Senior Andrew Graves scored all three of Jefferson’s touchdowns as the Blue Jays held off St. Pius X 20-6 on Friday night in an I-55 Conference game.
Graves scooped up St. Pius running back Dustin Burch’s fumble and rumbled 56 yards for a score with 8:30 left in the first quarter. The two-point conversion failed and host Jefferson led 6-0.
The Lancers were moving the ball on their first series using running back Michael Bollinger in the shotgun taking the snap and plowing ahead in their heavy package.
Senior Jalen Thornton had a 51-yard run on the next St. Pius series, but the Lancers turned the ball over on downs. Jefferson running back Colby Ott fumbled on the Blue Jays next set of downs and senior Jarrett Kort recovered for St. Pius.
Starting at midfield, the Lancers had a chance to tie or take the lead right before halftime when their offensive line held their blocks and quarterback Carson Fischer threw a perfect pass, but it went off the hands of wide open junior Dre Townsend.
St. Pius tied the game 6-6 on its first drive of the second half. Thornton ripped off a 37-yard run and Townsend tacked on 34 yards on the next play. Burch scored from five yards out, but the run failed on the conversion leaving the game tied with 9:48 left in the third quarter.
That’s the way it stayed until Jefferson launched the game-winning drive from its 24. Graves gained five yards on fourth-and-4 and ended the drive with a 2-yard burst with 10:32 left in the game. Graves also ran in the two-point conversion to give the Blue Jays a 14-6 lead.
A holding penalty on the Lancers negated a first-down pass to the Jefferson 5 and senior Brock Hill recovered a St. Pius fumbled pitch. Five plays later Graves scored his third TD of the night from three yards to make it 20-6.
“I want to go out with a bang and I want my teammates to think I’m all in and will do anything to win a district championship,” said Graves who is the school’s all-time rushing leader with more than 5,000 yards.
Jefferson improved to 4-0 for the first time in team history, while St. Pius lost its first game and is 3-1. Both teams continue conference play next week when the Lancers host Herculaneum and the Blue Jays go to Crystal City.
Seckman 14, Northwest 6
On fourth-and-goal from the Northwest 6-yard line, Seckman ran a double reverse and senior Dylan Hawk threw a touchdown pass to quarterback Seth Lounsbury with 10:17 left in game to give the visiting Jaguars a 14-6 lead.
Later in the fourth, the Lions (3-1) had the ball first-and-goal from the Seckman 1-yard line when senior defensive lineman Blake Fritz stripped fullback Chris Sutton, the Jags (4-0) recovered the ball and held on to win the Suburban West Conference National Division contest.
Seckman led 7-6 at halftime. Northwest senior running back Tanner Campbell scored the Lions’ TD on a 38-yard scamper in the first half, but the two-point attempt failed. Hawk scored the Jags first TD of the game for the third week in a row with a 65-yard jaunt. Kicker Sam Sattley added the PAT to give Seckman a 7-6 lead.
The Jags try to stay unbeaten when they go to Mehlville (3-1) next Friday, while the Lions are at Lafayette (1-3).
For complete coverage of this game, Hillsboro’s win over Festus and Seckman’s historic victory at Northwest, read Thursday’s Leader.
Other county football scores from Friday night: Valle Catholic 49, Crystal City 0; Hillsboro 32, Festus 22; Fox 50, Mehlville 13; St. Vincent 44, Herculaneum 20; Lift for Life 44, Windsor 18