JHS unleashes Penrod

The Indians rolled to a 38-18 victory over Roosevelt.

Jackson senior Joel Penrod kicked, punted, tackled and rushed his way into the heart of Indians football fans on Friday night in a 38-18 win over visiting Roosevelt.

Penrod took the opening kickoff for the Indians, punted three times, rushed 38 times, made several plays on defense throughout the game and even attempted a pass. The senior's efforts helped Jackson even its record at 1-1.

"He took a pistol-whipping tonight," Jackson coach Carl Gross said of his feature back. "He played offense, played defense, kicked off and punted and did not want to come out."

While the visiting Rough Riders kept the game close, Penrod outscored Roosevelt himself with three touchdowns and a two-point conversion on the night. Penrod had a chance to score a fourth touchdown midway through the fourth quarter but was stopped on the 3-yard line.

"The thing about it, it didn't seem to me like he lost a step from the first to fourth quarter," Gross said. "That tells me something about his conditioning."

After rushing for 81 yards on 14 carries in a season-opening loss, Penrod racked up 190 yards against Roosevelt. Many of those yards came after contact.

"Good blocking, really good blocking. I owe it all to them," Penrod said of his performance.

Besides a dominating rushing performance from Penrod, Jackson benefited from a nearly turnover-free performance. An interception from quarterback Rex Meyr deep in Roosevelt territory was the only big mistake for the Indians after a six-turnover performance last week.

Gross said overall his team played a much cleaner game.

"We were able to play some field position tonight," he said. "Last week, if we don't turn it over, it's a different ball game. We don't want to give up possessions."

Unlike last year's 42-3 rout of Roosevelt, Friday's matchup was much closer than the final score. With the help of a 74-yard touchdown reception and a 99-yard kickoff return by Gary Harden, the Rough Riders only trailed 22-18 after three quarters.

Jackson saved its best drive when it needed it, though, traveling 65 yards and eating up more than seven minutes off the clock following Roosevelt's final score. Meyr finished the drive with a 3-yard run to push the lead to 29-18 with just 5:48 remaining.

"I thought for the first time we put together a couple of pretty good drives tonight," Gross said.

Sophomore running back Cody Randon scored on a 15-yard run to make the score 36-18, and Jackson added a safety on a bad snap with less than two minutes remaining.

While the Rough Riders did have some limited success in the air, Jackson held Roosevelt to negative yardage on the ground on 25 carries.

"The difference is we stepped it up on defense and blocked together on offense," Penrod said.

Jackson will host Vianney at 7 p.m. on Friday.