The Josh Dirks Era in Jasper High School football has arrived.
It was marked by a swarming, helmet-banging defense, a hard-charging offense, trick plays called at the perfect time and one more thing — something that hasn’t existed at Jasper in a long time — a belief by the players on the field that they can win football games.
That belief took hold and became something tangible Friday night when Jasper traveled to Missouri Class 2 Pierce City and upset the Eagles 20-19 in both team’s season opener.
“I don’t think anybody expected it,” Dirks said of the victory. “I’m trying to teach the boys they need to expect it. I think they’re catching on.
“I’m pleased with how well the boys played,” he continued. “They showed a lot of heart and didn’t give up.”
Jasper used two big plays in the first quarter to establish this was a different kind of Jasper defense. The first came at the five-minute mark when senior cornerback Logan Stump broke up a Pierce City pass attempt on fourth-and-7 from the Jasper 21-yard line.
The second came following a Jasper fumble that gave Pierce City the ball on the Jasper 13. On third-and-12 from the 14, Caleb Russell sacked Pierce City quarterback Wayne Sooter for a 9-yard loss, forcing the host Eagles to punt on fourth down.
After 15 minutes of scoreless football, both teams erupted for three touchdowns in three minutes.
The first score came on fourth-and-12 from the Jasper 31 when Jasper’s Jeff Piepenbrink faked a punt and raced 69 yards for a touchdown.
Piepenbrink struck again three plays later when he intercepted a Sooter pass attempt on the Jasper 46 and returned it to the Pierce City 9-yard line. Jasper senior running back Austin Spencer ran it in from there, giving Jasper a 14-0 lead.
“The fake punt and his interception were big plays for us,” Dirks said of Piepenbrink. “Jeff and (senior wide receiver Garrett) Greenlee caught passes when we needed to move the chains.”
Pierce City answered on the very next play from scrimmage when junior Cody Cox dashed 70 yards for a touchdown to cut Jasper’s lead in half, 14-7.
After that, things got unusual.
At 8:07 p.m., with 6:42 left in the half, the stadium lights went out for three seconds, and than flashed back on. Shortly after, a transformer located west of the stadium blew with a loud explosion, and the stadium lost power. About 20 minutes went by with no action before the officials decided to finish the half in hopes that power could be restored during halftime.
So for six minutes the teams traded blows in growing darkness, until the final two minutes of the half. At that point only the players on the field could see the action, and everyone else tried to gauge what was happening from the sounds on the field and what direction the action was moving.
A 50-minute halftime ensued, and at 9:45, after an hour and twenty-five minutes of darkness, the lights came back on and the second half began.
