INDIANS INTERCEPT TIGERS' UPSET BID, POST 36-10 WIN

Cape Central hung in there.But in the fourth quarter, Jackson kicked out the stool.The Indians hung Central with its ninth loss of the season 36-10 in front of a huge crowd at Houck Stadium Thursday night.The Tigers, who have not won a game at Houck in the last two seasons, held a 10-9 lead at halftime.But Jackson finally captured the lead late in the third quarter and pulled away in the fourth to improve to 9-1.While Jackson got a few big plays from its big-play duo Tory Meyr and Mario Whitney, a new Indian has emerged in the clutch over the past three weeks.Matt Holloway, a cornerback, came up with two key interceptions Thursday night, making it four in the last three weeks. All four have come during crucial times in the game.With Central still up 10-9 late in the third quarter, Holloway picked off a Jeff Dunaway pass at his own 21-yard line.That led to a 22-yard touchdown reception by Tory Meyr from Chris Stockton on a fourth-and-10 play. The two-point conversion was intercepted, leaving the score at 15-10.Midway through the fourth quarter, with his team leading 22-10, Holloway picked off another pass and returned it about 20 yards to the Central 6. That eventually led to a 1-yard dive by backup fullback Brad Berry."It just feels great," Holloway said of his contributions in district play. "I can't describe it really. On both of them, I just broke to the ball. I just saw it and went to it.""He's coming up huge," said Jackson coach Carl Gross. "And I feel really happy for him. He's worked really hard to get where he's at and he has had just a great district series."Central did an excellent job on defense pretty much all night. But once Whitney put Jackson up 22-10 with 7:55 left in the game, the Tigers lost their confidence. Whitney, who was not at 100 percent, had been caged the entire night, but took a sweep left 71 yards for a touchdown.Whitney ended up with a game-high 116 yards on 15 carries.Jackson finished off Central with a pair of short Berry touchdown runs.The first half was evenly played.Neither team could muster much offense -- Jackson had 76 yards and Central had 67 -- but the Tigers won the war of field position and took advantage of some early turnovers.On the second play of the game, Central recovered a fumble at Jackson's 30 and capped it off when Jamelle Austin went untouched for 11 yards around the end for a touchdown.Jackson answered late in the first quarter, finishing a long drive with a 1-yard run by Jason Schuller.A short time later, a botched punt snap resulted in a safety in Jackson's favor to make the score 9-7.But at the end of the half, Central standout place kicker Brian Emmendorfer booted a 39-yard field goal against the wind to give the Tigers a 10-9 lead going into the locker rooms. He had plenty to spare."The kids did just about exactly what we wanted them to do," said Central coach Lawrence Brookins of the way his team played in the first half. "They played hard.""We came out flat," Gross said. "But I don't want to take anything away from what they did. He had his team ready to play and had a good game plan going in."Though Whitney's long run and Holloway's two interceptions nailed down the win for Jackson, Brookins thought the game hinged on Meyr's over-the-shoulder grab in the back of the end zone."I told the kids not to get too infatuated with No. 20 (Whitney)," said Brookins. "I was worried more about No. 42 (Meyr). He's not exceptionally fast, he's just a good football player who knows how to play and how to get open."While Cape Central's defense played well, Central's offense couldn't sustain drives like Brookins had hoped going in.The Tigers rushed for just 55 yards on the night and completed just three of 12 passes for 40 yards.Jackson didn't have much luck passing either. Quarterback Chris Stockton completed just four passes -- all to Meyr -- for 52 yards in 13 attempts.

PREP FOOTBALL

Thursday's gamesJackson 36, Cape Central 10Sikeston 52, Potosi 15Perryville 14, De Soto 0Tonight's games(7:30 p.m. kickoffs)Vianney at Poplar BluffCharleston at Scott CityChaffee at ValleHayti at St. VincentCaruthersville at East PrairieMalden at PortagevilleKennett at FredericktownDexter at New Madrid