There wasn't a lot for Jackson coach Carl Gross to be happy about after a 21-14 season-opening loss at home Friday night to Sikeston, but on Saturday he was happy that his ground game didn't totally run aground.

Gross originally feared senior running back Stuart McIntosh was lost for the season with a broken clavicle, but he learned Saturday that McIntosh instead suffered a Grade 1 separation of the AC joint in his shoulder.

While the injury is still serious, McIntosh will only miss three to six weeks instead of the entire season.

"I was so relieved for him because he worked his tail off for his senior season," Gross said.

McIntosh rushed for about 85 yards on 17 carries before being injured on a hit out of bounds that drew a personal foul.

Gross was even more irate about the play after watching game film.

"It was a late hit five yards out of bounds. It was flagged. And the same kid should have had two others," said Gross.

Sophomore running back Jason Meystedt (6-foot-1, 170 lbs.) helped lessen the blow when he stepped in and rushed for 136 yards on 17 carries.

It was not only Meystedt's varsity debut, it was the first time he carried the ball in high school. He was a safety on Jackson's freshman team last year.

"He's got a little bit of Mario in him," Gross said, referring to graduated running back Mario Whitney, "but doesn't have that same juice -- but there's not four other people in the United States that do. We were all really impressed with him."

Gross wasn't impressed with much else about his team's play.

"The low point was our linemen," Gross said. "They're going to find that out on Monday. We expected to go in and kind of dominate the line-of-scrimmage and we didn't. There's going to be some big-time shakeups in Jackson football on Monday."

Elsewhere

* Chaffee didn't have as much luck running the football in a 34-14 loss to Grandview. The Red Devils accumulated only 43 yards rushing on the night.

"We couldn't run the ball and were forced to go to the air and they laid back just waiting on us," Chaffee coach Allan Horrell said.

Senior quarterback Sam Burnett threw for 143 yards on 30 attempts but was intercepted three times in the fourth quarter.

Horrell, with 31 players in the program, used 14 players the entire game.

jbreer@semissourian.com

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