Defense turns in touchdown, blocked punt in shutout effort

CREVE COEUR -- Jackson linebacker Blake Peiffer had done pretty much everything on defense in his high school career to help the Indians.

Peiffer led Jackson in tackles as a junior with 112 last year. He led all defensive players in Southeast Missouri with 124 tackles during this regular season.

But there was one thing Peiffer had never done on defense -- score a touchdown.

That was until Monday night in a playoff showdown against Parkway North.

"He told me he was going to score a touchdown before he got out of high school," Jackson coach Van Hitt said. "And I told him, 'Son, it ain't going to happen. But for sure, it happened tonight.'"

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comJackson quarterback Marcus Harris hands off to Tyler Seabaugh Monday night at Parkway North.

Peiffer intercepted a pass then scampered 39 yards to the end zone late in the fourth quarter to pad his team's lead to 30 points and put the finishing touches on an impressive defensive performance by the Indians.

The Jackson defense posted its first shutout this season, routing host Parkway North 30-0 in a Class 5 sectional game.

"That's my first interception of the year and my first career touchdown ever," Peiffer said. "And it feels good right now being in this kind of game to be able to seal it off at the end. It felt good. I've never scored a touchdown in little league, junior high, whatever."

Peiffer and the Jackson defense held the Parkway North offense to just 178 yards -- 145 yards rushing and 33 passing. The Vikings managed just 34 yards in the second half, although they had the football for just 6 minutes, 1 second after halftime.

Hitt has made some personnel changes to the defense throughout the season. Right now, he looks to put together the right group of 11 players.

The defense struggled some on Parkway North's opening drive. The unit allowed the Vikings to drive the ball 69 yards into the red zone to the Jackson 3-yard line. But the Indians denied them.

Parkway North tried to run it into the end zone three times but lost a yard, forcing the Vikings to try for a field goal, which they missed.

"That was huge," Drew Bucher said about stopping Parkway North in the red zone. "They came out with huge intensity and we came out flat, like I said, and ended up stopping them down there when their intensity level was so high. It just kind of knocked them down a little bit."

Jackson also had a big stand in the second quarter. The Indians' defense stopped Parkway North's offense when it went for it on fourth-and-2 from the Jackson 29. Vikings quarterback Tylor Brock tried to run, but the Indians stuffed him for a 4-yard loss.

Jackson also forced the Vikings to punt twice in the first half. Henry Williams blocked one of those punts.

"If they don't score, you sure don't lose," Hitt said. "So that's big for us. I never in my wildest dreams thought we'd shut them out. They are too talented at running back and quarterback and receivers to shut them out. But our kids stepped up tonight, really determined to come up here and win this ballgame."

Jackson had a big stand in the third quarter. Parkway North was driving and decided to have Brock run on third-and-3 at the Parkway North 39.

Jake Wolpers came in from his defensive end position and stuffed Brock for no gain, forcing Parkway North to punt.

Wolpers was filling in at defense end for Kevin Pridemore, who was ineligible to play. Wolpers has been playing defensive line since the start of the playoffs when Hitt decided to use four linemen instead of three at times.

"I just saw the tight end coming down on me and tried chasing him [Brock] down and I ended up getting him," Wolpers said. "It was great. It was a great feeling. And a great performance by the offense, too."

Peiffer made his interception with 4:02 remaining in the game, and safety Marcus Harris made another interception with 3:41 left.

"We knew they were going to have some athletes and we knew they were going to try to get them the ball and let them run or throw over the top and let them go up and get it," Harris said. "We just showed how well we can play on defense tonight and held up a goose egg."

Harris said the defense is much better than it was at the beginning of the year.

"It''s 10 times better," Harris said. "We're just making leaps and bounds. It's fun because it reminds me a lot of last year, just flying around hitting people."