Jackson soccer hoping history doesn’t repeat itself Saturday at Nerinx Hall

For the seventh straight year, the Jackson Indians won a district title.

And for the third straight year, the Indians will do battle with Nerinx Hall in the Class 4 state quarterfinals, who has ended their season each of the last three years.

Jackson (17-3) enters the Class 4 quarterfinal matchup having won 11 games in a row, and having allowed just seven goals all season long.

“Our assistant coach, Coach (Caleb) Beussink, does a really good job defensively,” McMullen said. “We’ve really been good defensively and that’s really what’s attributed to our success. It’s nice when you can be good defensively when you don’t score a lot.”

The Indians clinched their spot in the state tournament by defeating Oakville 1-0 back on May 16.

“I would say it was a gritty performance,” Indians coach Justin McMullen said on the SEMO Scramble, hosted by Rusty Hendricks and Semoball’s Clay Herrell. “We had to dig deep. We weren’t able to have much possession throughout the game. It was a very physical game.”

The physical game isn’t something the Indians shy away from as it’s a style they’ve played all season long.

“The style we play is a very physical game,” McMullen said. “We welcome that as a challenge each and every game.”

McMullen feels playing the physical style they like to play from the onset is a benefit to his club come postseason time.

“For example, we knew Oakville was going to be really physical,” McMullen said. “We’ve been playing that way as well and we were fortunate to go out to Springfield and see some other opponents that pose the same kind of physicality as us. But, district time that physicality and intensity ramps up.”

When the game begins at 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 25, it will be the first time the Indians have played since the 1-0 win over Oakville on May 16.

“It’s been this way for us the last several years,” McMullen said. “We’ve been fortunate to be in this situation several years in a row now. It’s one of those things that once you get in the game you have to adjust to the speed of play. You can’t really simulate that in practice.”

In the previous two matchups with Nerinx Hall in the quarterfinals, the Indians have been held scoreless.

“We have to be patient,” McMullen said. “We’ve had some issues here and there with that. We have to take our chances and when the opportunity comes we have to make it count.”

Jackson and Nerinx Hall will kick off at 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 25, at Nerinx Hall.