Seckman's Pepper gashes Jackson in district football game

IMPERIAL, Mo. -- Jackson landed on the wrong side of a pair of records Friday night.

Seckman junior running back Blake Pepper gouged the Indians for 335 yards and five touchdowns in the Jaguars' 58-35 victory in a Class 5 District 1 tilt.

"The linemen just opened up big holes, ran through it, wide receivers were making blocks when I got into the open field," Pepper said. "We've had trouble executing our plays. I know if we come out and execute that we are capable of that."

Pepper's 335 yards rushing broke the school record. The 58 points are the most a Seckman team has scored in a game.

The Jaguars hadn't scored more than 21 points in a game all season, and they reached that less than three minutes into the second quarter. Seckman combined to score 81 points in its first seven games.

"It's very frustrating being a defensive coach," Jackson coach Van Hitt said. "I've coached defense here for 30 years."

Pepper set the tone from the opening kick, which he returned 64 yards to the Jackson 25-yard line. The Jaguars forced two Jackson punts in the first quarter and scored off both of them for a 20-0 lead after the opening 12 minutes.

"That was real important," Pepper said. "That was our game plan, to get on them and stay after them. We planned to come out, get on top of them and then not let them back up."

The Jaguars scored touchdowns on their first six possessions, and Pepper, who doesn't possess blazing speed but made defenders miss repeatedly, scored three of them.

"He would stay behind his blockers and cut off his blockers," Hitt said. "We wouldn't fill the holes. We would come up, set our feet and wouldn't react defensively. He just cut off the big linemen and once you set your feet on defense, you can't recover and make tackles."

Jackson's defense looked like it wrapped up Pepper on a number of his runs, but he either juked his way out of trouble and into the open field or ran over tacklers. He broke free from three tacklers to bust in from 37 yards on his final score.

"We just couldn't wrap him up," Jackson senior Ethan Ruch said. "He ran hard, we just couldn't wrap him up. There were tons of times we had him in the backfield. What do you do? We have to make tackles."

Jackson's offense started to find some rhythm late in the first quarter when it started attacking through the air. Senior quarterback Bobby Clark completed four passes on a drive that culminated in a 1-yard keeper to cut the Indians' deficit to 20-7.

"We just came out real flat in the first half," Hitt said. "We were flat on defense. We weren't moving, getting to the football. On offense, we didn't block to start the game. After the offense got revved up, here we are 21 points behind already and could never catch up and the defense never did step up and stop them."

Seckman answered Jackson's score with a six-play drive that ended with a Pepper touchdown. Brandon Wright returned the kickoff 86 yards for a score, but Seckman answered with another touchdown drive.

"They are just big and physical," Jackson sophomore Lowgn Wren said. "It was about who wanted to come out and win. Who wanted it more? We came out flat, they made a couple big runs, got ahead."

The Indians trailed 42-14 at the intermission and were outgained 349-72 in the first half. Jackson attempted 12 carries and gained zero yards.

"They completely took away our run game," Ruch said. "I thought they did a pretty good job of it. They had a backer spying whoever was in the backfield. I guess they played a lot better than we expected."

Clark hooked up with Wren for a 55-yard touchdown about midway through the third quarter, but Seckman answered with a field goal sandwiched between a pair of touchdowns. Jackson added a Ruch rushing touchdown and another Clark scoring pass, this one to Ruch.

Clark finished with 223 yards passing.

"They were bringing a lot of pressure," Clark said. "When you bring a lot of pressure, you've got to man up. We felt like we had some people who matched up pretty well and could get open."

Despite the lopsided loss, all is not lost for Jackson. The Indians still have a chance to make the playoffs but they must win and get help. First, they can make it with a victory against Rockwood Summit and a Seckman loss to Poplar Bluff. Or Jackson can make the playoffs if Seckman beats Bluff by 12 points or fewer and Jackson defeats Summit by at least one more point that Seckman beats Bluff.

"We win by 13 next week, we got a shot," Hitt said. "That's exactly what we've got to aim for is win by 13 over Summit and see how it comes out."

Jackson 0 14 7 14 -- 35

Seckman 20 22 6 10 -- 58

First Quarter

S -- Sam Tramel 2 run (Daniel Hughey kick), 8:01

S -- Blake Pepper 55 run (Hughey kick), 5:39

S -- Pepper 5 run (kick blocked), 1:56

Second Quarter

J -- Bobby Clark 1 run (Adam Brown kick), 11:22

S -- Pepper 9 run (Pepper run), 9:03

J -- Brandon Wright 86 kickoff return (Brown kick), 8:49

S -- Tramel 2 run (Hughey kick), 5:40

S -- Tramel 1 run (Hughey kick), 2:34

Third Quarter

J -- Lowgn Wren 55 pass from Clark (Brown kick), 6:17

S -- Pepper 6 run (kick failed), 2:26

Fourth Quarter

S -- Hughey 35 FG, 10:14

S -- Pepper 37 run (Hughey kick), 8:56

J -- Ethan Ruch 13 run (Brown kick), 4:59

J -- Ruch 23 pass from Clark (Brown kick), 2:27

J S

First downs 13 21

Rushes-yards 17-42 52-338

Passing yards 223 146

Passes 16-35-1 7-17-0

Punts 4-35 2-44.5

Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1

Penalties-yards 7-30 6-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Jackson, Ethan Ruch 10-46, Bobby Clark 7-(-4). Seckman, Blake Pepper 39-335, Sam Tramel 7-4, Kyle Eaves 1-1, Scott Tattich 5-(-2).

PASSING -- Jackson, Bobby Clark 16-35-223-1. Seckman, Sam Tramel 7-17-146-0.

RECEIVING -- Jackson, Lowgn Wren 5-99, Brandon Wright 4-25, Chris Poyner 2-40, Mark Copen 3-35, Ethan Ruch 2-24.