a youngster who was making his first varsity start even when his team fell behind late in the third quarter as was evident in his ability to hit Darrell Minifee with the game-winning pass with 40 seconds to play.

Taber said that overall he was happy with what he saw out of the Tribe's new O-line.

“We're not where we want to be, but I will tell you that they (O-line) p-l-a-y-e-d Friday night. Carthage’s defensive line was huge and they were fast, but our kids held the charge and gave Carter (McCown) a bunch of time to throw the football and they gave us some running lanes early on.”

Taber said that he expects continued improvement from the O-line from week to week as they get more comfortable playing together as a unit.

One area that Jacksonville must improve on, according to Taber, is in turnovers.

The Tribe fumbled 11 times last week and lost three of those while being penalized for 70 yards on 13 infractions.

“We have to clean up the mental errors and turnovers and hold on to the football,” Taber said. “If we can do that and sustain our drives I think that we'll be alright.

“We were fortunate last week to be able to win despite all the mistakes, but when you play teams like Palestine, Gilmer and Henderson and make too many mistakes they are going to expose you.”

 

Palestine Wildcats

Taber said that the Wildcat offense is similar to the Tribe's and that the Wildcats have proven to be capable of running the ball as well as passing it.

“They (Palestine) like to run the ball and they have three backs that are really good,” Taber said. “Two of the kids are big and the other one can fly — he's really fast.

“They will throw the ball around a little bit off of the run and they will spread it around out of the power, and they like a fast pace, so they are a lot like us, offensively.”

Darrius Stephens carried 10 times for 120 yards to lead Palestine in rushing last week. Luckett tacked on 76 yards and scored twice while Jarrell Owens ran for 56 yards.

Gummelt and Clark combined to go 9-of-22 for 99 yards.

Palestine has been predicted by several preseason publications to be the favorite to win District 19-3A.