The 2022 Football Season didn’t go exactly as planned for the Jackson Indians, but it was still a successful one, littered with special talent on both sides of the ball. Still, it just wasn’t individual achievements that marked the year for the Tribe.
The Indians finished 6-4 on the season and played an incredibly tough schedule. They took on some new challenges with powerhouse schools such as Edwardsville, Francis Howell and Holt. A double overtime loss to Edwardsville was a heart-breaker to start the season, and likely had the Indians scrambling a bit heading into the game against Howell. That one didn’t go quite as well, but it marked the turning of the tide for the season.
The Indians regrouped and found their stride as they ripped off five straight wins to get back on top of the season. The victories over Farmington, Poplar Bluff, Cape Central, Sikeston and Confluence Prep were all blowouts in favor of Jackson, showing just how dominant they still are within the District. The 34-21 loss to Holt was a stinger, but the Indians rebounded quickly with a 52-0 shutout over a very talented Festus team that boasts a great offense.
That gave the Indians a 6-3 record, a Conference Title and the top seed in the District Playoffs. They earned a first round bye and patiently awaited for Poplar Bluff to come to town in a couple weeks. The Indians had beaten the Mules, 35-7 earlier in the season so this appeared to be a cakewalk to winning Districts yet again.
Unfortunately, this was a revenge game for Bluff and they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent High School Football memory. A missed extra proved incredibly costly and the Indians fell in a 21-20 shocker.
Certainly not the way Jackson wanted to end their season, but there were plenty of highlights along the way, and almost too many individual standouts to count. See below for the accolades of some of the Indians’ finest from 2022.
1st Team All Conference Defense 1st Team All Conference Offense
DL – Tony Terry OL – Noah Gibson
LB – Griffin Horman OL – Aiden Shaver
LB – Titus Jackson RB – Tony Williams
DB – Gavin Guilliams WR – Isaiah Davis
2nd Team All Conference Defense 2nd Team All Conference Offense
DL – Cole Folz QB – Zach Calder
DL – Reid Landers WR – Kai Crowe
LB – Fisher Stevens WR – JP Sauer
DB- TJ Altenthal
Honorable Mentions
DB – Cole Vermillion
DL – Hayden Wessell
OL – Zane Coon
With a couple new faces under center this year, the Tribe employed a bit of a timeshare at the Quarterback position. Zach Calder shined in his new role with 1,161 yards and a 15/6 TD/INT ratio. He completed 98-of-172 passes and had a 135.5 Quarterback rating. His counterpart, Adrian Fox, was good for 564 yards through the air and six TDs, but was extremely adept with his legs. He rushed for 332 yards and four scores on 68 carries.
Continuing with the rushing department, it was mostly about Tony Williams. He led the team with 653 yards and 12 rushing scores, and as noted above, made First Team All-Conference.
As for the arial threats, Isaiah Davis was the biggest. He had 14 total touchdowns (11 through the air), and led the team in catches (63), yards (758) and the aforementioned 11 receiving scores. Kai Crowe was nipping at his heels though. He had 36 grabs for 595 yards, eight TDs and a team-leading 16.5 yards per catch.
Defensively, the Indians, to put it simply, were loaded. Tony Terry made 1st Team All-Conference and was named Defensive Player of the Year and Lineman of the Year, thanks to his 65 tackles (11 for a loss), four sacks, two fumble recoveries and eight pass break-ups. He also recently signed an NIL contract and committed to play D1 Football at Kansas.
His partner in crime, Griffin Horman, led the team in tackles with 96 and had three fumble recoveries.
Also of note, Fisher Stevens led the Indians with seven sacks, Titus Jackson had 89 tackles and TJ Altenthal was the only player with multiple interceptions.
We could go on and on and on, but the point here is that this was yet another impressive campaign by Head Coach Brent Eckley‘s bunch, who by the way was named Conference Coach of the Year.
Congratulations to all the Jackson Indians on a stellar season and all their impressive achievements.
