Jackson crushed by Farmington football team

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- The Jackson football team's one-win start had featured three narrow, heartbreaking losses and two lopsided, no-doubt defeats.

Chalk up Friday night's seventh game of the season in the latter category because host Farmington rolled to a 50-14 victory.

Farmington, among the region's top squads, improved to 6-1 while dropping the Indians to 1-6 in the final pre-district game for both sides.

"They're a good team -- disciplined and well coached," Jackson senior Levi Rutherford said. "They're tough to stop."

The Knights, who bombed Jackson 61-19 last year, entered play averaging 42.2 points per game. They didn't hurt that average Friday, led by accurate senior quarterback Chase Busenbark and swift senior tailback Connor Davault.

Busenbark completed 15 of 17 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns while flawlessly running Farmington's up-tempo spread offense.

All but one of Busenbark's throws came in the first half. He spent much of the second half on the bench.

"I think we did a pretty good job tonight," Busenbark said. "This offense is a blast. We have a lot of great receivers."

Davault rushed for 118 yards on just 12 carries. Only three of his attempts came in the final half. He also found his playing time limited due to the blowout.

Davault scored four touchdowns, on runs of 2, 33, 23 and 13 yards. Three of the TDs came in the opening half.

"We could have done better, but overall we did pretty good," Davault said. "The offensive line blocked really good."

Farmington buried Jackson early, leading 22-0 after one quarter and 36-7 at halftime.

"We really challenged our kids to come out and play well in the first 12 minutes. We did that," Farmington coach Todd Vaughn said.

Farmington piled up 322 yards in the first half, with 180 coming on the ground and 142 through the air.

The Knights' stout defense limited Jackson to 52 yards on 28 plays in the first half.

Jackson avoided having negative first-yardage when sophomore quarterback Ty Selsor broke off a 62-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.

Farmington linebacker Roper Garrett tormented the Indians. The 220-pound senior, who is being recruited by Southeast Missouri State and Southern Illinois among other college programs, had three first-half sacks.

"We got after it defensively. We challenge our kids to run to the football well," Vaughn said. "He [Garrett] is a really good player."

While Vaughn lauded his team's early performance, Jackson coach Van Hitt lamented the way his squad came out.

"We had a great week of practice," Hitt said. "I felt good coming into the game. But when we hit the field, we were flat. We did not step up in the first quarter at all. We were just a step behind."

Jackson suffered from horrible field position in the opening two quarters, starting seven of its eight possessions from its own 26-yard line or worse.

Farmington, on the other hand, enjoyed exceptional field positions, which led to several relatively short touchdown drives.

The Knights received the opening kickoff and set the tone with a 76-yard touchdown drive. Busenbark hit junior Evan Dunivan from 11 yards out for a 7-0 lead just 3 minutes, 5 seconds into the game.

Farmington never looked back. Davault scored on runs of 2 and 33 yards later in the opening period after possessions that started inside Jackson territory.

Davault's 23-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, which made it 29-0, also came after a possession that began on Jackson's side of the field.

Jackson finally got a spark with just more than two minutes left in the half. After the Indians recovered a fumbled punt, Selsor broke loose for his 62-yard TD.

"All 11 guys did what they were supposed to," Selsor said in describing the play.

The Indians' momentum didn't last long. Farmington responded by scoring with just 51 seconds left in the half to go up 36-7.

Davault's 13-yard run with less than nine minutes left in the third quarter made it 43-7. The running clock, utilized when a team leads by 35 or more points in the second half, was in play the rest of the way.

An interception return for a touchdown two plays after Davault's final TD opened a 50-7 bulge and sent many of Farmington's key players to the bench for the rest of the night.

Jackson's last touchdown came with just more than five minutes left in the third quarter when Selsor hit junior Skyler Steele with a 15-yard pass.

"We came back and fought hard in the second half. There was no quit in us," said Hitt, whose team gained more yards than Farmington in the final half, 115 to 96.

Jackson played without junior quarterback/tailback Lowgn Wren, who sprained his left ankle during the fourth quarter of last week's overtime loss to Vashon.

The Indians now will turn their attention to their all-important Class 5 District 1 schedule that begins Friday at Poplar Bluff, which also is 1-6.

"We have three games left," Selsor said. "We're going to let these first seven go and do all we can in practice to be ready."

Scoring Summary

Jackson 0 7 7 0 -- 14

Farmington 22 14 14 0 -- 50

First Quarter

F -- Evan Dunivan 11 pass from Chase Busenbark (Logan Bradley kick), 8:55

F -- Connor Davault 2 run (Dunivan pass from Busenbark), 2:32

F -- Davault 33 run (Bradley kick), :03

Second Quarter

F -- Davault 23 run (Bradley kick), 8:32

J -- Ty Selsor 62 run (Adam Brown kick), 2:08

F -- Alec Sebastian 5 pass from Busenbark (Bradley kick), :51

Third Quarter

F -- Davault 13 run (Davault kick), 8:36

F -- Sebastian 40 interception return (Davault kick), 7:50

J -- Skyler Steele 15 pass from Selsor (Brown kick), 5:23

Team Statistics

First downs (Jackson-Farmington) 12 20

Rushes-yards 30-84 37-249

Passing yards 83 169

Passes 10-25-3 15-19-0

Punts 7-27 3-36

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 3-2

Penalties-Yards 4-42 9-80

Individual Statistics

RUSHING -- Jackson, Selsor 11-63, Colten Proffer 12-30, Nick Cooper 3-11, Garrett Miller 2-1, Stephen Dunn 1-minus 7, team 1-minus 14. Farmington, Davault 12-118, Busenbark 12-71, Anthony Greco 6-32, Carl Wheeler 5-25,

Justin Boehm 2-3.

PASSING -- Jackson, Selsor 9-19-1-67, Dunn 1-5-2-16, Miller 0-1-0-0. Farmington, Busenbark 15-17-0-169, Boehm 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING -- Jackson, Levi Rutherford 3-36, Trea Forbs 4-21, Steeele 2-26, Proffer 1-0. Farmington, Dunivan 4-38, Bradley 3-41, Kyle Hartrup 3-36, Davault 2-29, Sebastian 2-20, Greco 1-5.