Jackson pounds Sikeston

The Indians evened their record with a 42-0 SEMO Conference victory.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- At least for one game, the Jackson Indians solved their turnover problems.

After turning the ball over 11 times in two of their first three games during a 1-2 start, the Indians had none in a nearly flawless 42-0 victory against SEMO North rival Sikeston on Friday night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.

In 90 meetings, it's the worst loss Jackson has ever handed the Bulldogs.

"They whipped us," Sikeston coach Jerry Dement said. "That's as honest as I can be. They just whipped us."

Jackson tailback Joel Penrod scored three touchdowns and rushed for 81 yards on 17 carries. He had 76 yards at halftime and only carried three times in the second half.

Sikeston is now 0-4 for the second straight year, marking the second time in school history that has happened.

"I know Dement is really disappointed because I know he had a really tough week with his kids," Jackson coach Carl Gross said. "But the thing about it is we just happened to play by far our best football game of the year. Maybe getting us out of town is good for us. I don't know. Maybe having them on the school bus helps get us focused."

Jackson (2-2), playing on the road for the first time this season, showed its focus by executing nearly every play with precision. Of their 43 offensive plays, only three resulted in lost yardage.

Junior quarterback Rex Meyr was 6-for-9 passing for 102 yards, including scoring strikes to Alex Austin and Cameron Heath for 34 and 24 yards, respectively.

The Indians totaled 290 offensively yards, a statistic that could've been much higher had it not been for three lost fumbles by Sikeston in its own territory, which only served to shorten the field for the Indians.

All three times Jackson took advantage with short scoring drives of 24, 10 and 13 yards. Jackson also had a scoring drive of 44 yards after a punt.

Sikeston actually seized control of the game early when the Bulldogs recovered a failed onside kick by the Indians to start the game.

A 32-yard pass from Bulldog quarterback Chase Ferrell to junior wideout Julian Beard put Sikeston in scoring position. They got as close as the 5-yard line before a procedure penalty backed them up.

They ended up settling for a 25-yard field goal attempt, but it was wide left.

The Bulldogs didn't cross the 50-yard line the rest of the night.

Jackson then marched 80 yards in 14 plays on its opening drive, capped by Penrod's 1-yard plunge for the score.

Following a Bulldogs fumble in the second quarter, Penrod scored on a 24-yard run with 8:43 left in the first half.

Grant Ressel, who was a perfect 6-of-6 on extra points, made it 14-0 with the PAT.

After another Bulldogs fumble at the 10-yard line, Penrod scored on a 3-yard run.

The Indians made it 28-0 before halftime when Meyr hit a wide open Austin down the middle of the field for a 34-yard TD.

The Indians enforced the mercy rule on its opening drive of the second half when Meyr found Heath for a 24-yard play to make it 35-0.

After a Sikeston fumble in the third quarter at the 13-yard line, Steve Begemann scored on an 8-yard run to round out the scoring.

The Jackson (2-2) defense stifled Sikeston's offense, holding them to 64 total yards, including zero rushing yards -- both season-lows for the Bulldogs.

"Our linebackers are veterans," said Gross. "All five of them are the experience of our football team.

"Tonight we just put it together," he added. "We swarmed them and it looked like we were playing with 14 guys a couple times. This week we turned out intensity level up significantly."

Jackson has now defeated Sikeston in six of the last seven meetings.