Running game delivers for Indians

JACKSON -- Adam Zweigart fueled a struggling Jackson offense that punted six of the seven times it had the football in its scoreless first half against Eureka on Saturday.

The only first-half drive for Jackson that did not result in a punt was when quarterback Marcus Harris tossed an interception late in the second quarter.

Jackson had a golden opportunity in the first quarter when Eureka failed to covert a fourth-and-25 play from its own 28-yard line.

The Indians got the football at the Eureka 30-yard line. But a penalty, two runs for 1 yard and an incomplete pass forced Jackson to punt.

The second half was a different story, however, because of Zweigart's effort running as well as some timely power running up the middle by fullback Andy Winkleblack.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comJackson's Mitchell McCulley breaks away from Eureka's Dominique Willis in the fourth quarter of the Class 5 quarterfinal game Saturday at Jackson High School.

The two backs helped Jackson upset Eureka 10-7.

The Jackson offense was not stellar by any means in the second half. But it was able to do enough, led by Zweigart, who rushed for 114 yards after the break.

Jackson managed 203 offensive yards in the contest. Zweigart got 166 of them on ground.

"I didn't think I had to carry [the team] at all," Zweigart said. "All we had to do was come as a team like we did the last two games."

The senior running back helped Jackson drive the ball 49 yards to the Eureka 14-yard line on its first possession of the second half.

Zweigart ran the ball five times that drive, but he missed two catches on consecutive plays that likely would have resulted in a touchdown. The drive ended with a failed 32-yard field goal attempt by Morgan Johnson.

"I knew I messed up," Zweigart said about missing the catch. "I had to redeem myself."

Zweigart did redeem himself the second time Jackson had the football in the second half.

The senior helped his team on a 56-yard scoring drive, which was capped off with him rushing for an 11-yard touchdown to give his team a 7-0 lead.

Winkleblack also made one crucial play on the first scoring drive when he took a handoff on fourth-and-3 at the Eureka 29 yard-line straight up the middle and muscled his way for 4 yards to keep the drive alive.

"It was definitely a defensive game," Winkleblack said. "But our guys just got a push, made a hole. Our line did great when I carried the ball. Everybody has to want it. Not just one person. It's got to be the whole team and everybody has just got to try as hard as they can."

Winkleblack pulled in an 8-yard reception on third-and-3 during the first drive of the second half. He also had a 7-yard run on another third-down play.

Eureka senior quarterback and linebacker Luke Thuston said his team struggled to stop the Jackson running attack.

"They had a great offensive line," Thuston said. "Their fullbacks and running backs, they just find the hole and hit it hard. It's hard to stop them."

Special special teams

Jackson's special teams redeemed itself with the long kickoff return by Mitchell McCulley to set up Morgan Johnson's game-winning field goal, but the unit got off to a rough start with bad snaps on the sloppy field.

"My hands were completely frozen," said Zweigart, who had a much better day running the ball than he had as Jackson's long snapper. "I couldn't feel my fingers at all."

But punter Bobby Clark, who was forced to eat a couple bad snaps while punting on Eureka's side of the 50, ended the first half with a booming punt netting 42 yards and two nicely placed kicks inside Eureka's 10-yard line. After punting six times in the first half, he punted just once in the second half, netting 34 yards on the kick from deep in his own territory.

Jackson also used squibs on kickoffs with the wind.

Jackson coach Van Hitt said the disastrous game against Farmington -- in which Johnson was pulled after missing his first three PAT attempts, the kicking team yielded two returns of 80 yards or more and the punt team had a bad snap that helped decide the outcome -- was a turning point.

"We revamped all our special teams -- players, philosophy and everything else," he said. "We've just decided to squib and play defense."

Rivalry gamesmanship

Eureka-Jackson has turned into a good rivalry with three meetings now in a span of 13 months all decided by seven points or fewer.

Last year's 21-20 Jackson win in the battle of unbeatens included a blocked extra point when Jackson had 12 men on the field, which was not called by the officials, and a story in the Post-Dispatch included reaction from Eureka coach Farrell Shelton.

Peiffer claimed Shelton was trying to get in the players' heads before Saturday's game.

"Their coach was calling down here to complain about a couple of things -- the band and field conditions," Peiffer said. "I think it was just a tactic to get in our heads and get us thinking about things other than the game, but as you can see, it didn't work."