Indians dominate Pirates, claim 42-0 road victory

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Jackson coach Carl Gross wanted to take it to the Perryville Pirates early Friday night.

Ask and ye shall receive.

The Indians (3-0) dominated from the opening kickoff, clobbering host Perryville (0-3) 42-0.

Mario Whitney rushed for 184 yards on 11 carries -- and didn't play a down in the second half.

Whitney scored four touchdowns, pushing his season total to 11.

Once again, Jackson's defense was swarming, holding the Pirates to 19 yards rushing and seven yards passing. Jackson held Sumner to minus-37 yards last week. In the last eight quarters, the Indians have given up just two first downs, both coming Friday night.

"Really, what it is, is that we're working hard and staying focused in practice," said Jackson middle linebacker Seth Harrell, who had an interception and some huge hits. "We just came out ready to play."

Jackson's line was impressive as a variety of running backs had success.

When asked about the play up front, fullback Brad Berry said, "Nice. Very good. Probably the best of the year."

The line -- including Jackson's second team -- pushed Perryville backwards all night. The Indians ran for 345 yards, with Berry running for 60 yards on 10 carries and Kody Thompson getting 46 yards on just three carries. Jackson was not sacked.

A tentative start

"The first series, the offensive line was tentative," said Gross. "But we got together on the sideline and talked about some things and after that we just mashed them."

"They got a great back and some good skill people," Perryville coach Lance Bell said. "But their line doesn't get enough credit. They get on you."

Whitney, who ran for 54 yards on his first two carries of the game, ran well when there was great blocking and sometimes when there wasn't.

His 10-yard touchdown run to put Jackson up 10-0 might have been his best run of the night. Verbally committed to the University of Missouri, Whitney took a toss around the left side and was the only white shirt around a host of green jerseys.

Overpowering performance

The 6-foot, 185-pounder, not known for lowering his head, took the first would-be tackler head on, ran over him, then broke three other tacklers to find the end zone with 7:41 left in the first quarter.

"Whitney's a stud," said Bell. "Missouri got a heck of a back."

Whitney took a toss around the right side for a 15-yard touchdown run with 1:45 left in the first quarter. He bolted through a huge hole, cut across the grain and scored from 65 yards out with 11:35 left in the second quarter; and he scored from six yards out to put the Indians up 28-0 with 3:57 left in the first half.

Berry put the Indians up 35-0 early in the third quarter and put the continuous clock rule into effect and Aaron Randolph punched it in from one yard away in the final period to round out the scoring.

Seth McDowell caught four passes for 84 yards, all coming in the first half. Jackson had 91 passing yards total.