Ty Jones was just getting his bearings back about him after missing a game due to injury.
After a three-game breakout stint where he raised eyebrows while piloting the Lakeside Panthers to a 3-0 start, he sat out in the Panthers’ 49-6 win over South Effingham to nurse a pulled muscle.
“I could have played, but my coaches wanted me close to 100% when we played Glynn [Academy],” Jones said.
It’s a good thing, too, because the 5-foot-10 dual-threat quarterback went off for 131 passing yards, 141 rushing yards and all four of Lakeside’s touchdowns in the Panthers’ 28-14 Region 1-AAAAA win against Glynn Academy.
Jones wanted to keep it rolling against Effingham County on Sept. 27. But Hurricane Helene had other plans.
The Category 1 storm hammered the entire CSRA, and paralyzed the Augusta area, shutting down schools, businesses, churches and anything else you can think of.
More than 90% of the area lost power. In the aftermath, the City of Augusta announced a temporary discontinuation of its water services and put a boil water advisory in place.
Naturally, high school football — and all school activities for that matter, including practices — took a backseat to Mother Nature. Most classes won’t resume until next week.
Jones could’ve taken the unexpected time off to get some extra sleep. Instead, he took himself on a tour.
Time to help
“I got in my car and drove around and was devastated at all the damage Hurricane Helene had done,” Jones said.
In that way, he wasn’t unlike most in the city who witnessed the mass destruction. But Jones didn’t want to just stop at simply being mesmerized.
“I wanted to help,” Jones said. “Not having power is not fun. It was crazy hearing the strong wind and rain hit so hard. A couple of my friends and I saw so much damage, like trees everywhere, people stuck and couldn’t leave the neighborhood. I saw an older neighbor struggle, so I got my parents’ chain saw and other tools, and we cut trees, removed trees from people’s cars and cleared driveways.”
Nobody told him to do it. It wasn’t part of an entire football team or school effort. It was simply because he loves where he lives.
“I’m always for the community,” Jones said. “I hear them cheering me on, on game days and buying tickets to see the team. So, I can pay them back by helping when they are in need.”
Staying ready
As far as the next time Lakeside fans will have a chance to cheer for Jones and company again, that’s still up in the air. This Friday’s regularly scheduled game with Statesboro was canceled. The next contest on the schedule is a big cross-town Region 1-AAAAA clash with Greenbrier. That’s slated for Friday Oct. 11 — that’s contingent upon whether or not school will be back in session by then.
The Georgia High School Association recently approved a one-week extension of the regular season to give teams impacted by Helene some extra time to reschedule those missed games.
Whenever the next kickoff is, Jones says he’ll be ready. Without practices or the opportunity to visit the weight room, Jones is doing daily pushups while “running and training with my younger brother to stay in shape for the upcoming game.”
Until then, he’s going to work hard to keep finding ways to love on his hurricane beleaguered community — and not because he’s looking for praise or pats on the back.
“It’s just that I’m a God-fearing person and a believer,” Jones said. “If you do good, good will come back to you. In this life, you reap what you sow.”
