Gateway, turnovers cut down Jackson

ST. LOUIS — Five Jackson turnovers and one huge turnover by the officials proved to be too much for the Indians to overcome Friday night.

Jackson fell to Gateway Tech 14-7 in the finale of its season-opening three-game road trip to St. Louis.

The key play occurred in the second quarter with the game scoreless. Jaguars running back Anthony Pierson, who entered the game with a gaudy 23.5 yards per carry average and over 400 yards rushing in two games, raced 66 yards for a touchdown.

But it was not a run of the mill score. It appeared that Gateway Tech was in motion on the play. But there was no flag and the result was a huge play for the Jaguars.

"If there had been a red flag to throw in high school football, you can bet I would have thrown it there," Indians coach Van Hitt said. "But there is no instant replay in our game. Both of their backs were moving at the same time. But no flag came out and no whistle was blown. It was a blown call by the officials, but you can't put all of the blame on them. We still missed three tackles on the play."

Defensive end Henry Williams and the rest of the Indians defenders were shocked that the play stood.

"It was obvious that they moved," Williams said. "Everybody saw it. Their guy knew he did, our fans knew and their fans knew. But we learned a valuable lesson. You don't stop until the whistle blows. I am not blaming the officials for the loss. We just did not play with the intensity you need to play with to win. We have to go out and play harder and play more as a team. There are tougher opponents down the road for us."

The Jackson defense actually played well overall with the exception of two plays. The one was the long run by Pierson, who rushed for more than 100 yards in the first half, before he was injured.

The other came on the first Jaguars pass of the game as Pierson got behind the Indians defense on a fly pattern and caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Darriss Johnson.

"We gave up the two big plays on defense and that was the difference," Hitt said.

The offense, which was missing three starting linemen, was the major problem for the Indians. They never could get into a flow. Adam Zweigart rushed for just 50 yards on 24 carries.

The only Indians score came on a one-play drive. Cole Rodgers, who had recovered a Jaguars fumble on the Gateway Tech 5-yard line, did the honors with a run up the middle.

Jackson had a chance to tie the game in the final moments, but Rodgers fumbled at the Gateway Tech 16 with 52 seconds to play. It was the fifth lost fumble of the game for the Indians.

"We had all of the turnovers and never got into any continuity on offense, but still had a chance to tie it at the end," Hitt said. "It just didn't happen."

The loss was the second in three games for Jackson, while Gateway Tech improved to 2-1.

Jackson finally gets to go home, and this time the Indians will have a three-game homestand, starting with Friday's game against Sikeston.

Jackson 0 0 0 7 — 7

Gateway Tech 0 14 0 0 — 14

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Second quarter

GT — Anthony Pierson 66 run (Julian Davis kick), 6:29.

GT — Pierson 40 pass from Darriss Johnson (Davis kick), 4:02.

Fourth quarter

J — Cole Rodgers 5 run (Morgan Johnson kick), 10:50.