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Sunday, January 28, 2018
Long before Cooper Callis stepped foot into Jackson High School, he dreamed of playing at The Pit.
The Indians' football stadium held a special allure for Callis. He grew up tossing the football around with his father, and on Fridays, he would sometimes head over to The Pit to watch Jackson play.
When Callis got a chance to fulfill that dream years later, he took advantage of the opportunity.
Callis capped off a stellar high school career with an eye-popping senior season, passing for 3,807 yards and 56 touchdowns while completing 65.9 percent of his passes and etching his name into the state record books. Along the way, he won the Carr Trophy, given to the best high school football player in Southeast Missouri.
It all added up to a memorable senior season, one that earned him the title of 2017 Southeast Missourian Football Player of the Year.
"I always dreamed, not really of my senior season I don't think, just of playing at The Pit," Callis said. "I'm not kidding, it was everything I could have thought of, just the feeling of playing out there in front of all those people and the feeling of winning on Friday, and then Saturday seeing a bunch of people and them just congratulating you all over town and stuff. That's an awesome feeling. There's not many feelings like it.
"Yeah, it was everything I hyped it up to be, I guess. I probably won't forget playing at The Pit, for sure. Wherever I go play college there'll be a bunch of people there, but I don't think they'll care individually as much as they do at Jackson, for sure."
Callis quarterbacked an offense that averaged 51.2 points per game and scored 39 or more points in nine of its 11 games en route to a second consecutive appearance in the Class 5 District 1 championship game. It was an entertaining offense, clicking on all cylinders for most of the season, and Jackson fans weren't the only ones who enjoyed the show.
2017 All-Missourian Football - Cooper Callis - Jackson
BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com
'Fun to watch'
Jackson coach Brent Eckley has been working with Callis since the seventh grade. He's seen him mature and grow over those years. The duo made sure there would be some memories to savor from Callis' senior year.
"It was certainly fun to watch," Eckley said. "It was a point of pride because I get to coach the quarterbacks and it was really neat just to see him, how he's continued to mature and the things he was able to do with our offense, making such great decisions and being accurate with the ball and then being athletic in the pocket and making people miss."
FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com
Jackson quarterback Cooper Callis throws a pass to Jordan Kent for a two-point conversion against Marion during the second quarter Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 in Jackson.
Fred Lynch
Eckley has been coaching football for 23 years and been a head coach since 2000. He's coached several talented quarterbacks and explosive offenses, and the Indians' offense this year were one of the best he's ever directed.
"In the time I've been coaching, this offense ranks No. 1 in points per game and No. 2 in yards per game, and there were a lot of other areas we were really good in, whether that'd be third- or fourth-down conversions or red-zone stuff, points per drive," Eckley said. "There's a lot of areas in there where we were really outstanding, and it wasn't just one person. It was a team effort, but when the ball is snapped and it touches the quarterback's hands, he's got to make the right decision and get the ball to the right place."
Callis had plenty of weapons at his disposal, as junior Jordan Kent caught 81 passes for 1,307 yards and 24 touchdowns, earning a place on the All-State and All-Southeast Missourian football teams. Terrico Johnson was also a first team All-SEMO Conference wide receiver. In the backfield, All-Missourian selection Ethan Laster rushed for over 1,300 yards and had nearly 500 yards receiving, and senior offensive lineman Owen Leible got All-State honors and a spot on the All-Missourian team.
That group scored 50 or more points in each of its last five games.
"I knew at some point it was going to click," Callis said. "Whenever it did, I don't remember specifically which game, but whenever it did ... almost every game we were firing on all cylinders on the offensive side."
2017 All-Missourian Football - Cooper Callis - Jackson
BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com
Winning games and awards
For as long as he can remember, Callis has been enamored by the Jackson-Cape Central game.
He got to experience the rivalry game first hand as a starter the last two years, and each time, the Indians emerged triumphant. Against the Tigers this year, Callis finished 25-of-38 for 408 yards and one interception as the Indians cruise to a 63-21 victory.
"That was a really, really fun game, just mainly because of how many people show up to that game," Callis said. "I always hear older people talking about how they remember their Jackson team beating Cape's team all four years they played or all the way up from junior high to high school or they remember losing to them. Obviously, it's something that most people will remember and knowing that I'll get to remember beating them in front of so many people, in such a big game, it was very memorable for sure."
A month later, Jackson collected another win over a rival, beating Poplar Bluff 56-49 in triple overtime. That victory avenged a regular-season defeat to the Mules that cost the Indians a second consecutive SEMO North Conference Championship.
Jackson's Cooper Callis throws the ball during the Class 5 District 1 championship game between Vianney and Jackson Friday, Nov. 3, 2017 at St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood, Missouri. Vianney won 71-50.
Andrew J. Whitaker ~ Southeast Missourian
The Indians ultimately fell to reigning state champion Vianney in the district title game, with Callis throwing for 399 yards and six touchdowns in a 71-50 defeat. It was the most points the Golden Griffins gave up all season.
Callis ended the campaign among the top 10 in state history in touchdowns (fourth), passing yards (sixth), completions (sixth with 280) and pass attempts (eight with 425) in a season. He averaged 25.45 completions per game, fifth in state history, and 346.09 passing yards per game, good enough for fourth in the state record books.
The voters for the Carr Trophy took notice. In late November, Callis took home the prestigious honor, beating out Central's Aaron Harris, Malden's Tray Stevenson and Hayti's Ivory Winters.
"It was definitely exciting." Callis said. "Not that that's all I strived for ... but just getting to that point, obviously, being up on that stage with those guys was a little nerve-wracking. But it was a great feeling."
With the Carr Trophy secured and his last season playing at The Pit him, Callis is now focused on his future: college football.
The future
Alongside Callis in the state record book are two other quarterbacks Eckley coached: Montgomery County's Eric Czerniewski and Union's Jordan Webb. Czerniewski holds the record for most passing yards in a season with 4,407, and Webb is No. 1 in passing yards per game in a season with 391.64. Webb ended up playing college football at Kansas and Colorado while Czerniewski won the Harlon Hill Trophy in 2010, awarded to the top player in Division II.
2017 All-Missourian Football - Cooper Callis - Jackson
Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian
So Eckley, who also coached a former Division I quarterback in Jackson alumnus Dante Vandeven, has been around numerous talented signal-callers.
Callis, Eckley said, is in that category. His ability to read defenses, even ones he hasn't practiced against, and adjust in the middle of a game is special, and he will only get better as he gets older and bigger, Eckley said.
"He's easily one of the best quarterbacks that I've had and I've had the opportunity to coach," Eckley said. "He's a good decision-maker. He's extremely bright in the classroom and he's smarter than that on the field. He has some special abilities that not every quarterback has, and one that really stands out is he has the ability, without taking specific reps at a look, he can visualize it.
"So as a coach on the sidelines you can explain to him, 'Hey, they're doing this, so we're going to read this guy,' and he has the ability to see that and then make the correct decision from series to series. Not many people can do that, when you can explain something to them in football and they see it without having to have it written down for them."
Callis doesn't know yet where he will got college, but he has numerous Division I offers. While he's looking forward to playing at the next level, his senior season was bittersweet. It was likely his last time playing with his teammates, many of whom he grew up playing with and against in the Jackson Area Youth Football league.
After victory, when Callis and other players went out to eat on Friday night or Saturday afternoon around town, people came up and congratulated them. Callis loved it and loved playing in the Pit.
So after the season ended, Callis was left mourning the loss of high school football. But soon he began to reflect on the positives: the memories he and his teammates created will last past their high school careers.
Callis may not get to step into The Pit anymore as a Jackson player, but he will always remember how he got to fulfill that dream.
"It was definitely a fun experience, probably more fun than I could have imagined," Callis said. "I probably won't forget that feeling of playing in the Pit."
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