Last Friday night at The Pit, it only took the Jackson football team three quarters to pick up its fifth win of the season.
This was because the Indians (5-2) scored 76 points against Confluence Prep (1-5) in that time as the game was called with nine minutes, 49 seconds remaining until the fourth quarter.
The Titans failed to produce any points as their offense gave up not one but two touchdowns to Jackson’s defense as well as a safety. Heading into the contest, Confluence Prep had been shutout in four other games by an average of 42.5 points and has only scored 26 points itself all season.
Coming up with scores for the Indians defensively were senior defensive end Tony Terry Jr., who recovered his own forced fumble for a touchdown, while junior cornerback TJ Altenthal scored with an interception return. Both of these defensive scores were recorded in the first half, where Jackson took a 70-0 heading into the locker room.
Jackson’s other defender to put points on the scoreboard was junior inside linebacker Peyton Klund as he tackled a Confluence Prep player in the Titans endzone for a safety.
Other defensive standouts were Indians like junior outside linebacker Titus Jackson and Fisher Stevens. Jackson finished with a team-high 11 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and one pass deflection, while Stevens recorded a team-high four tackles for a loss.
Fellow junior outside linebacker Hayden Wessell also had quite the game with seven tackles, three tackles in the backfield and forced a fumble. Klund also had multiple tackles for a loss (two).
Not only was this the Indians first shutout of the season, but Jackson’s defense also forced the Titans to finish with negative yardage on offense (-63). Jackson hasn’t allowed more than two scores since Week 2 in its 41-14 loss to Class 5 No. 2 ranked Francis Howell (7-0).
Moving to Jackson’s offense, two Indians finished with three touchdowns as senior wide receiver Isaiah Davis hauled in three scores through the air and senior running back Chase Fisher ran for three on the ground.
Two of Davis’ touchdown catches came from Jackson junior quarterback Adrian Fox for a combined 42 yards. Calder threw the other touchdown pass to Isaiah on what was a 2-yard gain. Each of these touchdown passes came in the first quarter.
Both Calder and Fox only threw one incomplete pass as Adrian threw for a game-high 54 yards and two touchdowns while going 3-for-4. Zach completed four of his five passes for 49 yards and his lone touchdown as neither quarterback threw an interception.
As for Fisher, he scored all three of his touchdowns in a row as well. All of Chase’s scores were under 10 yards, but he still led all rushers with a game-high 88 yards off nine carries. Indians sophomore running back Zach Zimmer-man paced Fisher with six carries for 51 yards, and he scored the final touchdown of the game in the third quarter.
Even though he didn’t catch a pass in this one, Jackson sophomore wide receiver Kai Crowe still managed to find the endzone with a 2-yard run at the beginning of the second quarter.
The Indians now only have two games remaining in regular-season action as Jackson will travel to Class 5 No. 6 Holt (6-1) this Friday night. Holt, which are also the Indians, suffered their lone loss in the season-opener to Class 6 No. 7 Troy Buchanan (5-2) at 34-20. Since then, Holt has recorded three shutouts and outscored teams at an average of 41-5.
The Indians will finish the regular season against Festus (3-4) on Oct. 21 at The Pit.
