Jackson football team holds off district-rival Vianney in road victory

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- Jackson football coach Brent Eckley stood in the middle of Don Heeb Field at Vianney High School on Friday night and stared toward an end zone -- the details of the game his team had just won coming to his realization.

The Indians (2-0) held on for a 30-23 win against district-rival Vianney, and Eckley recalled a critical moment in a penalty-filled game during which the momentum seemed to change almost constantly.

"Probably getting that score at the end of the first half," Eckley said was the difference in the game. "That stretched it a little bit, and if we hadn't gotten in there and we kick off to them now it becomes a touchdown game or maybe tied. That was big. Man, they had so many big plays as I think back throughout the game."

That score Eckley referred to was a 5-yard run by senior quarterback Dante Vandeven. Vandeven dove into the end zone with 18 seconds left in the first half and Ty Crowden's PAT gave the Indians their largest lead of the game at the time, 23-8, which they would carry with them into the intermission.

Vandeven finished with 229 yards passing and 134 yards rushing, which accounted for 363 of Jackson's 456 yards of offense.

After the break, Vianney senior Nolan Snyder returned the kickoff 78 yards to the Jackson 20. The Griffins advanced to the 3-yard line before Miami (Ohio) commit Jordan Hardwick fumbled a ball that was recovered by the Indians less than two minutes into the half.

It took Jackson just 1:28 to move the ball downfield on a 26-yard catch by senior Xominique Davis and a 52-yard run by senior Ben Maudie before Vandeven ran it in 8 yards to give the Indians a 22-point lead.

"A lot of people thought the stone was set and that we had them beat," Vandeven said. "You know, first quarter we're up this much, second quarter we're up this much. Being seniors, we know, we've played them three years in a row now -- we know they have a little fight in them. They have some bark. We tried to stay composed and stay ready for them to come back."

And come back is exactly what the Griffins (1-1) tried to do.

The Griffins faced third-and-13 midway through the third quarter, but junior quarterback Nick Voorhees fired a pass to Snyder, who ran it in for a 78-yard reception. A two-point conversion cut the Indians' lead to 30-16 with 8:08 to play in the quarter, and it would remain the same heading to the final 12 minutes.

Jackson, which had 10 penalties in the game while Vianney had 12, was nearly able to put the game out of reach in the final minutes of the third quarter, but a block in the back on what would've been an 80-yard touchdown run by Vandeven kept it a two-score game.

"It's extremely frustrating," Eckley said of the penalties. "I don't know how many we had, but I'm sure we were double digits and there were some that really hurt."

"We had this one, the block in the back," Eckley added, motioning to the end zone behind him. "That touchdown -- that's huge. That puts us up three scores. That's the game."

Instead, Vandeven was credited with 62 yards and the Indians eventually turned it over on downs with a minute remaining in the quarter.

"It was frustrating, though, to get those big swings of emotion with the penalties," Eckley said. "You know, you get a big play and then it's back, and then a big play and it's back. That's frustrating."

The Indians' wouldn't add to their lead any more in the game. Maudie had a long reception called back for an illegal lineman downfield in one of Jackson's better opportunities in the final quarter, and the Indians eventually turned the ball over on downs.

"It always does," Vandeven said of the effect of penalties. "If there's any stoppage in the clock and stoppage in our tempo it's going to uphold us. It was troublesome, but we kept to it."

Vianney's Snyder scored on a 44-yard pass from freshman running back Tionne Harris, who handled a few snaps at quarterback while Voorhees was sidelined for injury, with 5:32 to play and make it a one-score game.

The Griffins made a push at the end, and got the ball to midfield, but time ran out on them.

"They're usually a team that will come back and bounce back," senior lineman Preston Hobeck said. "They keep on going hard."

Jackson had 227 yards rushing and 229 yards receiving in the victory.

The Indians led 16-0 after the first quarter, scoring on a safety and a 57-yard reception by Davis, but Eckley credited the Griffins' defense for adjusting -- they held them scoreless in the fourth and to a just one touchdown in both the second and third quarters.

Eckley and Hobeck both noted that Hardwick and University of South Carolina commit Kyle Markway were much faster than other defensive ends they've faced before.

"We weren't really able to hang our hat on anything run-game wise," Eckley said. "We were able to get some explosive pass plays and then they adjusted to that, which kind of boggled us up a little bit. We're trying different formations, different motions, running field, running boundary -- we're trying all different types of things. But the bottom line is those two defensive ends are dudes. They're very physical football players and they're a tough matchup because they're so tall and long. That made it difficult for us to really get much going. We ran sweep good a couple times, we ran quarterback counter good a couple times, we ran dive good a couple times, but we just couldn't really hang our hat on it."

The Griffins' run game was led by Harris with 52 yards on 13 carries. Snyder had eight catches for 234 yards.

"They've got a lot of weapons," Eckley said. "Down the stretch it'll be difficult to match up with them because I'm sure they'll get better as young as they are in some spots."

Jackson will be on the road again in Week 3 as they travel to Marquette on Friday.

Jackson 16 7 7 0 -- 30

Vianney 0 8 8 7 -- 23

First Quarter

J -- Safety (team), 6:37

J -- Xominique Davis 57 pass from Dante Vandeven (Ty Crowden kick), 6:04

J -- Ben Maudie 12 pass from Vandeven (Crowden kick), 3:06

Second Quarter

V -- Kyle Markway 17 pass from Nick Voorhees (Voorhees pass to Markway), 10:47

J -- Vandeven 5 run (Crowden kick), 0:18

Third Quarter

J -- Vandeven 8 run (Crowden kick), 8:53

V -- Nolan Snyder 78 pass from Voorhees (Hardwick pass to Markway), 8:08

Fourth Quarter

V -- Snyder 44 pass from Tionne Harris (Kevin Reilly kick), 5:32

x J V

First downs 14 14

Rushes-yards 35-227 32-110

Passing yards 229 308

Passes 11-24 14-24

Punts 5-47.4 3-40

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1

Penalties-Yards 10-71 12-102

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Jackson, Vandeven 22-134, Dudley 7-36, Isaksen 4-6, Elliot 1-(-1), Maudie 2-56, Davis 1-(-4); Vianney, Voorhees 13-38, Hardwick 5-11, Harris 13-52, Devin Devres 1-9.

PASSING -- Jackson, Vandeven 11-24-0-229; Vianney, Voorhees 12-21-1-230, Harris 2-3-0-48.

RECEIVING -- Jackson, Jacob Starzinger 1-3, Lucas Helwege 1-11, Maudie 3-55, Davis 6-160; Vianney, Markway 4-34, Harris 1-14, Snyder 8-234, Hardwick 1-26.