In what was projected to be a clash of state titans, Cardinal Ritter certainly looked the part as it opened the 2024 high school football season with a 44-7 beatdown of Jackson at home.

Led by some big chunk plays on the ground and a great performance from its deep receiving room, the Lions’ Carson Boyd took the game over early.

The quarterback put up a big game on the ground and through the air, dicing up Jackson as the young Indian defense had little response to an opening barrage.

Expecting a shootout with the hosts, Jackson will head back to the drawing board as for the third consecutive season it begins yet again with a loss.

Opening the game, Jackson’s biggest concern came when the running game couldn’t get anything going against a fearsome CRCP defense.

The Ritter defensive line stifled Jackson’s blocking scheme, and the 5-foot-7 sophomore running back Jaylon Hampton couldn’t start the season on the right foot as the interior always plugged up.

“What I wasn't prepared for was our inability to run the football,” coach Ryan Nesbitt said.

“I’ve got to look at the video, but you’ve also got to tip your hat to them, because I thought they were stout on defense, and they're a good football team.

Averaging less than a yard per carry in the first half, it forced the Indians to go through the air. When the blocks couldn’t hold up, it sent junior quarterback Drew Parsons on the run.

Outside of a ridiculous 20-yard scramble for Jackson’s lone touchdown, his night was spent trying to make a play, whether it was rolling out or hitting the screen pass.

After his second start against Christian Brothers in the quarters went south last fall, giving the idea that the quarterback wasn’t ready to compete against such competition, the Ritter game bodes well on his resume, even with the disappointing result.

“He just simply competed,” Nesbitt said. “As things got away from us, that's really what I started evaluating, who was in the fight, and which guys had that starry-eyed look,

“He was a guy that was competing, so I was proud of that.”

After Cardinal Ritter scored on multiple drives to open the game, looking for a stop, the traditional multi-tool offensive weapon Kai Crowe dropped back into the secondary.

Part of a five-back set, Crowe lined up at safety and picked off a deep shot from Boyd at the pylon, falling into the end zone for a momentum-building pick.

As Jackson searches for new looks that work in this new defensive scheme, Crowe made for a great situational add to an already great secondary that did, in fact, make the passing game tough for the Lions.

Blayne Reagan turned some heads with his deep deflection in 1-on-1 coverage, swatting away a surefire touchdown as Boyd aired it out for his offense with multiple receivers receiving Division-I looks.

“It was good to get those matchups for those guys,” Nesbitt said. “We won't play a better quarterback than that guy all year.

“It's good for us to learn from that, so there'll be positives coming out of it, even if it doesn't feel like it right now.”

Less than an ideal result to start the season, Jackson moves to 0-1 still with everything in front of it.

Moving into a Saturday, Sept. 7 matchup with Cahokia High School of Cahokia, Illinois, the Indians have its hardest game of the season off their schedule with new life breathed into them.

With an uptick in production at the end of the game, showing that they might have the tools to make a run this season after a dismal start, the premise of a new day should be exciting for the Indians.

With a week to prepare for a chance to get back to even, there’ll be plenty to go over on a Labor Day-shortened schedule ahead of Saturday’s tilt at the East St. Louis Gateway Scholars Football Classic.

“I thought our kids settled in during the second quarter and fought a little bit offensively,” Nesbitt said. “We just didn't give ourselves any life.

“Too many missed tackles. We’ve got to get better on defense, for sure.”