Jackson rushes through Riders

ST. LOUIS -- The Jackson offense must not have liked playing in the heat of the day. On three of the Indians' first five possessions Saturday afternoon, they scored on the first or second play from scrimmage.

Senior running backs Jason Meystedt and Austin Bock ran wild over the Roosevelt Rough Riders, as Jackson (2-0)pounded out the 42-3 victory at Roosevelt.

"That's Jackson football," Jackson coach Carl Gross said. "The linemen got up on them and moved them downfield."

Meystedt and Bock rushed for two touchdowns each. Meystedt went for 134 yards, while Bock compiled 96 yards on the ground. It wasn't anything fancy or clever on the gridiron. The offensive line overwhelmed Roosevelt's defensive line and the two senior backs bulled over the linebackers and dashed past the secondary.

"If you're a good back, you're going to make one man miss," Gross said.

Then this pair was better than good. They trampled the Rough Riders even when they didn't miss.

On the first play of Jackson's second drive, Bock scampered 56 yards for the first touchdown of the game. Grant Ressel's point after was good, giving the Indians a 7-3 lead with 4 minutes and 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Not to be outdone Meystedt took the first ball he saw on the next Jackson drive and covered 51 yards for a touchdown. That pushed the lead to 14-3 just 30 seconds into the second quarter.

A little more than two minutes later, the Indians had the ball again and Bock was bullying his way to the end zone on a 39-yard touchdown run. The lead grew to 21-3.

Meystedt capped the scoring for the half when he scampered 13 yards on the second play of the Indians' drive to push the lead to 28-3.

The pair took most of the second half off, but that didn't stop the Indians from putting points on the board. Senior fullback Eric Poythress ran 30 yards on the second play of the half for the touchdown. Jackson led 35-3.

Senior defensive back Nathan Leoni wrapped up the scoring on the afternoon when he intercepted Roosevelt quarterback Curtis Brown's pass and ran 50 yards on the return for the touchdown.

Despite the outcome, Gross saw room for improvement. The team is a creature of habit and Gross believes that playing on a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon threw his team for a loop in the early going.

"To be honest with you, I thought we played better last week," he said. "Midway through the first quarter, I had no idea this would end up 42-3. We came out sluggish."

The first two Jackson possessions hinted that this could have been a long afternoon for the Indians. Jackson went three and out on its first series. After a punt of 24 yards, the Indians were hit with a personal foul for a late hit that gave the Rough Riders the ball on Jackson's 36-yard line. Seven plays later, Roosevelt tallied its only score of the day with a 33-yard field goal.

After moving the ball 44 yards on the next possession, Jackson fumbled and Roosevelt recovered on its own 11-yard line.

"We came out with motor oil in our veins," Gross said.

In the second half the Indians were flagged for four penalties and didn't execute as crisply as it had in the first half.

"Conditions were different," Gross said. "Fatigue set in and you lose your concentration, you start grabbing things you shouldn't."

Next for Jackson is another trip up Interstate 55 on Friday for a 7 p.m. showdown with Vianney.