Last Friday night for the third week in a row at The Pit, Jackson football fans witnessed the Indians keep their opponents scoreless as they shutout Class 4 Confluence Prep 70-0.
This outcome didn’t come as a shock to anyone, though, as Jackson actually scored six more points in last year’s matchup with the Titans. The Indians began resting their starters in the first half even as their backups and even third-string players saw a majority of the action.
Even with that being the case, one of Jackson’s star defenders senior defensive end Hayden Wessell still wracked up five tackles, two tackles for a loss and one sack in limited playing time. Fellow senior outside linebacker Peyton Klund also recorded a sack against Confluence Prep, while junior inside linebacker Marcus Cutsinger also took down the Titans quarterback for a loss.
Wessell is currently the Indians second-leading tackler with 52 stops and leads the way in stops for a loss (13) and quarterback rushes (six) while being second in sacks.
Also making plays in the backfield outside of Wessell, Cutsinger and Klund were senior defensive tackles Reid Landers and Trenton Rollet. Rollet actually led Jackson in tackles for a loss with three, while Landers tallied two along with Wessell. Junior safety Cole Geiser also made a stop in the backfield, as he also forced a fumble on top of his four tackles.
Offensively, Jackson senior quarterback Adrian Fox had three touchdown passes while completing six of his 10 pass attempts for 96 yards and had zero interceptions. The Indians leading receiver junior wide receiver Kai Crowe, who has 716 yards, eight touchdowns and 35 catches, hauled in one of Fox’s touchdown throws and came up with 53 yards off three grabs.
Other starters coming up with touchdown catches for the Indians were seniors wide receiver Blayne Harris and tight end David Wilburn, which was his first touchdown of the season.
With starters like Crowe going to the bench for the rest of the night after Jackson took a marginal lead, this allowed a player like sophomore wide receiver Kamden Brockmire to show off his skills.
Brockmire finished second in receiving behind Crowe with 52 receiving yards and a touchdown catch off a game-high four receptions. Kamden caught his touchdown off a pass from backup quarterback sophomore Drew Parsons.
As for the running game, eight different Indians carried the ball for Jackson as star freshman running back Jalyon Hampton finished with 47 yards and one score off just five carries. Indians senior running back Jason Goodman produced 54 yards and a game-high two rushing touchdowns off six attempts.
Parsons also scored on the ground with 58 rushing yards outside of his touchdown pass to Brockmire, while sophomore running back Nate Tilson also found the endzone on the ground for the Indians not once but twice and had 43 rushing yards.
Third-string quarterback sophomore Nolan Bartles also saw plenty of playing time as he actually finished with a game-high 67 rushing yards on just four attempts for an average of 16.8 yards per carry.
Jackson (6-1) will now host Class 4 Holt (5-2) this Friday night at home for Senior Night. The Indians fell to Holt 34-21 on the road last season.
