After a scoreless first quarter, it looked like Jefferson City's game versus Capital City would be a defensive battle.
David Bethune and the Jays offense made sure that wasn't the case.
Bethune had three rushing scores in the second quarter and a pair of ground scores by Kevion Pendelton gave the Jays five touchdowns in the second quarter to take control early for a 42-7 Senior Night win Friday night against Capital City at Adkins Stadium.
"This was a big win only because that is a very talented team across the way there," Jefferson City coach Damon Wells said. "We are very proud of our boys tonight."
Bethune opened the scoring by outrunning the Cavaliers to the sideline for an 8-yard score on the first play of the second quarter while seniors Pendelton and Seth Brooks sprung space for the senior speedster with blocks on the edge. That put the Jays (2-3, 2-1 Central Missouri Activities Conference) up 7-0 with 11:53 left in the second.
Seven minutes later, the Jays were up 28-0 after Bethune and Pendelton traded scores on four of the team's next six rushes. Pendelton bullied the Capital City defense for a 15-yard score with 9:34 left in the second before Bethune scored on the Jays next play from scrimmage on a 57-yard run with 7:20 left in the quarter.
Pendelton scored from 41-yards out on a 3rd-and-7, bursting through the line and stutter-stepping at the five before waltzing into the end zone.
The Cavaliers (0-5, 0-4 CMAC) answered with a 63-yard run by Phillip Richardson to set up an 11-yard score from Cortez Wilder to make the score 28-7 with 4:06 left in the half. Bethune sprinted almost untouched into the end zone on a delayed handoff for a 56-yard score on the next possession to put the Jays up 35-7 at halftime.
Before that scoring barrage, the game got shaken up with a big special teams play by Rodney Wilson. Seth Brooks' second punt of the night took a quick hop off the turf and hit the Capital City returner in the chest and bobbled off his hands. Wilson immediately poked it away and pounced on it to give a Jays possession new life late in the first quarter.
"It deflated us," Capital City coach Joe Collier said. "It's just tough for a team that is trying to believe in themselves to go through that type of adversity and not think, 'Here we go again.'"
On a fourth-and-9 just outside the red zone four plays later, Hayden Wells and Brooks connected on a 14-yard throwback to set up the opening score by Bethune three plays later.
The defenses took over again after halftime with a scoreless third quarter that featured multiple fourth-down stops. Capital City was never able to get more than a couple of first downs before the Jays defense got key stops or forced punts.
The Capital City defense locked down as well, cutting down on the run game and not letting the Jays get a single play over 10 yards in the second half until Pendelton broke through a gulf in the middle of the defense for a 45-yard score with 33 seconds left in the fourth to give him his third score of the day and seal the victory.
"We just need to know what we're doing and believe that we can do it, point-blank," Collier said. "Second half, you saw that when they believe they can do it and do their job, we'll be fine. That's the problem for us across the board."
Seniors accounted for all of the Jays' scores and all but two rushing attempts. A senior, Bethune, also forced the defense's only turnover when Bethune's hard-hit forced a fumble in the second quarter that Ethan Garnett fell on in the middle of the second quarter.
"So far, this group has proven that they're willing to work hard and they're willing to be coached," Wells said. "They have tremendous attitudes out on the field."
Jefferson City continues CMAC play at 7 p.m. Friday against Hickman at Adkins Stadium.
Capital City plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Helias.