Jackson, Brown lead Stars to Conference Win over Pirates

ST. LOUIS -- Touted in the preseason as a big-time receiver, McCluer North senior Peter Jackson showed up in a big way on the big stage.

Jackson fueled the Stars' offense, grabbing four catches for 125 yards and a highlight reel touchdown catch, senior quarterback Galen Brown scored twice and McCluer North remained unbeaten in Suburban North Conference play with a 25-7 victory over Saturday in the Great American Football Classic at Edward Jones Dome.

The Stars (2-1, 2-0) were able to unleash two of their star-studded players in Jackson and Brown after tailback Antwuan Williams carried the load in last week's win over McCluer.

For Jackson, he caught a 49-yard touchdown in which he had to re-adjust after the pass was tipped in the second quarter, using one hand to help pull it into the other. He also hauled in an over-the-shoulder catch that resulted in a 51-yard pass play in the first quarter.

"I was really concentrating because it was a tipped pass," Jackson said of the touchdown. "I had to adjust myself a little bit. I lost it in the lights and I found it and concentrated and caught it. ... Just doing my part. I gave it my best today.

"We worked on timing all this week with receivers and quarterbacks."

Brown added, "Big-time player making a big-time play once again. ... (Jackson) helped me regain my confidence a lot."

Stars coach Jim Schottmueller was pleased.

"I'm happy for Peter and Galen as well," Schottmueller said, "because both had been struggling."

Pattonville coach Steve Smith was impressed.

"That is a combination," Smith said of Jackson and Brown. "Even watching those kids on film, you say, 'Whoa!' They can get it."

The Stars opened the scoring on Josh Schulz's 35 field goal in the first quarter, then they added a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, with Brown going in on a quarterback keeper from 1 yard out to make it 11-0 after Brown also got in on a botched extra point attempt.

Brown also scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter.

"It was good today, but there's always a lot of room for improvement," said Brown, who was 6 of 8 for 142 yards and one touchdown to go with 23 rushing yards on seven carries. "Try to do better next week."

The Pirates (0-3, 0-2) were finally able to get on the scoreboard after being blanketed their first two games.

Junior quarterback Darren Davidson's 1-yard quarterback sneak snapped a string of 141 minutes 59 seconds to begin the season without points.

Smith's defense has seen their production go from allowing 55 points to 43 and now 25.

"You've got to try and find some kind of silver lining," Smith said. "I wouldn't go so far to say pleased, but I like to see that we're improving. From Week 1 to now, we've made some improvements all around. We've got a lot of young guys that are stepping up, taking some positions and taking ownership. We've got to make sure we just keep plugging away. It's coming. It's coming along slowly, but it's coming."

The teams were playing under the bright lights of the St. Louis Rams' home field but took a business-like approach this week.

"Any time you're playing in the Suburban North, you've got to come ready to play," Schottmueller said. "We knew they could step it up and we hope we're good enough as coaches not to ever take anybody lightly in this league."

Added Jackson, "We just took it as playing another game. Nothing bigger than that. Just coming to the Dome one time doesn't mean anything. We want to come back here again in November."

The Pirates used all three of their quarterbacks (sophomore Lamar Wilkes started but Davidson and sophomore Carter Hanford also saw time).

"We have three young quarterbacks, and all of them can get it done," Smith said. "We've just got to find the right combination of players that really make us go. ... Really, I like committee because when you have multiple guys, defense has to prepare for multiple guys, but if one guy is hot like Darren Davidson was rather hot today, he was the guy. So we had to stay with him and see what he could do for us."

It was evident the Pirates had fun and competed to the end.

"That's our mission," Smith said. "Our mission statement says have fun, make big plays, be accountable.

"It's a game. You've got to have fun when you play games. I don't ever recall being miserable playing a game and I was successful. Every time I was successful, I had fun. I want these guys to have fun and I want them to know that they can do it, and they can."

SUBURBAN NORTH

MCCLUER NORTH 25, PATTONVILLE 7

McCluer North 3  15  7  0  --  25

Pattonville       0    0  0  7  --    7

First Quarter

MN -- Schulz 35 FG, :47.

Second Quarter

MN -- Brown 1 run (Brown run), 5:09.

MN -- Jackson 49 pass from Brown (Schulz kick), 3:30.

Third Quarter

MN -- Brown 1 run (Schulz kick), 5:16.

Fourth Quarter

P -- Davidson 1 run (Hach kick), 2:01.

                                MN             PAT

First downs                12               10

Rushes-Yards             39-132       30-56

Passing Yards            142             146

Comp-Att-Int             6-8-0          9-21-1

Fumbles-Lost             2-0             4-2

Penalties-Yards          3-23            4-30

Individual Statistics

RUSHING--McCluer North, Williams 20-88, Brown 7-23, Smith 7-30, Young 2-2, Herd 2-(-2), TEAM 1-(-9). Pattonville, M. Buchanan 13-50, Wilkes 6-(-10), Longmeyer 1-(-3), Davidson 8-17, Brown 1-3, Hanford 1-(-1)

PASSING--McCluer North, Brown 6-8-0-142. Pattonville, L. Wilkes 4-10-0-55, Davidson 5-10-1-91, Hanford 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--McCluer North, Jackson 4-125, Hulsey 2-20. Pattonville, Smith 1-3, Brown 3-67, Stroker 1-17, Longmeyer 2-32, Lewis 2-27.

Check back later this weekend for photos from the game