St. Viator's Jackson makes most of second chance
St. Viator running back Darreonta Jackson fumbled the second time he touched the football Friday against St. Francis. That was as far as his generosity extended.
Jackson ran for 262 yards on 14 carries and scored on second-half runs of 92 and 55 yards to lead the visiting Lions to a 39-7 victory in Wheaton.
"I came to the sideline (after the fumble) and talked to my coach on the headphones, talked to my teammates and they told me to keep my head up, the game's not over, we still have a big game and they really needed me," Jackson said. "So I took their word and kept my head in the game."
Jackson's heroics blew open what had been a dogfight for a little more than two quarters.
St. Viator (1-1) took a 13-0 lead on a 20-yard pass from 6-foot-4 senior quarterback Tom Majerus to Marc Clark with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter, and a 1-yard run by junior Bryce Hellgeth with 8:56 left in the second quarter.
Aided by three St. Viator penalties, St. Francis drove to the Lions' 26-yard line with a little more than six minutes remaining in the half before the drive stalled. But St. Viator turned the ball over following a bad snap from center and the Spartans took over at the Lions' 13.
Seven plays later, John Brundage found junior wideout Tanner Spinks in the left corner of the end zone to cut the deficit to 13-7. But St. Viator only needed three plays to answer, extending to a 19-7 advantage late in the first half on a 40-yard toss from Majerus to Clark.
St. Francis had an opportunity to cut into the deficit after recovering a fumble - the third of the game lost by St. Viator - at the Lions' 11-yard line two minutes into the second half. But four runs netted only 8 yards, and St. Francis turned the ball over on downs.
That's when Jackson took over. He broke St. Viator's first play from scrimmage following the defensive stand for 92 yards around right end, then scored from 55 yards out on the Lions' next play to push the lead to 33-7 with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter.
"One thing after watching the film we'll say is that we have to capitalize on turnovers and we have to capitalize on the other team making some mistakes," said first-year St. Francis coach Joe Lepsche. "We didn't do that tonight and there were mistakes all over the place.
"We had a couple of spurts on drives," he added. "We forced some turnovers. Defensively, we made some big stops. But offensively we got to move the ball a little bit more and we still have to work on the average starting field position. It's just been horrendous for us. A long way to go."
Quarterback John Brundage led St. Francis (0-2) by completing 10 of 23 passes for 74 yards. Majerus was 7 of 15 for 88 yards for St. Viator, which could get Notre Dame recruit Cole Kmet back next week.
"We're short a man, we're not a big team, but we all play with our hearts and play mentally and physically tough," Jackson said. "We have to come out ready for anything."