Momentum was hard to come by Saturday night for the Jefferson City Jays.
Jefferson City's offense went more than two full quarters without moving the chains for a first down. The defense often had its back against the wall, as six Wentzville: Holt drives started in Jay territory.
That led to a tough 48 minutes for the Jays, who dropped their season opener 36-7 to the Indians at Adkins Stadium.
"Most of the time, football boils down to four fundamental things: blocking, tackling, taking care of the ball and field position," Jays coach Scott Bailey said after his Jefferson City debut. "The blocking and the tackling, those were definitely areas that we struggled with today.
"When you look at the fundamentals, we have to get better at blocking and tackling."
The Jays forced a three-and-out on the Indians' first possession, then moved the ball to the Holt 36-yard line before a turnover on downs.
Holt scored on its next possession, converting once on fourth down to extend the drive. Kyle Wuebbeling scored on a 32-yard run, and Brayden Burthardt added the extra point to put the Indians ahead 7-0 with 5:09 remaining in the first quarter.
Jefferson City had another first down due to a pass interference penalty on its next drive late in the first quarter. However, the Jays would go 0-for-8 on third-down conversions the rest of the game.
As a result, the Jays were held to 71 total yards: 23 yards rushing and 48 yards passing.
"The concerns I have with our offense start up front," Bailey said.
Holt's next possession was a 13-play, 61-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Brown to Jackson Smith. The two paired up for another 11-yard touchdown pass with 3:08 left in the first half, which extended Holt's lead to 20-0.
The second touchdown pass came on a drive that started on the Jays 12-yard line.
"If you give them a short field, you're normally going to give up points," Bailey said.
Brown scored on a 1-yard keeper early in the third quarter. Holt then added two more points when Clayton Mitchell tackled Jays quarterback Zane Wings in the end zone for a safety midway through the third.
Two possessions later, Brown threw his third touchdown pass to Smith, this one going for 31 yards. That increased the Indians' lead to 36-0 with 1:06 to go in the third, triggering a turbo clock.
The Jays' offense had seven drives start inside its 25, but for its final possession of the game, Jefferson City took advantage of a short punt. Taking over at the Holt 40, quarterback Seth Brooks completed four consecutive passes to Devin White and Kevon Pendelton, with three of those receptions moving the chains.
"Our quarterback had enough time to make a clean throw," Bailey said.
David Bethune finished the five-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, and Bassil Ahmed added the extra point to put the Jays on the scoreboard with 3:56 to play.
Brooks and Wings split time at quarterback for the Jays. Brooks was behind center for seven series, while Wings took snaps for the remaining four.
Brooks was 6-of-15 passing for 48 yards, 38 of which came on that final drive. Bethune finished with 11 carries for 15 yards against a tough Holt run defense.
"We had trouble getting their linebackers blocked," Bailey said. "When a linebacker is running free and you're having trouble getting Level 2 blocking, it's hard to get your run game going."
Each defense had one takeaway. Holt's Lucas Graeler intercepted a Brooks pass with 7:21 to go in the third quarter, but the Jays' Issac Jones returned the favor on the next play, picking off a downfield pass from Brown at the Jefferson City 3-yard line.
"We have a lot of really good skill players on our defense," Bailey said. "I felt like our defense, short of that tackling problem that we need to get fixed, they were in position and they were making plays."
Holt (1-0) fumbled the ball six times, yet recovered the loose ball each time.
Brown was 13-of-21 passing for 146 yards, while Smith caught seven passes for 92 yards. Wuebbeling finished with 18 carries for 126 yards.
After the game, Bailey told his players he wanted them to learn from their mistakes and move past Saturday's outcome.
"If you're going to let one day influence the rest of your season, it's not going to end well," he said. "For us, we have to consider it one bad day and go on and start working toward the next game."
Jefferson City (1-0) is set to host Hannibal (0-0) at 7 p.m. next Friday.
The Pirates had announced last Monday they were suspending all athletic practices and games through Sept. 8, which included their Week 2 game against the Jays. However, the Hannibal school board voted two days later to resume activities immediately.