Both teams put themselves in bad spots numerous times, but the Jefferson City Jays capitalized more often.
Jefferson City scored 24 unanswered points to beat Battle 31-14 on Homecoming on Friday at Adkins Stadium, snapping a four-game losing streak. Battle entered the game ranked fourth in Class 5.
"I'm most excited for our players, they have not lost hope," Jefferson City coach Ted LePage said. "We've talked about building to Week 10, playing our best game every week, and I think we took the momentum of last week and carried it over."
Battle and Jefferson City were about to head into the locker room tied at 14, but the Jays used final :42.9 of the first half to take the lead for good.
A personal foul on a Jays punt return put Jefferson City at the Battle 47.
Devin Roberson completed a 7-yard pass to Christian White and then found White wide open in the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown with only 4 seconds on the clock. It gave the Jays a 21-14 advantage at halftime.
Roberson completed 6-of-8 passes for 134 yards and two scores in the first half, both touchdowns to White. Roberson finished the game 11-of-19 for 219 yards.
White was also left open in the end zone for a 26-yard score on the Jays' opening drive.
White caught eight passes for 188 yards with 109 yards in the first half alone.
"He's probably the most improved player on our offense," Roberson said. "He stepped up."
The Jays punted twice and turned it over on downs in their first three second-half drives.
However, Jefferson City's defensive front was in the backfield the rest of the night to keep the Spartans off the scoreboard as well.
Nik Williams and Corey Suttle had back-to-back sacks on Battle's opening drive of the second half to force a punt.
"We felt like we could get pressure," LePage said. "We felt like we had some good matchups."
On the Spartans' next possession, cornerback Khalil Foster broke up a deep pass right after Darren Jordan ran for 12 yards on a third-and-11. Battle went backwards in a hurry after that.
A block in the back penalty followed by a personal foul made it third-and-34 from the 9-yard line.
Jaren Lewis completed an 18-yard pass to Drey Tyler before Battle had to punt.
The Spartans took a deep shot on the first play of their next drive, but Ryan Brooks picked off the pass and the Jays drove it 66 yards in six plays for a touchdown.
Running back Noah Jahr completed a 35-yard pass to White, who leaped up for the grab in triple coverage, to begin the drive.
"I told the players we had all kind of stuff set up for tonight," LePage said. "I was not going to come out here and not coach to win this game for these players."
K.D. Rosser finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge, making it 28-14 Jays with 10:11 left in the game.
Ben Folz added a 22-yard field goal with 3:35 left.
Jefferson City held the Spartans, who entered the game on a three-game winning streak, to 22 yards in the second half.
Mistakes cost the Jays in the first half.
A 5-yard punt set up a go-ahead score for the Spartans.
Battle set up shop 20 yards from the end zone and Tyler was left open in the flat for a 21-yard catch and run for a touchdown to put Battle up 14-7 late in the first quarter.
But the Jays took advantage of Spartan miscues as well.
A personal foul on the ensuing kickoff set up the Jays at their own 45-yard line.
Roberson found White for a 22-yard gain on the second play of the drive.
Three plays later, Jahr fumbled a pitch but recovered and ran it 23 yards for the score to tie it at 14 with 10:25 left in the first half.
Jefferson City (3-5) will host Rockhurst (5-3), which lost 28-3 to C.B.C. on Friday, next Friday at Adkins Stadium.