Poplar Bluff defender Dallas Berry (3) goes for a slide-tackle on Jackson's Tyler Stoverink (10) Monday night at Whiteley Park. (Brian Rosener/DAR)

By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

A telling statistic in soccer that usually indicates how much pressure one team is putting on the other is goal kicks.

Monday night against Jackson, Poplar Bluff had 11 goal kicks to Jackson's one in the second half.

Jackson handled the ball in the Poplar Bluff defensive zone a majority of the game and came away with a 4-2 victory.

The win was the Indians' third of the year against the Mules, who have lost sixth of their last eight games and were in a quiet mood after the loss at Whiteley Park.

"It's (the season) going good, there have just been a lot of inconsistencies," Poplar Bluff head coach Derek Reasons said. "We'll show up one night, and then the next night we act like we're completely another team. There's no excuse for it, we've had three days off."

The Indians (5-7) kept the Mules (4-10-1) in the defensive zone for well over 75-percent of the game.

"They have a completely different style of play," Reasons said of Jackson. "They completely dominate possession. We went back to a lot of bad habits that we worked on the whole year as far as not applying pressure on the ball. (We're) just going back to bad habits basically."

The Mules had just four scoring opportunities and made out well as they scored on two them.

In the 16th minute, the Mules got one of their scoring opportunities when Josh Thompson sent a great pass across the box to Tim Kimbrow who was denied by Indians goalkeeper Justin Darnell. The play was set up beautifully by Jeremy Hubbard.

After the near-goal by Poplar Bluff, Jackson's attack kicked into high gear as Andrew Mueller got the Indians on the board with a nice feed from Law Duncan in the 25th minute.

Senior Josh Townsend (17) cuts off a Jackson player for a header Monday night. (Brian Rosener/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

With just seven minutes to go in the half, the Mules knotted the game up at 1-1 off an incredible effort by both Thompson and Alton Brookreson.

Brookreson beat his defender up the sideline, crossed a pass to Thompson that deflected off another defender. Thompson skipped the ball left past the goalkeeper and left-footed the ball into the back of the net.

"We hadn't scored on Jackson all year," Reasons said. "Could we be happier? Yes. We could have definitely created some more chances on possibilities we just didn't."

Jackson responded instantly in the second half, just three minutes in at the 43rd minute mark, Clayton Baker got in alone on Poplar Bluff goalkeeper Jay Raulston after fending off a couple Mule defenders and bounced the ball off the crossbar and in.

The Mules had an answer again though. Fifteen minutes later, Thompson found a loose ball in front of Darnell and put in his 10th goal of the season.

With the goal, Thompson has scored the last five goals for Poplar Bluff in the last five games.

"The kid has such a heart and such a love for the game," Reasons said. "He's willing to put everybody on his shoulders and try to take them to victory. How can you not like that as a coach?"

The Mules stumbled the rest of the game though after Thompson tied it up, 2-2.

Two minutes after Thompson's goal, Jackson sophomore Brice Steger was tripped up in the penalty area and senior Joseph Schulz made the Mules pay as he beat Raulston low and to the left to regain the lead.

The Indians added some insurance with five minutes to go as Law Duncan added to his assist earlier in the game with a goal to make it 4-2.

Jackson head coach Zack Walton was pleased with the four different players scoring four goals on the night.

"Yeah, we spread it around a little bit," Walton said. "I thought we were unselfish. That fourth goal was very unselfish we just played back in the middle and got us a nice goal there. Offensively we played really decently--we got a lot of chances to score."

Notes: The JV Mules lost to Jackson, 4-0 Monday night. … Poplar Bluff returns to action Wednesday night at Whiteley Park against Cape Central. The Tigers beat the Mules, 5-1, back on Sept. 18.