Jefferson High’s football squad started its 2023 with high expectations — but in its Aug. 24 opener in Boulder, it ran into a deep Florence-Carlton team. The result: a 20-0 loss to begin the season.
The start of the game seemed to go Jefferson’s way: Florence fumbled on the kick-off, and the Panthers recovered. But a pair of quarterback sacks gave the ball back to the Falcons on their own 30. The Panther defense did a great job of reading the Falcon plays, leading to a quarterback sack — and four plays later, Florence was forced to punt.
The Panthers took over on their own 20, and a couple of runs by Jack Johnson put the ball on the 34. But that is where the progress stopped, and Jefferson was forced to punt. The Falcons put together a drive, and on second and two they ran in for a touchdown. The PAT was good, and Florence took a 7-0 lead.
