Oh, but for the sticky fingered hands of a freshman and Jefferson might be celebrating its second football victory of the season.

Waterloo East's Javon Middleton reached back above his head and guided into his hands what appeared to be a Jefferson touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter and the Trojans went on to claim a 30-24 victory over the J-Hawks in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division game Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

Jefferson (1-4, 1-2) fought back from a 17-0 deficit in the first half to tie the game at 17-all on Nick O'Connell's 3-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the second half.

Waterloo East (3-2, 2-1) came right back to take a 23-17 lead on Aaron Taylor's 54-yard touchdown jaunt with 9:21 left in the third period. The PAT kick by Juan Martinez was blocked.

East Coach Kody Asmus said he was trying to get by without playing Taylor, the Trojans' leading ballcarrier, and Desmond Van Arsdale, the starting quarterback, because both were nicked up. Both were pressed into service in the second half, although Van Arsdale played as a wideout. Taylor ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

"They were kind of emergency only," Asmus said. "I don't want to discredit anything our other guys did, because they did a great job. But we just kind of needed our horses for this one and, luckily for us, they were able to go."

The score stood at 23-17 in favor of East until Jefferson drove to the Trojans' 20 early in the fourth quarter. On fourth-and-2, junior quarterback Layne Sullivan arced a pass toward junior Ben Koering running a flag route in the end zone.

Middleton, who earlier had muffed a punt, arched his back as he leaped backwards and seemingly snared the ball with his right hand after it was past him, right out of the clutches of Koering. Middleton fell to the turf for a touchback.

"I put it up for Ben - he had a heck of a night - I just had to put it up and give it a go," said Sullivan, who completed 11 of 26 passes for 177 yards. Six went to Koering for 112 yards. "Ben's a heck of an athlete and he's a heck of a competitor. He gets open and you have to get it to him.

"The kid (Middleton) made a great play on it."

"Just a pure athletic play," Jefferson Coach Brian Webb said. "(Koering) was open and it was just underthrown a little bit and the guy made an incredible play."

"For a freshman to come back and make that play (after the muff) just speaks volumes of him," Asmus said. "That punt easily could have torn him apart."

East tossed salt on the wound, marching back 80 yards for a touchdown that provided a two-score difference. The Trojans took a 30-17 lead with 6:01 to play when Taylor bulled in from a yard out for his second touchdown. Van Arsdale snagged a 21-yard pass to set up the touchdown.

These never-say-die J-Hawks marched back 71 yards and scored when senior Will Orr blasted in from the 1 on fourth-and-goal with 2:32 still to play. It took the J-Hawks four plays to score from the 3 when time was counting off the clock.

"We just got to get better in that area," Webb said.

Waterloo East anticipated an onside kick and put nine men near the 50. Instead, Jefferson senior Reece Suckow popped the ball over the line. East's Deshay Martin sent a gasp through the crowd when he muffed the kick, but the Trojans' Van Arsdale fell on the ball at the East 27.

Jefferson still had two timeouts left and used them after senior linebacker Drake Allen made a pair of tackles behind the line for losses of nine yards. The Trojans were forced to punt and the J-Hawks got the ball back at the East 45 with 1:29 to play.

Jefferson appeared to give itself a chance to pull out the win when Sullivan hooked up with senior Blake Bernhauer for a 22-yard gain to the East 23 with 1:15 to play. But offsetting penalties - holding on Jefferson and a personal foul on East - negated the play and put the ball back at the 45 on second down.

"The lack of focus and discipline and attention to details are what cost us this game," Webb said. Jefferson had nine penalties for 87 yards. "We can't have first-and-20, we can't have second-and-15. We had thos situations that put us in such deep field position."

Sullivan threw three incompletions - one was broken up by Taylor and another by Van Arsdale - and Jefferson turned the ball over on downs with 55 seconds left.

East took a knee twice to run out the clock.

"Our kids played hard to the very end and many people thought this game wouldn't be close," Webb said. "We had chances to beat them."

After being held to 104 total yards in a 38-0 loss to Iowa City High last week, the J-Hawks finished with 273 against East.

And Jefferson scored. The J-Hawks had only 19 total points in their first four games, but put 24 on the board Friday.

"I don't think there's one person in the stands that could argue that this team - and this game - was the same as it was Week 1," Webb said. "It was a completely different ballclub."

Sullivan said the J-Hawks streamlined their playbook this week and it paid off.

"Tonight the effort was fantastic," said Sullivan, whose 73-yard gallop set up Jefferson's first touchdown in the second quarter. "We just have to straighten up some things."

Jefferson's next game is Friday against Kennedy at Kingston Stadium.

"We have a big one against Kennedy and it's very winnable," Sullivan said. "These guys want it."

WATERLOO EAST 30, JEFFERSON 24

First downs -- WE 12; CRJ 10 
Rushes-yards -- WE 40-238; CRJ 31-96      
Passing yards -- WE 51; CRJ 177   
Comp-att-int -- WE 6-12-2; CRJ 11-26-2 
Punts-avg. -- WE 5-27.6; CRJ 3-28 
Fumbles-Lost -- WE 1-1; CRJ 2-2 
Penalties-yards -- WE 9-58; CRJ 9-87

Waterloo East      7     10      6     7  --     30
Jefferson             0     10      7     7  --     24

WE - Jordan Johnson 6 run (Juan Martinez kick)
WE - Johnson 16 run (Martinez kick)
WE - FG Martinez 39
CRJ - Nick O'Connell 3 run (Nicholas Rocha kick)
CRJ - FG Rocha 30
CRJ - O'Connell 3 run (Rocha kick)
WE - Aaron Taylor 54 run (kick blocked)
WE - Taylor 1 run (Martinez kick)
CRJ - Will Orr 1 run (Rocha kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
WE - Aaron Taylor 13-110, Jordan Johnson 13-98, Deshay Wright 3-33, Jacob Hewitt 1-3, John Magnuson 8-(-2), Team 2-(-4)
CRJ - Layne Sullivan 12-94, Nick O'Connell 8-4, Will Orr 2-0, Michael Moncivais 9-(-2)

Passing
WE - Magnuson 6-12-2-51
CRJ - Sullivan 11-26-2-177

Receiving
WE - Javon Middleton 2-17, Desmond Van Arsdale 1-21, Timoz Buford 1-5, Johnson 1-5, Russell Jones 1-3
CRJ - Ben Koering 6-112, Hunter Kloubec 2-(-2), Anthony Schumacher 1-31, Blake Bernhauer 1-26, Peter Watson 1-10

Sophs -- Jefferson 49, Waterloo East 12