Rockwood Summit trounces Jackson's football playoff hopes

FENTON, Mo. -- Any hopes Jackson had of upsetting Rockwood Summit on Thursday were dashed pretty quickly.

The Indians gave up a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage with a fumble, then surrendered another three plays later on an interception.

Rockwood Summit junior running back Ian McIntosh took over after that with four touchdowns and 214 yards rushing to help the Falcons rack up a 66-0 victory.

Rockwood Summit (7-0) completed a perfect 3-0 run through Class 5 District 1.

Jackson finished 2-8. The Indians needed to upset the Falcons and a Poplar Bluff loss to Seckman -- the Mules lost 42-30 -- to make the playoffs.

"We were just outclassed tonight by leaps and bounds by a very good football team," Jackson coach Van Hitt said. "I saw them earlier on tape and they're a lot better now than they were earlier. They've really improved, and I think they've got a good shot at it. I really do."

The Falcons scored every which way -- with a 60-yard punt return and a field goal on top of the two defensive touchdowns -- and took advantage of five Jackson turnovers. The Falcons racked up 387 yards and 16 first downs to Jackson's 84 yards and seven first downs.

Along with McIntosh's running, quarterback Tyler Karst was 5 of 7 for 86 yards and a touchdown.

"I think these guys have the confidence to do more than just make the playoffs," Falcons coach Mike Bellers said. "We're right back where we were last year when we played Webster Groves in the first round of playoffs, and I really think I have a team where we can win this one."

The Indians fell behind 28-0 after one quarter in which McIntosh scored on touchdown runs of 43 and 46 yards while racking up 144 yards on eight carries.

"The line was blocking real well not only on the defensive line, but they moved up to the linebacker level, and they made it one-on-one for me on the safety a lot of times," McIntosh said.

He scored on a 2-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Summit added a 37-yard touchdown pass from Karst to Cody Edwards, a field goal, another 2-yard TD run from McIntosh and then Jared Corbett's 60-yard punt return up the right sideline during which McIntosh put a block on punter Ty Selsor that helped end his night.

Jackson trailed 59-0 at halftime but used the second half to get a few more reps for the other young starters.

Selsor, Jackson's sophomore co-quarterback, had suffered a partial separation in his shoulder last week. Hitt said the injury limited Selsor's ability to throw the deep pass. Selsor finished 2 of 5 for 22 yards passing.

Junior Lowgn Wren, Jackson's other quarterback, was 3 of 8 for 15 yards in his return after being out for a month with an ankle injury. He also was the Indians' most-used ballcarrier with 12 carries and the most effective receiver with two catches for 22 yards.

"I'm still not 100 percent, but I wanted to come out here for the seniors and give it my all," Wren said. "I'm a little out of shape. They were just trying to work me everywhere to see what I could do."

Sophomore Colten Proffer had a team-best 33 yards rushing, while junior Nick Cooper had 28 yards on three carries.

"Mentally, I thought I was prepared and the team was prepared," Wren said. "Rockwood Summit is a good team, a playoff team, and we've had a bit of a rough season."

A season that Wren hopes will help Jackson football return to winning ways soon.

"We've had some close games we should have won," Wren said, "but I've said it all season long, I think these losses will pay off in the long run. Honestly, we're almost a varsity team playing with JV people. Half of our offense is sophomores. They went from playing freshman ball with guys their age to playing kids that are three and four years older than them. It's hard, but I applaud them. They did a really good job picking up on stuff. The scores may not show it, but I feel we played hard."

Scoring Summary

Jackson 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Rockwood Summit 28 31 0 7 -- 66

First Quarter

RS -- Alex Brinker 2 fumble return (Ben Tesson kick), 11:43

RS -- James Crockett 30 INT return (Tesson kick), 10:44

RS -- Ian McIntosh 43 run (Tesson kick), 8:00

RS -- McIntosh 46 run (Tesson kick), 4:03

Second Quarter

RS -- McIntosh 2 run (Tesson kick), 11:58

RS -- Joe Schenck 37 pass from Tyler Karst (Tesson kick), 9:52

RS -- Tesson 31 FG, 6:22

RS -- McIntosh 2 run (Tesson kick), 3:50

RS -- Jared Corbett 60 punt return (Tesson kick), :35

Fourth Quarter

RS -- Tony Exler 1 run (Tesson kick), 11:54

Team Statistics

First downs (Jackson-Summit) 7 16

Rushes-yards 29-47 35-295

Passing yards 37 92

Passes 5-13-3 7-9-0

Punts 6-170 1-53

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-20 1-5

Individual Statistics

RUSHING -- Jackson, Nick Cooper 3-28, Lowgn Wren 12-(-1), Colten Proffer 8-33, Jacob Jones 2-3, Levi Rutherford 2-(-2), Team 2-(-14). Rockwood Summit, Ian McIntosh 15-214, Kody Exler 1-2, Jared Corbett 1-13, Elijah Crockett 8-37, Tony Exler 8-18, Matt Seymour 1-(-3), Team 1-(-14).

PASSING -- Jackson, Ty Selsor 2-5-2-22, Lowgn Wren 3-8-1-15; Rockwood Summit, Tyler Karst 5-7-0-86, Matt Seymour 2-2-0-6.

RECEIVING -- Jackson, Lowgn Wren 2-22, Nick Cooper 1-4, Levi Rutherford 1-5, Trea Forbs 1-6; Rockwood Summit, Luke Hartmann 4-49, Joe Scheck 1-37, Cole Greenwald 2-6.