Bears' Jones wins battle of North County

P.J. Jones won the battle of North County High School Saturday night -- but he acknowledged after the game that he was fortunate to do so.

A senior linebacker at Southwest Missouri State, Jones was able to walk out of Houck Stadium with a 31-28 comeback victory over host Southeast Missouri State University, which featured two former North County standouts, one of them P.J.'s brother Adam -- who starts at defensive end as a true freshman -- and the other standout redshirt freshman quarterback Jeromy McDowell.

"Jeromy was a freshman at North County when I was a senior, so I know about him," said P.J. "He and the receiver are really good."

The receiver Jones was referring to is electrifying junior-college transfer Willie Ponder, who hauled in eight passes for 170 yards, including first-half touchdown receptions of 58, 26 and 21 yards.

McDowell wound up with his second straight performance of more than 300 passing yards as he was 22 of 41 for 322 yards, following up on last week's outing against SIU when he threw for 391 yards to set a school single-game record.

But Jones and the other Bears' defenders were able to put the clamps on McDowell, Ponder and the rest of the Southeast offense in the second half as the Indians fell to 1-2 while SMS improved to 2-1.

McDowell threw for just 65 yards over the final two quarters and he was intercepted three times -- once by Jones -- as the Indians failed to score after leading 28-21 at the intermission.

"We knew we had to get some turnovers and slow them down," Jones said.

Early huge play

Southeast's offense hindered itself after the intermission as the Indians turned the ball over on all four of their second-half possessions, three of the miscues coming after driving deep into SMS territory to prevent Southeast from possibly opening up some breathing room.

While the most notable turnover was an interception in the end zone with under seven minutes left after Southeast, leading 28-24, had advanced inside the SMS 20-yard line, a play that took place early in the second quarter might have actually been the game's biggest.

The Indians, ahead 14-7, faced a third-and-goal situation at the SMS 5-yard line. McDowell threw a pass to Tarik Simpson near the goal line that was extremely low, but Simpson apparently somehow managed to make the catch.

As Simpson, trying to regain his balance, stumbled toward the end zone for what would have likely been a touchdown, the football looked like it came out as Simpson was attempting to secure it into his body, although it was hard to tell if he ever truly had possession.

But the officials ruled Simpson had gained possession, making it a catch, and when the ball fell free, the Bears' Daryl Warren picked it up and raced nearly 90 yards before being hauled down at the Southeast 10. The Bears proceeded to score a tying touchdown, leaving things at 14-14 instead of possibly 21-7 Southeast -- or likely at the very least 17-7 if Simpson had simply dropped the pass outright.

There is certainly no way to fault Simpson, who if he indeed did have possession of the football made a remarkable catch. But in a game that Southeast never trailed until the final three minutes -- although the Indians never led by more than seven points -- that might have been just what the Bears needed to hang in the contest.Celebrities on hand

There had been talk early in the week that former NFL great Barry Sanders -- the uncle of Southeast wide receiver Adrian Sanders -- might show up for Saturday's game.

Because of the terrorist attacks early in the week, however, Sanders apparently didn't make it. Or if he did, nobody spotted him.

But there were a couple of St. Louis-area celebrities at Houck Stadium: Saint Louis University head women's basketball coach Jill Pizzotti and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Kerry Robinson, who both attended Southeast.

Pizzotti, a former player and assistant coach with the Otahkians, said she needed something to take her mind off the national tragedy that has gripped the nation.

"I couldn't watch any more TV. I had to get away," she said.

Said Robinson, a former star baseball player at Southeast who had a few days off as the major leagues shut down play until today due to the tragedy, "I always like coming back here."