Jays close regular season with offense, defense to beat Ft. Zumwalt West

O'FALLON - The Jefferson City Jays got a needed spark from the defense, and rode another dominant offensive performance Friday night.

Sound familiar? That's because that formula led the Jays to five wins in their past six games. This time Kevion Pendelton, David Bethune and Hayden Wells each ran for scores, and Bethune's pick-six at the end of the first half turned the tide in Jefferson City's 50-37 win against Fort Zumwalt West on the road to close out the regular season.

"I think success breeds success," Jays coach Damon Wells said. "I believe these kids are starting to learn what it takes to win."

The Jays (5-4) finish with a winning record in the regular season for the first time since 2016 and now will have a bye as the No. 2 seed in Class 4 District 5.

Pendelton and Bethune each had three total scores and both ran for more than 190 yards.

The Jaguars (2-7) were able to have success early in the first half behind the arm of Mikey Ludwig and the legs of Darius Jones. Ludwig threw for four scores, with two going to Jackson.

After Pendelton opened the evening with a 37-yard score, Jones took a bubble screen 53 yards to the house to tie the game with 8:58 left in the first.

Ludwig threw for another score and a 43-yard Cody Gough field goal put Fort Zumwalt West up 17-7 with 3:45 left in the first half. With the Jaguars getting the ball to start the second half, things could have gotten out of hand.

Instead, Bethune gave the Jays a spark.

He sped past the defense for an 83-yard score to pull the Jays within three with 2:38 left in the half, then snagged a tipped ball out of the air and took it back 22 yards for a pick-six that gave the Jays a 21-17 lead at the break.

"If you can score a touchdown defensively the science says that you're probably going to be successful more times than not," Wells said.

Bethune picked off Ludwig's next pass as well to end the Jaguars' last scoring threat of the half.

Ludwig found Jones on a short pass for a 47-yard score to start the second half, but Hayden Wells answered with a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-goal from the 1 to put the Jays up 28-24 with 9:24 left in the third.

Ludwig got his fourth score through the air by dancing away from pressure and finding Aidan Copeland for a diving catch in the corner of the end zone to put the Jaguars back up 31-28.

Pendelton and Kyle Nunn traded scores, with Nunn's 23-yard score putting the Jaguars up 37-35 with 11:55 left in the fourth.

The Jaguars wouldn't score the rest of the way, with a Jays defense clamping down right when it needed to late while the offense got enough scores to secure a win.

Pendelton rumbled through the middle of the field for a 24-yard score to put the Jays up 43-37 with 7:18 left after a Hayden Wells 2-point pass to David Bethune.

The defense got a big stop and forced a fourth-down completion before the offense slowly ran down the clock.

The Jays faced a pivotal third-and-11 from the Jaguars' 40-yard line and that's where Bethune put the game to bed. He beat the whole Jaguar defense to the sideline and his second touchdown run put the Jays up 50-37.

Another fourth-down pass breakup, this one from Rodney Smith, put the offense back out for a kneel-down that sealed the game.

It was one of many plays made by underclassmen on the defensive side. Ethan Garnett also made some key stops in the run game and pressured the quarterback while Jacob Wilson frequently dropped into coverage in the second half.

"Nobody really wants a bunch of youth and then experience," Wells said. "After it's all said and done it sure was a great thing to have it. We just love the group of boys we have collectively and we look forward to spending more time together."

Next, the Jays have Class 4 District 5 play where they'll host the winner of Kirksville and Marshall in two weeks after a bye next Friday.