Jackson football team claims first win of season

Just ask the 2000 Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams about getting stellar quarterback help from unexpected places.

Or check with the Jackson Indians about unexpected quarterback performances Friday night after a 35-29 victory over Farmington.

Kurt Warner, a former grocery store clerk led the St. Louis Rams to Super Bowl after starter Trent Green went down with a knee injury.

On Friday, the winless Indians were leaning heavily on third-string quarterback Landry Moore, a senior, who was getting a start because No. 1 quarterback Cooper Callis is still on the mend from a preseason injury and backup quarterback Triston Thele was still was feeling some effects from an ankle injury sustained a week earlier.

He responded by completing 14 of 15 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns.

Oh, and that was in the first half.

Moore finished 22 of 25 for 326 yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception.

"I didn't see that one coming," said Moore, speaking also for the multitudes.

Senior Jeremy Elliott pulled in two of the touchdown passes among his 11 receptions for 137 yards.

He had six catches in the first half when Moore completed 93 percent of his passes.

"That is surprising. It's very surprising," Elliott said about Moore's peformance.

Senior Quentin Kent amassed the most yardage with a career-high 173 yards on six receptions. Kent had 129 yards receiving in the first half alone.

"The receivers were big tonight," Moore said. "I had a few catches that I didn't think I would complete. It probably could have went the other way, but the receivers just stepped up and did good."

Elliott, often was draped by defenders and won tussles for balls, demonstrating the form that led to his third 100-yard receiving game this season

"Yeah Jeremy Elliott, he wants it," Moore said. "You can just tell. Kent did good, Star, Jacob Starzinger did real good tonight. Really all of our receivers did real good. We didn't have a bad one. Running backs stepped up tonight, it was just a good game."

Moore threw a 9-yard TD pass to Lashone Dean on Jackson's first possession after Farmington's Brayden Krause gave the Knights the lead with the first of his three field goals, a 29-yarder midway through the first quarter.

After William Siebert broke loose for a 58-yard touchdown run to regain the lead for Farmington in the opening minutes of the second quarter, Elliott hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass, reaching over a well-positioned Knight defender in the corner of the end zone for a 14-10 Jackson lead with 8 minutes, 2 seconds left in the second quarter.

It was the ninth consecutive completion for Moore.

"The kids went and got it, that's for sure," Jackson coach Brent Eckley said. "I don't know any of them that we lost. Any of them that were up there, there were four hands on it and we came down with it, and that doesn't happen very often, and that's part of the reason why our quarterback went 14 of 15. Because they snagged them in there."

Moore completed his first 13 passes of the half before throwing an incompletion with 39 seconds left in the second quarter.

He followed that with an 11-yard completion to Elliott that gave the Indians a first-and-goal from the 2, and Bryndan Reid ran it in on the next play to give Jackson a 21-13 halftime lead.

"Tristan was healthy tonight, but as Landry started, things just fell into place for him," Eckley said. "He played really well and played pretty well in the second half, too."

Farmington pulled to within 21-19 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by senior quarterback Brandt Busenbark, who led the Knights with 118 yards rushing on 28 carries.

Jackson, which had struggled in the second half of its previous two games, countered with scoring drives of 67 and 80 yards on its next two possessions.

Elliott pulled in a 15-yard scoring pass on the first drive, and Reid capped the Indians' scoring with a 6-yard run with 4:53 left in the game.

Reid finished with a team-high 104 yards rushing on 21 carries, accounting for all but 20 of the Indians' rushing yards.

The Indians totaled 450 yards of offense in shaking their 0-3 start that included losses to Class 5 champion Battle High School, district rival Vianney and Class 6 Marquette.

It was the Indians' first 0-3 start since 2009, when the Indians' lone win came in the final game of the season.

"Any time you are on a losing streak like that and it can eat your confidence, and we didn't have the same swagger we started the season with," Eckley said. "You hit that adversity and you kind of pull apart. It's good for us to get the win, we certainly needed it. I'm pleased so many kids contributed. They did a god job. I'm pleased with our offensive line and pleased with our defense to holding them to threes."

Krause added a pair of 30-yard field goals, including one with 2:52 left in the game that pulled Farmington to within 35-29, but the Indians picked up a first down on their next possession thanks to a late hit on a third-down play by Farmington and ultimately surrendered the ball to the Knights with just 26 seconds to play. Farmington needed to cover 85 yards and was only able to reach the 50 before time expired.

Farmington fell to 2-2 and 0-2 in SEMO North Conference play, while Jackson improved to 1-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

"One of our goals was to go undefeated, and that one was shot down, so our next goal was to beat Farmington, and let's win conference, and so we went on to that one," Moore said. "And right now we're doing it. We have Poplar Bluff next week, and that's the next step of the goal."

A sad note for the Indians is they lost junior lineman Bryce Dickerson to leg injury midway through the fourth quarter. Dickerson was taken off of the field on a stretcher after injuring his right leg and taken away by an ambulance.

Eckley said he thought Dickerson, who played right tackle and nose guard, had at least one broken bone in his lower leg.

"I'm not positive, but it was not good," Eckley said. "He is a tough kid, and he was hurting.

"It makes it very bittersweet. You're always happy to get a win, but Bryce is a kid who has paid the price, equal to or exceeding any other members of our team, and he's not able to celebrate with us."

Jackson 7 14 0 14 -- 35

Farmington 3 10 6 10 -- 9

First quarter

F -- Bryden Krause 29 FG, 6:50

J -- Lasone Dean 9 pass from Landry Moore, (Jeremy Elliott kick), 5:00

Second quarter

F -- William Siebert 58 run (Krause kick), 10:29

J -- Elliott 12 pass from Moore (Elliott kick), 8:02

F -- Krause 30 FG, 4:12

J -- Bryndan Reid (Elliott kick), :27

Third quarter

F -- Brandt Busenbark (run failed), 1:21

Fourth quarter

J -- Elliott 15 pass from Landry (Elliott kick), 9:19

F -- Krause 14 pas from Busenbark (Krause kick), 7:11

J -- Reid 6 run (Elliott kick), 4:53

F -- Busenbark 30 FG, 2:52

TEAM STATISTICS

J F

First downs 25 18

Rushes-yards 43-124 39-233

Passing yards 326 228

Passes 22-25-0 15-24-1

Punts-average 4-38 3-42.6

Fumbles-lost 4-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-49 9-59

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Jackson, Quentin Kent 5-7, Reid 21-104, Ethan Laster 6-17, Dean 3-8, Triston Thele 2-(-8), Moore 6-(-4); Farmington, Busenbark 28-118, Gavin Duncan 5-14, ,.

PASSING -- Jackson, Moore 22-25-0-326; Farmington, Busenbark 15-24-1-228

RECEIVING -- Jackson, Kent 6-173, Dean 2-8, Elliott 11-137, Jacob Starzinger 2-18, Laster 1-3