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Unforgiving Edwardsville crushing as Jackson collapses under Saturday night lights
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Jackson's Gavin Alspaugh (left) fights through a block by Edwardsville's Devyon Hill-Lomax (right) during a Saturday, September 14, 2024 game between the Edwardsville Tigers and the Jackson Indians at Edwardsville High School in Edwardsville, Ill. Edwardsville defeated Jackson, 41-7.
Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com
One day and one location change later, Jackson football finally got to match up with Edwardsville, but the Tigers marched all over the Indians in a 41-7 demolition back on the east side of the Mississippi River.
After threats of on-campus violence pushed the sides to renegotiate their Friday matchup in Jackson to a Saturday night, 6 p.m. matchup in Edwardsville, Illinois, what was already a weird game got even weirder.
It felt like a lot of little things added up to another blowout, this time at the hands of Edwardsville for Jackson.
For coach Ryan Nesbitt, he put it best following the loss.
“Once again, the Indians keep beating the Indians.”
Jackson opened the game with the ball, and Drew Parsons’ hook ball got tipped out of the receiver’s hands and into Edwardsville possession for the pick.
One fourth-down stop later, Jackson got it right back on a Marcus Cutsinger pick inside Jackson’s red zone.
But, as Parsons cut upfield, the junior made a big play with this legs but got rocked by a Tiger defender, losing the ball as he spun out going up the sideline.
Once the Tigers recover that lost ball, it felt like they never lost that momentum. Quarterback Yale Weaver hit Gavin Potthast for the opening score, and Edwardsville just kept scoring from there.
Turnovers have been a major cause for concern for Jackson early this season, and another three drops in the bucket presented a problem for the offense as a whole after three weeks.
“Offensively, what’s No. 1 is all of us taking care of the football,” Nesbitt said. “That's every skill position.”
Despite a disappointing first half, Parsons rebounded in the second half with a couple big throws along with a crucial rushing score from long distance, marching in from nearly 40 yards out to get Jackson on the board.
Against the mighty, methodical Iose Epenesa of future Iowa fame (the baby brother of Buffalo Bills linebacker A.J. Epenesa, in case you were wondering), he was on his feet all night trying to make magic in a tight backfield.
That’s not to say the Jackson line didn’t play well – with such a tough task, the interior offensive line held up quite well – but it was never going to be an easy task facing such a dominant front.
One of the biggest focal points for Nesbitt following the loss was the lack of discipline, with big penalties costing Jackson both offensively and defensively on Saturday.
“It's minimizing penalties,” Nesbitt said. “We beat ourselves entirely too much. We play behind the sticks and behind the situations. We’ve got to be better at just being efficient.”
It’s the second time in three years that Jackson brings a two-loss record into Week 4. The first came in the final season under Brent Eckley, and now Nesbitt notches his first at that post.
The spot isn’t one that Jackson is too familiar with in recent times, but the obvious uphill battle of a schedule feeds right into a wide-open six weeks in which Jackson is heavily favored in just about every matchup.
The sweat of the first three weeks – the media narratives, the fan narratives, the in-house, behind-the-scenes narratives – is about to be put to bed.
Moving into a matchup with Farmington to open up the SEMO North slate, Jackson duels with a 1-0 Knights team fresh off a definitive victory over the Poplar Bluff Mules in Week 3.
Farmington hasn’t took a match off Jackson since the 2011 season. For those keeping score at home, that was two coaches and 13 years ago.
Amidst all the hubbub of a disheartening loss at Edwardsville, there’s one bright side: The road to a seventh consecutive conference title begins six days from Saturday.