Aynor falls short against Latta in game played over two days

Latta has derailed Aynor again.

Despite leading nearly midway through the fourth quarter on Friday night, the Blue Jackets were stunned as the Vikings rallied for 22 unanswered points en route to a 65-48 win.

Aynor led 48-43 with around seven minutes left in the game but saw Latta win on its turf for the second time in three years. The game had been rescheduled for Thursday and was played into the second quarter with the Blue Jackets leading 22-13 when the game was suspended because of inclement weather and forced to be finished up Friday.

“It was a pretty good game last night,” Aynor coach Jody Jenerette said. “They came over tonight and it got out of hand after that.”

Having the lead late, Jenerette was by no means blaming the situation for the loss.

“Latta went through the same situation,” Jenerette said, “and they beat our eyes out.”

Jenerette said a fourth-quarter fumble by his team shifted the momentum to Latta’s favor, and the Vikings were off and running from there.

“You’re up 5 and you make a pass and we fumbled it,” Jenerette said. “We rely on our offense to win games. You’re going to lose games at Aynor when that happens.”

The Blue Jackets were off to a 2-0 start, similar to two years ago when they were 3-0 before losing to Latta 35-32 on their home turf.

“They’ve go a bunch of good athletes,” Jenerette said. “Their coaches did a good job getting them ready.”

Jonathan Gause ran for 104 yards and Jalin Dixon ran for 94 and a score for Aynor. Zach Todd (50 yards and two scores), Caleb Jenerette (59 yards and a touchdown) and Colie Rogers (76 yards and a score) also did damage for the Blue Jackets, who totaled 383 yards on the ground.

Despite the fact his team put up 48 points, Jenerette said his team has plenty of work to do on the defensive side as well.

“There’s a lot of things you need to work on when you give up that many points,” the coach said. “… We’ve got to come out ready with West Columbus (N.C.) coming out here next week.”

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 12:55 AM with the headline "Aynor falls short against Latta in game played over two days."