Jackson stuns Vianney with 36 unanswered points in second half, wins district title

The scoreboard after the Class 5 District 1 championship game Friday night at The Pit at Jackson High School said it all.

"Good Nite!"

Below it was the final score:

Jackson 39, Vianney 35

Less than two hours earlier -- at halftime -- the light bulbs should have read:

"Not Our Night!"

The score read: Vianney 35, Jackson 3.

Jackson third-year coach Brent Eckley was one of those fighting the unpleasant feeling that fate was not on the Indians' side with his team's season apparently imploding in the first half.

"We felt that way, and it was very difficult to overcome," Eckley said. "We had two or three plays where we were on top and had what we wanted and didn't execute. That's part of the game with teenagers."

And then again, teenagers are just as unpredictable in proper execution.

The change in the scoreboard was stunning in the second half with senior quarterback Dante Vandeven keeping his high school football career alive with five touchdown passes.

Eckley called it the biggest comeback he's ever been involved.

"I can't think of anything close to it," he said.

The final two Jackson touchdowns came in the closing 83 seconds of the game and were caught by senior Xominique Davis, who saved the day, and season, for a second straight week in the final seconds with a remarkable catch.

Davis had pulled in the game-winning touchdown with a stellar catch in overtime against Oakville in the same end zone just seven days earlier.

"I think this one takes the cake," said Davis, who had an extended wrestling match for the game-winning touchdown with Vianney defensive back Devin Devres in the end zone on a 34-yard pass from Vandeven with 43 seconds left to cap the 36-point second half for the Indians.

This time the referee had to get over the two players, who were on the ground, examine their deadlocked situation before extending his arms in the air as the crowd at The Pit at Jackson High School roared in approval.

"I mostly had the ball," Davis said, still standing on the field amid a mob of players and fans after the game.

Vandeven was passing by when Davis was giving his take.

"What you mean mostly had it?" Vandeven said. "You had it. What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, I had it," Davis said with a smile

"That's more like it," Vandeven said with a nod.

It was the second wrestling match the Indians had won in the final minute.

Davis had heightened the building frenzy of the Indian faithful when he pulled in a 12-yard pass with 1:23 left in the game, and Ty Crowden's PAT pulled Jackson to within 35-32.

Any hope in completing the unlikely comeback rested on recovering the onside kick by Crowden, and in the skirmish between two players wearing No. 1 jerseys, 140-pound sophomore Bryndan Reid accomplished the task when he kept the ball away from Vianney's 6-foot-4, 231-pound senior Jordon Hardwick.

"Oh my goodness. I've seen some pretty amazing things, and I'd say that one was top three in all my life," Davis said about Reid's battle for the loose ball. "He's incredible. He wanted the ball, and he got it."

Reid saw more playing time against the Griffins due to the absence of senior running back Ethan Isaksen, who was sidelined with a concussion sustained against Oakville. Reid led a mostly stifled running attack with 33 yards on nine carries. The Indians had just 37 yards rushing on 35 attempts, but compensated with 478 yards passing.

"I had the ball tight and he tried to take the ball away from me, but I never gave up," Reid said.

The Indians (10-1) needed just four plays to complete their unlikely comeback after Reid won the skirmish for the ball at midfield.

"I think this has got to be the greatest comeback that Jackson has ever had," said Jackson sophomore Gabriel Dudley, the Indians' second-leading tackler who was forced to watch the game from the sideline for the second straight week after injuring a knee. "I'm just so happy, I'm at a loss for words."

Vandeven knew the Indians dodged a bullet in ending Vianney's season for a third straight year.

"We couldn't do anything we did tonight without the crowd behind us," Vandeven said. "Without this town being behind this football team, I don't know how we would have pulled this football game out like we did tonight. It was something. Being here at home, at The Pit, we feel comfortable. Even when we were down by 32 points, we found ways to make it happen."

It was the sixth meeting between the teams in the last three seasons, with the Indians going 5-1. Both teams racked up at least 100 yards of penalties Friday, with each team assessed five personal fouls and the referees at one point calling Vianney's Kyle Markway and Jackson's Josh Stone together for a talk that ended with the players shaking hands.

"A lot of tension," Vandeven said. "You can tell there's tension on the field, and it shows how we play. The first half wasn't too good by any means, but the second half showed how much heart and how we play against each other."

Jackson limited Vianney to less than 100 yards offense in the second half while piling up 330 yards of its own.

Five Indians finished with at least 50 yards receiving, with Davis leading the way with nine catches for 117 yards and Ty Crowden making eight catches for 108 yards.

"They made all the plays in the second half, and we didn't make any," Vianney coach Paul Day said. "They got the stops when they needed to get them. The last drive there, we get two first downs, the game's over. They got the on-side, they made the dual-possession catch. They just made all the plays they had to make. Our kids played really hard. There's no difference in how hard we played the second half. We just didn't play as well and make the plays we need to make."

It was a reversal from the first half, when Jackson compiled as many 15-yard penalties as it did points. They sprinkled in some dropped passes and two turnovers for good measure.

"I'd say the first have was more nerves," Davis said. "Everyone was worried about doing the right thing and not messing up. The second half we just played with emotion. It just came from heart, and coach told us, 'Don't give up and keep plugging away, the ball will bounce our way,' and it did."

Jackson settled for a 25-yard field goal by Crowden on its first possession of the game. The Indians then had a golden chance for a 10-0 lead on their next series on a beautifully thrown deep ball from Vandeven to Ben Maudie, but ball fell through Maudie's arms behind the Griffin defense amid moans. The drive ultimately died on downs at the Vianney 5 as the tone of the game changed.

The Griffins needed just four plays to take a 7-3 lead when Indian nemesis Nolan Snyder pulled in a pass near midfield and evaded a tackler for an 82-yard scoring play.

Snyder had 236 yards receiving against the Indians in the Week 2 meeting -- a 30-23 Jackson victory -- and he rolled up 152 yards in the first half Friday.

Devin Marty scored on a 3-yard run at the 8:54 mark of the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-3, and Markway, a 6-foot-5 defensive end who has verbally committed to play next year at South Carolina, intercepted a Vandeven pass from close range and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown just 14 seconds later.

Snyder added touchdown catches of 28 and 33 yards on Vianney's next two possessions for a 35-3 lead that had some fans heading for the exits at halftime on a cold evening.

To many, it looked like 15 Jackson seniors were ending their careers in less than glorious fashion.

"I'm sure it was [on their minds]," Jackson coach Brent Eckley said about his players at halftime. "I could it read it on some of their faces."

Vandeven called it "by far" the Indians' worst half of football this season.

"It was quiet" Eckley said. "There wasn't anybody crying, but it was quiet. We made some offensive adjustments. We talked through some things and made some defensive adjustments. I wish I really could have said something really inspiring, but basically I just told the kids to play as hard as you possibly can this half, that way, win, lose or draw, when it's all said and done, you'll be remember this and be proud of it."

All-state defensive tackle Preston Hobeck was one of those seniors.

"We have scored 40 points in a half before, and we believed we could do it," Hobeck said. "We all got together and said, 'No not one person can do it, but a whole team has to come together to be able to accomplish this."

A comeback didn't appear in the making early in the third quarter.

Jackson's first two possessions ended in a punt and on downs before the quarter ended with a three-touchdown explosion. Junior Jeremy Elliot started the comeback with a 22-yard reception on a fourth-and-7 play in which Vandeven unloaded while scrambling under heavy pressure from Markway. He found Elliot in the back of the end zone and the conversion pass to LeShone Dean cut the deficit to 35-11 midway through the quarter.

Two possessions later, Elliot hauled in a 19-yard scoring pass and the conversion pass to Ben Maudie made the score 35-19 with 2:16 left in the third quarter.

"Jeremy's been there all the time," Vandeven said. "He's kind of like a Maudie at the beginning of the year; he comes out of nowhere. He's an athlete, too. He's tall and he gets open."

Vianney fumbled on its ensuing possession and Jackson took over at the Griffins' 44. The Indians needed just two passes to score, the latter going 18 yards to Maudie with 1:05 left in the quarter. The conversion pass failed, but the Indians trailed just 35-25 entering the fourth quarter.

Jackson failed to take advantage of good field position on its next two possessions -- they forced the Griffins to turn the ball over on downs at midfield in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter -- turning the ball over on downs and committing its fourth turnover of the game on a fumble. The Indians started their third possession of the fourth quarter at their own 20 with about two minutes left and still trailing by 10 points. A 41-yard pass to Triston Thele and a 15-yard face mask penalty on the first play of the drive moved the Indians to the Griffins' 25, and three plays later Vandeven hit Davis with a 19-yard touchdown pass. Crowden's kick made it 35-32 with 1:23 left.

That setup the onside kick and final touchdown.

"I'm stoked," Hobeck said. "I can't believe we just did that, but it happened and we just have to look forward to the next game."

The Indians will play on the road against Ladue on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

"I'm just really proud of our kids," Eckley said. "I'm sure it will take a couple days before I can even think about how it all came about."

Vianney 7 28 0 0 -- 35

Jackson 3 0 22 14 -- 39

First Quarter

J -- Ty Crowden 25 FG, 5:56

V -- Nolan Snyder 82 pass from Tionne Harris (John Antonacci kick), 2:20

Second Quarter

V -- Devin Marty 3 run (Antonacci kick), 8:54

V -- Kyle Markway 24 interception return (Antonacci kick), 8:40

V -- Snyder 28 pass from Harris (Antonacci kick), 6:46

V -- Snyder 33 pass from Nick Vorhees (Antonacci kick), 2:22

Third Quarter

J -- Jeremy Elliot 22 pass DanteVandeven (Dean pass from Vandeven), 6:19

J -- Elliot 19 pass from Vandeven (Ben Maudie pass from Vandeven), 2:16

J -- Maudie 18 pass from Vandeven (pass failed), 1:15

Fourth Quarter

J -- Xominique Davis 12 pass from Vandeven (Crowden kick), 1:23

J -- Davis 34 pass from Vandeven (Crowden kick), :43

V J

First downs 16 28

Rushes-yards 43-154 35-37

Passing yards 254 478

Passes 11-24-0 35-60-2

Punts 5-40 4-44.7

Fumbles-Lost 4-2 4-2

Penalties-Yards 12-113 9--100

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Vianney, Vorhees 5-36, Harris 13-51, Marty 21-87, Devin Devres 1-22, Team 2-(-43), Joey Rearden 1-1; Jackson, Davis 3-24, Vandeven 18-(-30), Bryndan Reid 9-33, Triston Thele 4-10, Maudie 1-0

PASSING -- Vianney, Harris 10-23-0-221, Vorhees 1-1-0-33; Jackson, Vandeven 35-60-2-497

RECEIVING -- Vianney, Markway 3-55, Snyder 8-219; Jackson, Maudie 3-57, Jacob Starzinger 4-41, Elliot 5-57, Davis 9-117, Crowden 8-108, Thele 4-88, Zach Norrick 1-10