JACKSON ROAD TOUR CONTINUES TODAY

With apologies to Willie Nelson, the Jackson High football Indians will be on the road again when they face Class 2A Lutheran North of St. Louis today at 1:30 p.m.

The contest marks the third straight road game for the 4-0 Indians, but coach Carl Gross downplayed the significance of that saying, "It's just another ride."

Looking at last year's 31-7 decision over the Crusaders, Jackson could be looking at just another win. Lutheran North enters 3-1, but is coming off a 41-6 pounding by third-ranked Class 3A St Louis-Country Day.

"I would imagine they'll come out pretty hungry after their first loss last week," Gross said. "They're explosive. They're very, very big on the line of scrimmage and they have those Corvettes in the backfield."

The main "Corvette" Gross spoke of is running back Stacey Johnson. A 6-foot, 160-pound speedster, Johnson placed second in the Class 2A 100-meters last year and is coming off a 1,000 yard, 15 touchdown season. He already has 581 yards and nine touchdowns on 57 carries this year.

"We have to play very disciplined and not allow them to break out," Gross said. "We have to force them to drive the football to score. We do not want to give up the big play.

In last week's loss, Johnson sat out the first quarter for disciplinary reasons, totalling 129 yards on nine carries. Crusaders' coach Mike Russell said Johnson runs 100 yards in about 10.7 seconds.

"He's little, but fast," said Russell. "He's not very big, but it's hard to get a good hit on him."

The Crusaders line is anchored by seniors Charles Ray (6-5, 260) and Jason Williams (6-5, 260). Jay Burkett (6-1, 191) leads the defense at linebacker.

"They're very similar to Riverview (Gardens)," said Gross, referring to the Indians' 28-14 season-opening victory. "They're big and physical up front and they're fast in the skill positions. The difference is we're not catching them in their first game."

In fact, this will be Lutheran North's Homecoming game. But Gross is more concerned with game-time temperatures that could reach close to 90 degrees.

"They platoon more than we do and we have eight or nine kids playing both ways all the time -- and most of them are our big guys on the line," Gross said. "Hopefully we can keep enough fluids in us and have some people step up and play some minutes so we can rest some of those guys."

Although returning 15 players from last year's loss to Jackson, Russell hasn't been encouraged by scouting reports of the Indians this year.

"We've had people at a few of their games and they've come away very impressed with them," Russell said. "One of my coaches said they're every bit as tough as they were last year."

The main reason for that has been the emergence of running back Devree Flint and quarterback Justin Keen. Flint, with 582 yards rushing, leads the area in scoring (58 points) and yards per rush (11.2).

Keen is by far the top-ranked passer with a quarterback ranking of 136.4, gaining 337 yards on 16-of-30 passing. He's thrown six TDs and only one interception. Keen is the only passer in the area with a ranking over 100.