INDIANS FINALLY TAKE A BOW; JACKSON FALL FOR FIRST TIME IN 5A QUARTERS

Jackson coach Carl Gross talked to his players after Monday's 31-10 loss to Parkway Central. The setback was Jackson's only loss in an 11-1 season.

ST LOUIS -- Big plays.

The Jackson High football team used them all year during its undefeated season.

But big plays deserted the Indians Monday night in their Class 5A quarterfinal contest with the Parkway Central Colts in a 31-10 loss. Parkway Central put two runners over 100 yards and caught every break in the second half to pull away late in the fourth quarter.

The Indians' remarkable season ended with an 11-1 mark. Parkway Central now advances to Saturday's semifinals with a 10-2 record.

"We came out kind of flat," said Jackson coach Carl Gross. "We couldn't find that gear or that spark to get us going."

The Indians scored all their points in the first half to take a 10-6 lead early in the second quarter. But Parkway Central scored on a 59-yard run by Clarence Jones, who led the Colts with 162 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Big fullback Nathan Konze carried 11 times to the cries of "Moose" from the home crowd for 108 yards and a score.

"Our offensive line did a great job," said Parkway Central coach Bob Trowbridge. "We've got two good backs, but our line makes it all run."

Parkway had a chance to build on its halftime lead just before the break, but the Jackson line stuffed Konze on a fourth-and-one run at the goal line to stop the drive and keep the score 13-10.

"The kids were a little frustrated at halftime after getting stopped," Trowbridge said. "We had to remind them we were still ahead and had the lead."

Despite the emotional goal-line stand, the Indians weren't able to use that momentum to turn the game around.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Colts scored four times in the fourth quarter in a span of about six minutes to seal the game.

Trailing 13-10, the Indians were stopped on a fourth-and-10 pass play and turned the ball over to the Colts at the Parkway 27-yard-line.

On the Colts' first play, Jones ran a fake reverse for 65 yards down to the Indian 8. On the next play, John Kaplan scored on a reverse to give Parkway a 19-10 lead with just over six minutes left in the game.

Trailing by nine points, Indians' quarterback Justin Keen completed a couple of passes to move Jackson into Parkway territory. But the drive stalled and the Colts took over again and quickly found the end zone to put the game out of reach. Konze scored on a 17-yard run at the 2:22 mark that made the score 25-10.

On the opening play of the Indians' next drive, Keen's pass was deflected by a Jackson receiver and hung in the air for Parkway's Isaac Huddleston to intercept and return for a 25-yard TD that ended the scoring.

"We played an awful good football team," said Gross. "They got some late scores that made it look a lot worse than it was."

Early in the game, it appeared the Indians were on their way to continuing their undefeated season. Jackson took the opening kickoff 75 yards in 12 plays to take a 6-0 lead. Todd Wessel scored from 2 yards out to end the drive and Keen kicked the extra point to put the Indians ahead 7-0. Wessel lead the Indian rushers with 94 yards on 16 carries. Devree Flint totaled 84 yards on 21 carries.

"We knew what to go after and what they do," said Trowbridge of the Indians' offense. "It took us a while to get used to (Jackson's) offense, but after that first drive we knew what they were trying to get done."

On Jackson's next drive, Keen was sacked and fumbled the ball back to Parkway only five yards away from a score. Jones got the call on the next play to make the score 7-6. Parkway's kick failed.

Wessel sparked the Indians' next scoring drive with a 46-yard run to set up a 23-yard field goal by Keen that put Jackson ahead 10-6 with 9:18 left in the first half.