JUPITER – In three regular season games, the Jupiter Warriors have earned their wins the hard way.
Though our No. 8-ranked team was never really been in danger of losing any of those tilts (32-21 road win over Tohopekaliga in Week 1; 27-20 road win over Lake Worth in Week 2), they have learned a few valuable things in pulling away from tough opponents.
Case in point: Martin County in Week 3.
Make no mistake about it, Monday night’s (Sept. 9) game at Jupiter could have gone either way. As the Tigers (1-2) were threatening to steal a win in Palm Beach County, the Warriors (3-0) relied on their defense and their sense of togetherness to carry them through.
With the score at 27-20 at the 3:43 mark, Jupiter’s secondary did not give up the big play and the coaches did not call any plays that would be too risky in the process. It was a combination of patience, focus, chemistry, and textbook tackling at the right time.
It ultimately paid off for the Warriors, who kept the Tigers out of the red zone on the game’s true final possession.
This close one was effectively over with 50.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“Tough battle on both sides of the ball,” Jupiter head coach Tim Tharp said. “Both teams played their tails off. They did some things that gave us trouble, and we overcame some adversity on our side. We found a way to get a win.”
The game’s final scoring possession earlier in the fourth quarter was what one could call a ‘grind-it-out’ affair, even though the drive was only 7 yards long. A combination of runs and timeouts was on display to keep Martin County’s defense on its heels in that crucial moment.
Warriors senior quarterback Johnathan Mosely is a dual-threat signal caller who used both his arm and legs to power his way down the field. The end result was Mosely’s 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak play with 3:43 left.
“We’re thankful to get the ball down there,” Tharp said. “We ran some time off the clock and decided to put the ball in our quarterback’s hands. We let him just go with it. John did a great job of getting the ball into the end zone.”
Mosely’s game-winner was made possible by a blocked punt and recovery from senior defensive lineman D’Orie Smith, who got the ball from Martin County’s 15-yard line to the 7-yard line with 6:27 left.
“We got a big block on that one,”
Tharp said.
Jupiter may be happy with this win. But this team is looking at the bigger picture now.
With two more winnable non-district games coming up, it’s plausible that Jupiter could go into District 10-8A play in Week 6 with a 5-0 record. The next two opponents are away at Jensen Beach (2-0) on Friday night (Week 4; 7 p.m. kickoff) and at home against Suncoast next Friday night (Week 5; Sept. 20, 6:30 p.m. kickoff.).
After the Jensen Beach and Suncoast games are in the books, Jupiter will enter a season-defining stretch of four games in District 10-8A play. Perhaps the toughest game of its season will come in Week 6 against district favorite Palm Beach Gardens (No. 5 in New Era Prep Top 10; 2-0).
Gardens will be followed by a bye in Week 7, which will precede district games against No. 9 Forest Hill (3-0), Palm Beach Central (2-1), and Wellington (0-3) – in no particular order.
But Tharp is focusing on the moment at hand, and that’s what matters the most right now.
“I’m happy for the kids,” Tharp said. “A lot of hard work has gone in through this two-to-three year process of trying to build here. But we are far from arriving. We just need to do a good job of keeping things in perspective. We’re looking forward to play Jensen Beach on Friday night.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Keith Forde
