Jackson football team still winless after loss to Marquette

Jackson football coach Brent Eckley won't know for sure until he watches the video from his team's Week 3 game against Marquette.

But shortly after Friday night's contest the fourth-year coach's gut feeling told him that the Indians "gave the game away."

Jackson dropped to 0-3 with a 41-21 loss at The Pit. It was the second consecutive game the Indians held a halftime lead only to have it erased.

"I told them that I wasn't going to pass any judgment on our game tonight until I got a chance to look at the film because it was such an emotional game and the fact that we're in the lead in the second half and end up getting beat," Eckley said. " ... I just told them we'll hold off on watching film until we kind of make a determination of whether it was us that was that bad or them that was that good."

Jackson held a 14-13 halftime lead and went up 21-13 midway through the third quarter.

The Indians forced the Mustangs to punt for the seventh time with 5 minutes, 41 seconds left in the third quarter and moved the ball down to the Marquette 34-yard line before quarterback Landry Moore's third-down pass was picked off by Xavier Jackson. Moore entered late in the first quarter to replace Triston Thele, who suffered a high ankle sprain when he was wrestled out of bounds by a Mustangs defender.

The Mustangs followed with a 64-yard drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown catch by Cairon Wesley with 47.4 seconds left in the third. Quarterback Jason Powers tied it with a two-point conversion run.

The score remained tied 21-21 heading into the final quarter.

Jackson's next possession included three consecutive 5-yard penalties -- one on Marquette and the next two on the Indians -- and Jackson faced first-and-20 from the 50. The Indians were able to get to the Marquette 32 with passes of 10 and 8 yards before a botched handoff resulted in a 3-yard loss. Moore's pass to Quentin Kent on fourth-and-5 was broken up by Marquette's Turner Cook.

Jackson's Ethan Laster eludes a Marquette defender on his way to scoring a touchdown during the second quarter Friday, Sept. 4, 2015 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

"We talked about that to our guys as they were coming off the field -- those are two unforced errors that the defense didn't have anything to do with. It was just procedure and snap infraction," Eckley said of the penalties. " ... We're Game 3 now. If we're going to get penalties we'd like to get penalties that are aggressive, physical penalties, at least where we're taking a shot at either blocking somebody or tackling somebody."

The Mustangs took over on their own 35 and took 4:53 off the clock as they moved to the Jackson 29. Marquette took a timeout with 5:09 to go and fourth-and-9 coming up from the 29.

Powers hit Nicholas Bulanda with a 26-yard pass to make it first-and-goal from the 3. A false start and a rush for a loss pushed the Mustangs to the 9.

Jackson quarterback Triston Thele carries against Marquette's Tyler Pauley during the first quarter Friday, Sept. 4, 2015 in Jackson. Thele was injured on the tackle and left the game. (Fred Lynch)

The Indians' defense forced Powers to scramble to his left and back to the right looking for a receiver before he threw a pass to Cook.

Cook had to dive in his attempt for the ball and as he landed the ball popped out of his hands, but the play was ruled a touchdown that gave Marquette the lead for good with 3:40 to play.

"It was not a catch," Eckley said confidently. "He never had possession. It was in between his legs, it was in his hands, he flipped it over his head -- it's not a catch. That's a pretty critical point in the ballgame with it being tied. ... It's not like they didn't have more chances. They were down there and they had already proven to be able to make plays, but that was not a catch."

The Indians had the ball on their own 27 on the next drive when Moore was sacked just as he was about to throw. He fumbled and Marquette lineman Jared Sadowsky scooped up the ball and returned it for a touchdown to extend the lead to 35-21 with 2:46 on the clock.

Jackson's next drive ended with Moore's second interception of the night. Three plays later and Xavier Jackson broke through the Jackson defense for a 66-yard touchdown run for the final score.

"He battled in there," Eckley said of Moore. "He made some nice plays, but he struggled a little bit throwing the ball to specific spots and kind of got locked in a little bit, but he's just got to continue to get reps and he'll have to do everything he can to work on managing the game and taking care of the ball."

Jackson's Ethan Laster gains yardage against Marquette during the third quarter Friday, Sept. 4, 2015 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

Moore, a senior, is the team's third option at quarterback. Sophomore Cooper Callis, who was expected to be the team's starter, injured his elbow and remains sidelined, and Thele went down during Jackson's second drive with 3:12 left in the first quarter.

"You've just got to go out there and play your best, trust your team," Moore said.

Marquette took a 7-0 lead with 4:13 left in the first before Jackson evened it with a 12-yard touchdown run by Zach Norrick 42 seconds into the second quarter.

Junior running back Jordan Robertson escaped up the right sideline for a 40-yard touchdown with 5:17 left in the half, but the Mustangs' two-point conversion run was stopped.

Jackson's Lashone Dean returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to give the Indians the 14-13 lead, which remained the halftime score.

"I could see one of their players coming down the sideline, so I cut back inside, cut across field and then I see three more guys coming and so I cut back," Dean said. "I crossed the line, but then they pushed me back out and my teammates helped me back into the end zone."

Jackson's fourth attempt at its first win will come next week at Farmington.

"It's been a rough season," Moore said. "It'll change, though."

Jackson 0 14 7 0 -- 21

Marquette 7 6 8 20 -- 41

First quarter

M -- Jordan Robertson 15 run (Steven Delia kick), 4:13

Second quarter

J -- Ethan Laster 12 run (Jeremy Elliott kick), 4:56

M -- Robertson 40 run (Run failed), 5:17

J -- Lashone Dean 99 run (Elliott kick), 2:11

Third quarter

J -- Elliott 29 pass from Moore (Elliott kick), 7:38

M -- Cairon Wesley 9 run (Jason Powers run), :47.4

Fourth quarter

M -- Turner Cook 9 pass from Powers (Delia kick), 3:40

M -- Jared Sadowsky 26 fumble return (Delia kick), 2:46

M -- Xavier Jackson 66 run (kick failed), :43.4

J M

First downs 15 10

Rushes-yards 22-88 32-191

Passing yards 281 193

Punts 6-37.7 7-40.7

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-Yards 11-80 9-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Jackson, Ethan Laster 7-76, Bryndan Reid 7-11, Triston Thele 1-4, Lashone Dean 1-3, Landry Moore 5-(-6); Marquette, Xavier Jackson 5-65, Jordan Robertson 6-60, Demarko Johnson 12-29, Jason Powers 2-2, Wendall Bronner Jr. 7-39.

PASSING -- Jackson, Thele 2-6-0-12, Moore 17-31-2-269; Vianney, Powers 14-24-1-193.

RECEIVING -- Jackson, Elliott 6-101, Quentin Kent 4-42, Jacob Starzinger 4-76, Reid 1-4, Laster 1-27, Norrick 2-10, Dean 1-10; Marquette, Jackson 3-44, Nicholas Bulanda 3-45, Turner Cook 4-60, Cairon Wesley 3-32, Robertson 1-12.