JACKSON -- Jackson scored 14 points before the Poplar Bluff offense ever took the field.
The Indians opened the game with an onside kick, scored, kicked another onside kick, scored, and was up by two touchdowns after 90 seconds. Jackson went on to win 63-20, and in the process, the Mules lost three players and a cheerleader to injury.
"It totally took away what we wanted to do, which is to keep the ball between the tackles and shorten the game," said Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers, who added the team practiced for the onside kicks. "They are the best team we've seen. They are going to be hard to beat. Ultimately, I hope we get to come back here in about four weeks and try again, because this isn't us."
Jackson (7-0, 4-0 SEMO North) tried a third straight onside kick, which the Mules (3-4, 1-3) recovered, and the Indians spent the entire game essentially kicking to where the Mules weren't.
"We work on it in the offseason," Jackson coach Brent Eckley said. "It kind of carried over from offseason. We haven't been real great at covering longer kicks, and we've struggled at driving the ball down deep, but our guys did a good job kicking onsides, spotting us a few kicks tonight. It was good."
On the third play of the Mules' first drive, Josiah Kilgore handed off to Isaiah Johnson on a zone read and Johnson broke loose up the middle for a 48-yard touchdown run.
"The big run in the first half, that is what we thought we could do. When we were able to stay away from their edge pressure, we were successful. What we planned on and what we thought we could do, it worked. It was just not near enough against a really good football team," Sievers said.
Jackson stole the momentum right back after Jordan Kent picked up the Mules' squib kickoff at the 25, took it up the left side, gave the Mules a spin move and outran everyone as he reversed field for a touchdown.
The Indians scored touchdowns on nine of their first 10 drives. The only failure was when Shemyron Townsend forced a Jackson fumble. Jackson finished with 547 yards to Poplar Bluff's 235.
The Mules, though, outscored Jackson in the second half 13-7. In the third quarter, Townsend returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown for his first and the Mules' second kick return for a touchdown this season. In the fourth quarter, Townsend took a carry to the outside and up the sideline for a 71-yard touchdown run. With it, Townsend finished with 103 rushing yards, 207 total yards and two touchdowns. Johnson added 81 yards, but did not play in the second half after tweaking an ankle injury that Sievers said Johnson has been dealing with for the past month since rolling it in practice.
"We were moving the ball. We couldn't execute well, but we did the best we could," Johnson said.
Poplar Bluff also had quarterback Josiah Kilgore get taken off the field on a stretcher late in the first half. Kilgore was wrapped up and twisted by three Indians in the backfield. Sievers said he felt numbness from his upper thighs extending to his lower back, but never lost feeling in his extremities.
"It was more precautionary than anything," Sievers said of the stretcher.
In came freshman quarterback Kannon Carr, who wasn't even listed in the pre-game program.
"I was pretty nervous and everything, but once I got out there and after a few plays I settled in. My teammates helped protect me in the pocket," Carr said.
After handing the ball off a few times, Carr completed his first varsity pass attempt to Chad Casey for a 19-yard gain.
"It was exciting. I was glad I got one," Carr said.
He also got to finish the first half by suffering his first sack.
"In the moment it didn't really hurt, but it got my jitters going a little more than at the beginning," Carr said. "I was nervous to get hit by the big guys, but it didn't hurt as much as I was expecting, so I was glad about that."
Carr finished 3 for 9 passing for 34 yards. Kilgore was 2 for 10 for 10 yards before getting injured and also ran seven times for minus-4 yards.
"If we're looking for small victories, we won the second half and we found out Carr can throw the football around a little bit," Sievers said. "I asked the kids to play hard for 48 minutes, and I think for the most part we did. - Our guys just weren't ready for the magnitude and the pace of this game. Jackson, they play really fast, they play really hard."
Poplar Bluff left tackle Kendrick Gordon also left the game with an ankle injury, and the halftime kick was delayed after a Poplar Bluff cheerleader collapsed on the sideline. She would be OK.
Cael Walker was 19 for 23 passing for 276 yards and six touchdowns for Jackson. Kent had five catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Seth Waters caught three passes for 72 yarsd and Rhet Liley had six catches for 67 yards. Daniel Dickerson led the Indians on the ground with 13 carries for 63 yards. Jackson had six players with at least 10 rushing yards.