Jackson tops Eureka 21-20

Players make big plays on both sides of the ball.

Mistakes become magnified. Turnovers become turning points.

The crowd gets into it. The closing minutes mean something with dramatic plays making the difference.

The battle of unbeaten Class 5 teams Jackson and Eureka lived up to the expectations.

Jackson, ranked No. 5 in the state, upended visiting Eureka 21-20 on Friday night at The Pit.

You can click here for the game story from the Southeast Missourian.

With this decision in the opening week of district competition, No. 2 in the state Eureka now needs help to get the state playoff berth at Jackson's expense. The Indians, 8-0, need only to beat Parkway West (5-3, disappointing but dangerous with Division I prospect Blaine Gabbert) and Seckman (4-4) to advance for their first playoff appearance since 2001.

Although he never reached the end zone, the Indians owe plenty of thanks to Matt Lang.

He blocked an extra point, was on the receiving end of a 79-yard pass play, kicked all three extra points (including the game-winner) and intercepted a pass on Eureka's final offensive play.

Jackson set up its final touchdown with -- of all things -- the big pass play.

With Eureka ahead 21-20 and 4 minutes to play, Lang caught a pass from Marcus Harris and raced up the sideline to the 1-yard line. Cody Randen ran in from there for the tying points, and Lang kicked the extra point for the margin of victory.

Not much later, Lang intercepted a fourth-down pass to clinch the victory.

Finishes don't get much more fantastic than this one.

The teams traded blows throughout the night, including a third quarter that was such a defensive battle that overtime looked possible. Jackson had 1 yard of offense; Eureka had 10.

"Neither one of us wanted to make a mistake on offense because both of us knew we had good defenses," Gross said.

But the offenses opened up in the final period, and after Lang had a field goal attempt blocked, Eureka took its first lead on a 64-yard pass play from Matt Borzillo to Caleb Dixon, who had two TDs on the night.

The opening quarter went to Jackson, which took advantage of some Eureka mistakes, including stepping out of bounds on the opening kickoff, to take a 7-0 lead. But despite a pair of penalties and playing the entire period in Eureka's side of the field, the Indians were limited to just one touchdown. A fake field goal was stopped short of the first down.

Eureka battled back in the second period, taking advantage of a fumble on a sack of Marcus Harris to set up its first touchdown. Jackson responded with a determined 80-yard touchdown march. Adam Zweigart scored the touchdown but appeared to have suffered a forearm injury in the process.

Eureka put together a startling big-play drive with Brad Fitzgerald running 48 yards to set up Borzillo's 20-yard TD pass to Dixon.

Halftime, 14-14.

The third quarter was a defensive stalemate.

Then came Lang's big plays over the final 5 minutes, starting with the block of Drew Geldbach's extra-point attempt.

Eureka had good field position for its final drive, starting at its own 45 and needing probably only 30 yards to give Geldbach a shot at a winning field goal. After driving to Jackson's 36, Eureka faced fourth-and-9. With no timeouts, they sent Geldbach out for a 53-yard field goal attempt.

It would have been interesting to see the attempt, and if he had made it -- as hard as it would have been for Jackson fans -- Eureka would have been a deserving winner.

But after Jackson used a timeout, Eureka switched to the pass play, which was intercepted by Lang, who nearly returned it for a score.

Parkway West defeated Seckman 42-0 in the other district game Friday night.

I will have more on a blow-by-blow account of the big plays after reviewing and posting video clips from the game and postgame interviews.