By ERIC FORTUNE

sports@vindy.com

NORTH JACKSON

The Jackson-Milton High football team has run into a roadblock in trying to build on last year’s 6-4 season.

It’s called Tier One of the Inter Tri-County League.

The Bluejays fell behind by four touchdowns in the first quarter en route to a 52-18 loss on Friday night to conference powerhouse Crestview.

It was the fourth straight loss for the Bluejays (3-4, 0-4), who moved up from Tier Two after last season.

“It was a tidal wave of things and a confluence of events that steamrolled us,” Jackson-Milton coach Mark Assion said.

Matters weren’t exactly peachy on the Crestview sideline after watching the Lisbon Blue Devils score two late touchdowns in a 41-35 setback last week that gave the Rebels their most losses in a season since 2007.

“We actually had a pretty good week of practice,” Crestview coach Paul Cusick said. “I thought they responded well to last week. The bottom line is, we still have to win games. We can still have a shot at it [league title] and that’s what we focus on, getting after it and going 1-0 each week.”

It took the Rebels (4-3, 3-1) less than two minutes to put the past in the past after Zach Hicks’ 29-yard run gave them an early 7-0 advantage.

On their third possession, Hicks’ second touchdown pushed the lead out to 14-0.

After a three-and-out, Jesse Best found Evan Beachler on a 44-yard pass to make it 21-0.

On the ensuing possession, Crestview’s Tyler Fitzimmons intercepted Mike Asssion’s pass near midfield to again set up the Rebels.

Three plays later, it was 28-0 after Best took it in from 18 yards out.

“We always want to get off to a fast start,” Cusick said. “It’s been our focus that last few weeks. The first half of the season, we started slow in a lot of games and put ourselves in a hole. We were able to come out execute and really get our base offense going.”

Best and Hicks contributed 355 of Crestview’s 439 total yards.

“They complement each other well,” Cusick said. “They run our system real well. They run hard and make big plays. That’s what we need. Whoever is going to get the ball, they’re going to make plays. We like to spread it out a little bit.”

After just 21 yards of offense on their first five possessions, the Bluejays started finding success and got on the board after Assion’s 1-yard run made it 28-6 at the 7:21 mark of the second quarter.

“We knew they were going to throw the ball,” Cusick said. “They have some good athletes. The quarterback does a nice job. They’re going to make some plays. Those guys played hard. It’s tough when you get down like that. The kids kept playing and we had to make some plays on defense.”

The momentum was short-lived as the Rebels increased their lead to 35-6 after Best’s 1-yard run midway through the second quarter.

“They came out and executed, Assion said. “Coach Cusick and their staff deserve all the credit. They did what they were supposed to do.”