Jackson football wins third straight District title

Jackson quarterback Cael Welker jukes a Farmington defender in the Class 5 District 1 championship game on Friday at Jackson High School

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Jackson defeated Farmington 49-14 on Friday at The Pit to claim the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 crown for the third straight season and move on to the state quarterfinals.

It was the Indians’ second win over the Black Knights this season, as Jackson (11-0) won the first game by a similar score of 56-14.

“Farmington, like we expected, would come in and have a couple of new wrinkles,” Jackson coach Brent Eckley said. “They’re a smart staff and their kids are disciplined. Their coach has got to be super proud of their kids because I thought they played hard and played disciplined and executed some of their new wrinkles.”

The Indians scored a touchdown on their first seven offensive drives.

Senior quarterback Cael Welker accounted for five of those seven scores, four through the air and one on the ground.

“He did a really nice job managing the game, making decisions like always,” Eckley said. “Sometimes we take that for granted. He’s an outstanding quarterback and playmaker. I thought he ran the ball very well, made good decisions throwing. He did a good job staying patient in the pocket and getting to his next receiver. He spread it around very well.”

It didn’t take long for the Indians to score.

On the first offensive play of the game, Welker lobbed a pass to senior receiver Rhet Liley for a 30-yard touchdown.

The Indians’ offense was nearly as efficient in its second drive as its first.

A 15-yard touchdown pass from Welker to sophomore receiver Marquis Eckley extended the Jackson lead to 14-0 with 7:12 left in the first quarter.

The Jackson defense was successful in keeping the Farmington (9-3) defense inside its 20-yard line all first quarter.

The Knights' offense didn’t get a first down until the end of the opening period.

The Indians’ third offensive drive also resulted in a score but was more methodical than the previous two.

A series of running plays got Jackson to the end zone. After its first touchdown was called back by a penalty, Jackson returned to score on a short pass from Welker to junior receiver Kannen Turley at the corner of the end zone for a 21-0 margin.

Farmington’s offense turned the corner in the second quarter.

After getting a first down on a fake-punt pass play, a 30-yard pass from senior quarterback Kaden Files to junior receiver Brady Cook put the Black Knights in the red zone for the first time.

After losing yards on a run play, the Black Knights found the end zone for the first time on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Files to receiver Isaiah Robinson to cut their deficit to 21-7.

“We knew they would take some chances and they did,” Eckley said. “I’m pleased that our guys didn’t get super down when they executed.”

Undeterred, the Indians returned to the end zone for the fourth straight drive on a 40-yard touchdown run by Welker to go up 28-7 with 8:24 left in the first half. It was one thing for Welker to have the open space to run. It was another for him to make space by juking defenders.

“He is really quick in the open field,” Eckley said. “We tried purposely to not use him very much in the run game because boy, we’d look kind of dumb to get him broken early in the season. We don’t have to have a lot of shots on him. He’s done a nice job in spots but he hasn’t carried probably as much as he did as a junior or as a sophomore.”

Jackson scored on every offensive drive in the first half.

A pass from Welker to sophomore receiver Steven Schneider went 40 yards to set up a short rushing touchdown by sophomore Joshua Wehrenberg, extending the Indians’ lead to 35-7 before the end of the first half.

The Jackson offense kept its scoring streak to six offensive drives.

Turley caught a short pass by Welker and dashed 39 yards to set up a five-yard touchdown catch, his second score of the night, to extend the Indians' lead to 42-7 with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter.

After quickly getting the ball back, Welker ran for 26 yards to set up a two-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Tony Williams to go up 49-7 with 5:27 left in the third quarter.

The Jackson scoring streak ended on its eighth drive after a missed field goal at the start of the fourth quarter.

Farmington added some late points to the board with a 35-yard touchdown run by senior running back Carter Barnes to cut the deficit to 49-14 with seven minutes left in the game.

Jackson moves on to the state quarterfinal round and will visit Chaminade College Prep, which moved on by beating Parkway West 57-14.

“They’re gonna be a good team,” Eckley said. “They got some Division I guys on their team.”