Noah Repasky, the head football coach at Cumberland County High School, changed things up with his team in practice this week. He decided to simplify things, focus more on what the Jets are doing well, and just give the program some kind of boost. 

The move worked tremendously well as the Jets, though losing 41-17 at White County, played well on both sides of the ball Friday night in Sparta. The Jets moved the ball on offense, played a smothering defense and, take away the second period when White County scored 28 points, outscored the Warriors 17-13. 

“We focused ourselves on getting back to the basics this week in practice,” said Repasky. “We have had an injury-filled year, with some adversity, and I just felt like we were trying to do too much. 

“So, we went back to the basics on offense. We ran probably three or four plays all night. That’s it. We wanted to work on what we can do, and I really think that helped us a lot.” 

The loss drops Cumberland County to 2-5 on the year and 0-4 in the region. White County improves to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the league. 

“I think we played well for three of the four quarters,” Repasky said. “They scored 28 points in the second quarter along. When you have a little lag like we did, when you have a guy like [White County quarterback] Tripp Pinion, he’s going to get his. And he got most of his in the second period.” 

Things started out well for Cumberland County. The Jets hit the scoreboard first when junior Jordan Propst, who was moved to the backfield from the offensive line because of injury, rambled 79 yards for a touchdown. Jamie Perez kicked the extra point, and the Jets led 7-0 with 9:08 to go in the first period. 

White County scored just before the end of the period to make it 7-7 heading into the second quarter. That’s where the Warriors went to work, on the hands and feet of Pinion, and put up 28 points to make it 35-7 at the half. 

“We started playing really solid up front,” Repasky said. “We let our two running backs do most of the heavy lifting, and tried to be really simple. We wanted to come off the ball and do the things we can do.” 

“That’s what we’ve done since we’ve been here, what we’ve had success with.  I just think maybe I got a little ahead of myself. But we’ve backed everything up, and I thought tonight you saw what we’re capable of doing.” 

Cumberland County came out in the second half swinging for the fences. On the Jets’ first possession of the period, Propst capped a 67-yard scoring drive with a 35-yard touchdown scamper. 

Perez’s kick made it 35-14 with 10:30 left in the third quarter.  

“I have been on them for not executing for the past three or four weeks,” Repasky said. “So, we took a lot of those elements out. We were blocking down and basing all night long, which shortened our running game up. We gave them less room for error, and I think we showed some improvement. 

“Jordan Propst did a great job for us [180 yards on 20 carries]. He played center for us the last five weeks. He had run the ball in middle school, so we asked him to run the ball, and he did a good job.” 

Cumberland County had 248 yards of offense, with no turnovers on the night. Quarterback Bryson Wilson was 3 of 10 on the night for 23 yards. 

“I thought defensively we did pretty well except for the second quarter,” Repasky said. “I didn’t like our tackling. I thought we were tackling too high’ we weren’t running through people. Once we got in at the half, we regrouped and we played much better defense. We started hitting people, instead of grabbing them and throwing them around. I was really proud of our effort tonight.” 

Up next, Cumberland County will be back on the road Oct. 6 when the Jets visit DeKalb County. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. 

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