ST. LOUIS - The Jefferson City Jays drove into C.B.C. territory on their first two drives Friday night, but didn't score.
By the time the Jays reached Cadet territory again, they were down 35-0. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Jays were just looking to stop the running clock.
They managed to do that on Elijah Jackson's 59-yard fumble return for a touchdown with 2:30 left in the game. K.D. Rosser ran it in for the 2-point conversion to make it 42-15, and that's where the score remained as the Jays fell to 2-5 on the season and the No. 1-ranked Cadets improved to 6-1.
"Every coach that I talked to has said this team is supposed to turbo clock everybody," Jefferson City coach Ted LePage said. "They didn't turbo clock us tonight. We sat there and fought. We're not looking for any stars or whatever today, we're looking to be a better football team for next week. We have momentum for next week and our players are going to come back and be prepared for next week."
On the opening drive of the game, the Jays reached the C.B.C. 16-yard line only to turn the ball over on downs.
Devin Roberson completed a 15-yard pass to Maleek Jackson on the third play of the drive and a facemask placed the ball at the C.B.C. 36.
An offside penalty plus runs of 6 and 7 yards by Roberson got Jefferson City to the 18. An incomplete pass set up fourth-and-3, and Rosser came up a yard short on a run.
The Jays got rolling again on their second drive as Roberson completed passes of 19 and 10 yards to Davion Evans to help place the Jays at the C.B.C. 41. A 1-yard run, an incompletion and a 2-yard completion forced a punt.
"I hate to sound like a broken record but we're doing great things," LePage said. "The pass coverage, the guy was a really good quarterback and put it right on the money. There were two passes that we had guys right there. I said, 'Don't get down.'"
LePage is referring to C.B.C. quarterback Brett Gabbert, who completed 18-of-20 for 286 yards and four touchdowns. He only played one series in the second half.
Gabbert had touchdown tosses of 5, 26, 45 and 40 yards in the first half.
Cameron Brown, who led the Cadets with eight reception for 127 yards, hauled in the 5- and 26-yard scores.
The first was caught in the back of the end zone on C.B.C.'s opening drive. He had a 47-yard grab on the third play of the seven-play drive that ended with 6:50 left in the first quarter.
Brown's second touchdown was an over-the-shoulder catch down the sideline with a defender only a half-step behind. That touchdown made it 21-0 with 9:18 left in the first half.
The Jays also had good coverage on the next touchdown, but Gabbert lasered in a pass to Julian Williams in the middle of the field. The speedy Williams sprinted to the end zone for a 45-yard score.
Tyler Walton beat his defender down the sideline for a 40-yard score with 3:50 left in the first half.
"I said, 'I want to win the second half,'" LePage said. "I wanted to show them that I'm coaching for them and we're coaching as coaches, not just me, but us as coaches we're coaching for them to win."
Jefferson City found the end zone twice in the second half. Noah Jahr recovered a teammates' fumble in the end zone to make it 42-7 with 6:08 left in the game.
Jackson's fumble recovery came on the ensuing drive.
Christian White, who caught four passes for 100 yards for the Jays, had a 56-yard reception to help set up Jahr's touchdown.
"I told them, 'I'm having a blast coaching these guys,'" LePage said. "You know why? Because they don't quit. And if they don't quit, I'll never quit for them. We've got a chance. They grew up a lot tonight. We saw some great things happen.
"I mean, look at what our offense did to probably the No. 1 team in the state. We threw the ball all over the yard on them. We've got some things working. We need to sure up our pass defense. But that was a Division I athlete throwing to a Division I athlete."
Roberson completed 11-of-19 for 180 yards, including five for 15 yards or more.
"I think at times Devin is just off the charts, and then at times he tries to do too much," LePage said.
Roberson ran it 17 times for 16 yards. The Jays were held to 68 yards on 28 rushing attempts, which was one yard less than the C.B.C. reserves. The Cadets ran it 32 times for 202 yards, led by Bryan Bradford's 59 yards on 12 carries. Chance Lotts had 53 yards on six rushes. Both had a rushing touchdown.
The Jays will close out the regular season with Battle and Rockhurst at home.
The Spartans (5-2), who won 34-0 at Truman on Friday, will visit Adkins Stadium next Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.