Grizzlies grind past Parsons

Labette County star running back Jackson plays on torn ACL

Rain and a seismic-shifting injury dampened an otherwise quality start to the season for the Labette County Grizzlies, who ousted the Parsons Vikings, 26-6, on the road at Marvel Park on Friday night.

“I was proud of how we took care of the ball,” said Labette County head coach Bradley Argabright, who was making his head coaching debut.

“We knew it would be wet, so we wanted to limit turnovers. We didn’t beat ourselves. We took care of field position. We still have to put more drives together on offense. We had a long drive in the second half we didn’t punch in. But we still pulled out the win.”

For the Vikings, penalties and drops early handicapped the home squad.

“We got off to a really slow start and a lot of it was self-inflicted,” Parsons head coach Jeff Schibi said. “We made some careless mistakes and didn’t take advantage of opportunities early on. We couldn’t sustain anything offensively on drives. That was the story of what our season was last year and we started off the same way this year.”

The story of the night, though, was Labette County running back Jamaal Jackson. The senior, who rushed for nearly 2,000 yards last fall and won the 100-meter dash state title in the spring, tore his ACL.

Jackson suited up and appeared in five plays for the Grizzlies, rushing for just one yard on two touches before missing most of the second half.

“He hurt his knee in camp, talked to the doctors and he decided he wanted to try and go out there,” Argabright said. “He wasn’t stable enough to play fully. He’ll keep rehabbing it. But right now, he’s a little banged up.”

Jackson, who undoubtedly has a college athletic career ahead of him, hasn’t been fully ruled out. While it’s not unprecedented for athletes to play through injuries normally deemed catastrophic, the sheer volume of wearand- tear a running back faces raises alarm bells.

“He’ll see how it feels because it’s day-to-day,” Argarbright said. “He got to a point on Friday where he couldn’t go.

“The decision is up to Jamaal and his family. We’ll trust their decision. For us, if Jamaal tells us he can go, we’ll brace it and do everything we can to protect him every way we can. If surgery is the way to go, that’s the decision they’ll make and we’ll support him.”

Labette County’s Deontae Fields bore more of the workload in the backfield in Jackson’s absence, rushing for 79 yards on 13 carries.

Fields also took a kickoff return to the house in the second half, icing the game.

“He had a really good jamboree last week and he had to fill in,” Argabright said. “We’re really proud of him. He had a great game at running back. He was huge for our offense. He took care of the rock. And he had that really big kick return. Parsons had some momentum going, but he turned around and took that kickoff to the house. That was a huge momentum swing.”

Parsons’ offense struggled to find its footing, accounting for 120 yards.

Andrew Houk, making his first start, was limited to 4-of-9 passing for 24 yards with one pick. After suffering an injury, Preston Heitman came in and went 1-of-2, including a touchdown pass to Wyatt Shultz.

“Andrew took a hit on his left shoulder and we’ll never hesitate to put Preston in there,” Schibi said. “Preston’s first play, he comes in and throws a beautiful touchdown pass that put us back in the game. But then on the kickoff, we missed who we were supposed to kick it to and they take it back to the house.

“We’re going to evaluate Andrew’s injury this week. I think he’ll be OK. We’ll continue to evaluate both quarterbacks. Whoever gives us the best chance to win a football game will be put out there.”

Shultz was a bright spot for the Vikings, catching four passes for 45 yards and a score, registering four tackles and averaging 24.8 yards on five punts.

“I was really proud of Wyatt. He was playing with fire,” Schibi said. “He had some great plays defensively. That was one of the best games I’ve seen him play, all around. He’s an important player for us. I love having him on our football team.”

Up next

Parsons hits the road to face another SEK League foe at Fort Scott in Week 2. Fort Scott lost to Paola, 34-6, in Week 1.

“They’re big and they’ve got a lot of new starters this year,” Schibi said. “But it’s still Fort Scott. They’ll put a good product on the field. If our defense plays like they did in the second half, they’ll singlehandedly keep us in games. We need to find ways to manufacture points.”

As for Labette County, it heads home to face Winfield in Altamont in Week 2. Winfield fell to Arkansas City, 7-6, in its first game.

“Last year, we were poor in the special teams department when we played them,” Argabright said. “They’ve had our number the last couple of years. Yes, we just got a big win over our rival. But now we’ve got to turn the page. We have momentum going. So we have to have a great week of practice.”