JACKSON STARES AT UNAVOIDABLE BLOWOUT TONIGHT

Remember two weeks ago when Jackson totally dominated Beaumont 49-6 in a game that could've easily been 70-something to six had Jackson coach Carl Gross not started pulling his starters before halftime?

This week's game could be much, much worse.

Soldan -- Jackson's opponent tonight at 7:30 -- lost to Beaumont 67-0.

Jackson's junior varsity players must be salivating for another chance to play on a Friday night.

"I wouldn't expect my No. 1s to play much Friday night," said Jackson coach Carl Gross.

But just because this game will certainly be a blowout, that doesn't mean Jackson has been clocking out early at practice.

"I wasn't going to lie to them," Gross said. "Soldan is not a good football team. I mean, these kids aren't dumb. They keep up with our opponents and scores and they know. But we're not as good as we can be or as good as we need to be so I thought we needed a good week of work.

"We could approach it two ways. We could go home early every night from practice or turn the level up a notch and really work. And the kids agreed we needed to get better. We ended up going to two-a-day-like practices. Some people think if you back off and let them freshen up, that's the way to go. But you're still not getting better that way."

Gross said the team has put in some new defensive coverages and has added some wrinkles in the passing game. The defensive line has been working on shedding blockers and, in general, the whole team has been concentrating on fundamentals.

Though he didn't say it in so many words, Gross is definitely getting his team prepared for the upcoming district games.

It's not that Gross is overlooking Soldan, but it would take a miracle the magnitude of Moses splitting the sea for Soldan to win this game.

Exactly how bad is Soldan?

It gave up 612 rushing yards in an 80-0 loss to Sumner -- a team Jackson beat 31-30 earlier this year.

In its last three games, Soldan has been outscored 221-0. For the season, Soldan has been outscored 355-32. That's an average margin of 59-5.

Jackson's defense is looking to continue its recent dominance. The Indians' starting defensive unit has not given up any points in its last two games.

For the year, the Indians have yielded a little more than 11 points per contest, while averaging an even 30 on the offensive side of the ball.

Linebackers Kevin Brunke and Jason Jones lead the team in tackles with 47 and 41, respectively. Jones led the team last week with 10 tackles in a 21-6 win over Belleville (Ill.) Althoff. Safety Tory Meyr has 37 tackles and defensive lineman Jason Schuller has 33.

Jones leads the team with seven tackles for losses, followed by Kevin Brunke and Nathan Brown with five.

Meyr's three interceptions leads the team, while speedy sophomore sensation Mario Whitney has picked off two.

Whitney got one of those interceptions last Friday night, but injured his thumb while being tackled after a brilliant return. Whitney's thumb is fine, but he will not play tonight because of a cut he received near his eye over the weekend.