Murphysboro (1-2) ran for over 350 yards en route to a 47-26 victory over Sparta (0-3) Friday night on the road. Orlando Jarrett led the Red Devil rushing attack with 225 yards  with four touchdowns. Murphysboro scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions
“Murphysboro has a good offense, you have to give them credit,” said Sparta coach Phil Watson. “We just couldn’t stop them. They had a lot of big runs, but we have to do a better job of tackling.”
Murphysboro outscored Sparta 27-6 in the first half to take control of the game right from the start.
“I don’t think we came out of the gates ready to play,” said Watson. “It wasn’t until the second half that it looked like we were ready to play.”
After Darius Jackson started the game for Sparta with runs of six and 12 yards, the Bulldogs offense stalled and was forced to punt four plays later.
The Red Devils took just two minutes and 33 seconds to take the lead, as Jarrett ran the ball four times for 46 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown sprint. Murphysboro added the extra point, and with 6:44 remaining in the first quarter, led 7-0.
As was the case in their first drive, the Bulldogs were only able to pick up one first down on their second possession and were forced to punt.
Jarrett gave his team a 13-0 lead, as he broke free for a 48-yard touchdown run, four plays later. The two-point conversion was stopped short, and with 3:36 left in the opening quarter, Murphysboro had a two-score lead.
The Bulldogs offense, for the third consecutive drive, was held to just one first down and forced to punt to end the first quarter.
On the very next play, Sparta forced and recovered a fumble to take over possession on the Murphysboro 33-yard line.
After a 10-yard run and a first down by Jackson, the Murphysboro defense tightened up once again and stopped the Bulldogs over the next three plays.
On fourth down, Jackson completed a 12-yard pass to Alek Sopiars to give Sparta a first-and-goal from the six-yard line.
Jackson would score from one yard out three plays later to get his team on the board. However, the two-point conversion failed, and with 8:22 left in the second quarter, the Dawgs were down 13-8.
The Red Devils answered right back on their next possession as they put together a seven play scoring drive that resulted in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Eben Brooks to Dylan Craig in the corner of the endzone on fourth down.
The two-point run was stopped short, and with 5:30 left in the first quarter, Murphysboro’s lead was 19-6.
“We had a chance to stop them on fourth down, and we blew a coverage in the secondary,” said Watson. “We are very inexperienced at some positions, and it really showed tonight.”
After forcing Sparta into a three-and-out, the Red Devils ended their first half, scoring with a six-play 48-yard drive that was capped off with a five-yard touchdown pass from Brooks to Craig. Jarrett ran in the two-point conversion to increase his team’s lead to 27-6 with just under 50 seconds left in the half.
“We knew Murphysboro’s quarterback had a good arm, and we knew they had a couple good receivers but number 17 (Craig) really hurt us tonight.
Sparta found some life late in the half, as Jackson completed an eight-yard pass to London Oliver before gaining 35 yards on a trick play that resulted in a completion then a lateral to Oliver as he raced to the Murphysboro 20-yard line.
However, the late heroics didn’t turn into any points for Sparta, as a Jackson pass was intercepted by Bryce Mueller in the endzone to end the half.
The second started pretty much just like how the first half went, with another Murphysboro score. The Red Devils put together a an eight-play 63-yard scoring drive that was capped off with a 17-yard touchdown run by Jarrett. The extra point kick missed, and with 7:48 to go in the third quarter,  Murphysboro led 33-6.
After forcing Murphysboro into a turnover on its third possession of the half, Sparta found a way back on the scoreboard. Oliver connected with Carl Lobdell on a 37-yard pass play and then ran for a 28-yard touchdown to complete the 20-second drive. Jackson connected with Sopiars on the two-point conversion, as the Murphysboro lead was reduced to 33-14 with 1:27 remaining in the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Jarrett notched his fourth rushing touchdown of the game, this time from 17 yards out. Jeremy Marshall ran in the two-point conversion, as the Red Devils were on top 41-14 with 11:52 to play in the game.
Sparta answered back just two minutes and 20 seconds later as Jackson hooked up with Jeremy Pickett for a 34-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed, and with 9:25 remaining in the game, the Dawgs were down 41-20.
The Red Devils marched the ball down to the Sparta nine-yard line on their next drive but couldn’t find the end zone as the Sparta defense pushed back the Murphysboro offense on three straight plays and then forced an incomplete pass on fourth down.
Sparta took over on downs and marched down the field to the Murphysboro 38-yard line before an interception by Jacob White ended the drive.
The Bulldogs defense forced Murphysboro to punt after just four plays to get the ball back on their own 30-yard line with just over 43 seconds to play.
Oliver took things in his own hands  with runs of 30 and 36 yards before finding the endzone from five yards out. The two-point conversion failed, and with just 6.2 seconds left in the game, the Bulldogs trailed 41-26.
However, the game ended on the ensuing kickoff as Donald Kellum returned the kick 83 yards for the touchdown to round out the scoring and the 47-26 Murphysboro win.
Sparta finished with 375 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs ran the ball 31 times for 191 yards and completed 11 passes for 184 yards.
Jackson finished with 44 yards rushing and 139 yards passing to lead the offense.
“Darius is really coming into his own,” said Watson. “He is a fine athlete, and he is starting to get the mental aspect of the game. He is also very tough on defense. He is our safety back there, and he does a great job of tackling and causing turnovers. We really lean on him a lot.”
Oliver finished the game with 139 yards rushing with two touchdowns on eight carries. He also completed two passes for 45 yards. Pickett caught two passes for 63 yards, while Lobdell had two receptions for 58 yards.
The Bulldogs travel to take on conference powerhouse Du Quoin (2-1) Friday night.