Alex Fernandez’s first instinct was to pick up the fumble at his feet and take off.

But the Jefferson senior defensive tackle and team leader instantly thought better of it and simply fell on the ball midway through the first quarter at Davenport North’s 43-yard line.

Two plays later, Jeff running back Tavian Rashed ran it in from four yards out for the first score of Thursday night's game at Kingston Stadium.

After that, the J-Hawks (2-1) never looked back as they built a 35-0 third-quarter lead before allowing a late touchdown by the Wildcats (0-3) from North for a 35-6 victory.

“When the ball hit the turf right in front me I wanted to run with it,” Fernandez said. “That’s what linemen want to do.

“But common sense told me to just jump on it. Good thing, too. It set us up in a good position to score.”

Coming as it did on Davenport’s first possession of the game, Fernandez felt the turnover gave Jefferson some momentum.

“It kind of got us rolling,” he said.

With senior first-year starting quarterback Jared Eivins again engineering an efficient offense, the J-Hawks scored twice more in the first half for a 21-0 lead at intermission.

Eivins ran it in himself from 10 yards with 1:58 to go in the half. Then, after North stalled at midfield, he threw 15 yards to Valentino “Tino” Green with nine seconds left on the clock for the third touchdown.

Just moments before, the Wildcats had come close to tying the score with one of their few scoring threats on a night when a stout Jefferson defense held them to under 200 yards in total offense.

The normally steady Eivins had thrown two straight interceptions to start the second quarter, the second giving North the ball at the Jefferson 14. With first and goal at the four, Fernamdez pushed through the line for a 4-yard loss. Two plays later, senior defensive back Jacob Beaton stuffed the Wildcat quarterback clear back at the 20.

A subsequent field goal try fell far short.

For the night, Beaton had four solo tckles and three assists, the same as sophomore lineman Keenan Stewart. Defensive back Brandon Burnett had three solos and eight assists.

Jefferson shot out of the gate quickly in the second half with Manny Olutunde scoring from the one on the first series.

On the ensuing kickoff, North flubbed a lateral on a trick play and Jeff’s diminutive 5-foot-5 Tyler Unkel recovered on the 12-yard line. Reserve quarterback Dylan Hart immediately threw 12 yards to Green for his second touchdown.

With the lead 35-0 and 8:27 still left in the third quarter, the continuous clock started for the first time since Jeff beat North last year.

"We really came out sharp in the third quarter,” said Jefferson center Ryan Neuberger. “That second fumble recovery was huge for us.

“This game gave us a lot of confidence going into the (district) season.”

J-Hawk coach Brian Webb said he thought it was the most complete game his team has played so far this year.

“We did a lot of good things tonight," he said. “Defensively, I thought we played really well. We could have done a little better on blocking, but our offense was in rhythm. And our special teams play was a lot better.

“It’s nice to get better, but now we have to get ready for Davenport West next week.”

Fernandez, for one, thinks his newly-confident team will be prepared.

“We don’t have the luxury of a lot of depth,” he noted. “But we’re like Ironmen out there. Tonight we put it all together.”

JEFFERSON 35, DAVENPORT NORTH 6

North      CRJ

First Downs       9       15
Rushes-yards 49-166   38-234
Comp-Att-Int  3-5-0   6-11-2
Passing yards    20       80
Fumbles-lost    3-2      0-0
Punts-avg.     3-37     1-21
Penalties-yds  6-40     4-34

Davenport North  0  0   0  6 -  6
Jefferson            7 14 14  0 - 35

Scoring plays

J – Tavian Rashed 4 run (Zebadiah Render kick)
J – Jared Eivins 10 run (Render kick)
J – Valentino Green 15 pass from Eivins (Render kick)
J – Manny Olutunde 1 run (Render kick)
J – Green 8 pass from Hart (Render kick)
N – Devyn Sperry 3 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing

North: Devyn Sperry 22-61, Mannix Miller 10-55, Demonte Harper 6-29, Dylan Swinney 2-14, Zeke Hayslett 6-7, Michael Spicer 1-1, Bryce Pairrett 2-(-1)
Jefferson: Jared Eivins 12-106, Valentino Green 2-46, Manny Oluntunde 7-29, Mason Short 4-21, Dylan Hart 4-12, Tyler Unkel 3-9, Tavian Rashed 4-7, Rhett Thompson 1-2.

Passing

North, Pairrett 3-5-0-20.
Jefferson, Eivins 5-10-2-70, Hart 1-1-0-10.

Receiving

North, Anthony DeSalvo 1-16, Sperry 1-2, Hayslett 1-2
Jefferson: Green 3-49, Brock Hunt 2-18, Oluntunde 1-13.