FLORISSANT, Mo. - It took the Jefferson City Jays more than 8 minutes to get on the scoreboard Friday against McCluer North, but once they did, the scoring didn't stop.
The Jays scored 14 points in the final 4 minutes of the first quarter and exploded for 27 more before halftime in a 47-0 win against the Stars, who have lost to the Jays in 10 straight seasons.
From the start, Jefferson City wanted to test out its wishbone package, and it worked like a charm.
Fullback K.D. Rosser ran four times for 30 yards before Devin Roberson, who made his first varsity start, connected with tight end Ian Cote for a 25-yard touchdown on play-action. However, holding brought it back and the Jays turned it over on downs four plays later.
The Stars went three-and-out on their first drive and Jefferson City went 59 yards in seven plays, capping the drive with a 5-yard Rosser score with 3:47 left in the opening quarter.
Ben Folz made his first of five extra points for a 7-0 lead.
On that drive, the Jays got back into the shotgun until the TD run. Maleek Jackson ran for 20 yards on four carries and Roberson completed a 14-yard pass to Christian White on play-action to begin the drive and found Levi Jobe for 16 yards on another play-fake.
McCluer North went three-and-out again, their second of six for the game. The Stars didn't pick up a first down until Jaamel Smith rushed for five yards on a 2nd-and-3 early in the fourth quarter. The Stars finished the game with three first downs, including Tarron Gregory's 43-yard run up the gut on the final play of the game against the Jays' defensive reserves.
"We felt like we were going to be pretty strong defensively," Jays coach Ted LePage said. "Our defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and our linebackers scraped real well."
Jefferson City forced three turnovers. Mitchell Huston collected a rolling fumble on a punt return at the Star's 7-yard line, leading to a 1-yard run by Roberson to give the Jays a 14-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.
Khalil Foster picked off Jonathan Jefferson's pass on third down on the ensuing drive, setting the Jays up on their 44-yard line.
Jefferson City converted on a 3rd-and-13 with Roberson's 14-yard completion to Jackson. A roughing the passer penalty got the Jays 18 yards from the end zone and Jackson broke through multiple defenders for a touchdown two plays later. With 8:57 left before halftime, it was 21-0 Jays.
The Jays continued to take advantage of good field position, scoring on drives of 27, 15, 29 and 24 yards.
A Nik Williams fumble recovery set up the 15-yard scoring drive, which was capped off by an Ian Cote 12-yard reception from Roberson.
Roberson scored a 3-yard rushing TD their previous drive and Jackson scored the final TD of the first half with a 3-yard run with 1:26 on the clock.
The final score of the game came on the first play of the fourth quarter, a 5-yard pass from Roberson to Jobe in the back corner of the end zone.
"I thought we did a really good job at mixing the run-pass combinations," LePage said. " We did a lot of things tonight that we wanted to see in a game-like situation."
The PAT hit off the post, giving Folz a 5-for-7 mark for the game.
"We got our young kicker some kicking and he'll get better and better," LePage said.
Jefferson City (1-0) will head to the St. Louis area again next Friday to take on No. 4 Kirkwood, which defeated Chaminade, the No. 6 team in Class 5, 20-14 on the road Friday.