Football, in its simplest form, can be summarized as follows:

If you can't stop the big play, you better make a lot of little plays.

Jefferson did neither Thursday night against Waterloo East at Kingston Stadium.

East scored on touchdown runs of 53, 50 and 28 yards, and also a 38-yard pass play, and beat the J-Hawks, 33-10, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

It was the second straight year East (1-2) put a whipping on the J-Hawks. The Trojans won 48-6 last year at Waterloo.

"It might have given us a little confidence," East Coach Kody Asmus said. "But last year was last year and it's this year now."

East junior quarterback Desmond VanArsdale had scoring runs of 4, 50 and 28 yards, and also threw the touchdown pass for East.

Jefferson (0-3) ran 84 plays to just 38 for East. The Trojans outgained Jefferson 376 to 340. East had seven plays of 20 yards or more, accounting for 247 yards. The J-Hawks had 23 first downs to 15 for East, but were hamstrung by key penalties twice in the first half and turned the ball over on downs five times in the game.

"We don't have any game breakers. We don't have great speed, so we have to be a very disciplined team that drives the ball down the field," Jefferson Coach Jim Womochil said. "I've told the kids that. It's not a slap in their face. It's the facts. We are not fast. We don't have a guy that can go and break 80 yards so we have to be very disciplined and tonight we weren't. We didn't get it done in the red zone.

"The offense moved the ball between the 20s just fine. That's been the story the first three weeks," Womochil said. "Then we can't convert, whether it be penalties or poor execution on fourth down. We have to get a little mentally tougher as a team."

The J-Hawks had a key motion play that thwarted their first drive and led to a 25-yard field goal by senior Andrew Patience. An offensive pass interference play on their next drive pushed them out of East territory and forced a punt.

"We have to man up sometimes," Jefferson senior center Ryan Eivins said. "We're driving and we get down there and then we're stalling. That comes in practice. I think this week we have to attack when we get in the red zone, and just get after it.

"We're running the same plays at midfield that we're running down there. They're sending linebackers that we need to pick up. Me being the center, I need to pick that up and let my line know better."

East responded both times with touchdowns. Aaron Taylor burst 53 yards for the first score and a 34-yard run by Corshundous Love set up the Trojans' second touchdown, a 4-yard scamper by VanArsdale.

Trailing 13-3 late in the first half, Jefferson failed to convert a 4th-and-2 from the East 25 when senior Taylor Olson, playing only his second game for the J-Hawks, dropped an Alex Baxter pass. Baxter was intercepted on a Hail Mary pass to end the half.

East took the second half kickoff and zipped 60 yards in four plays. Love caught a 20-yard pass and VanArsdale then hooked up with LeTray Reed for a 38-yard scoring play just two minutes into the period for a 20-3 lead.

Jefferson marched to the East 5 early in the fourth quarter, but after Baxter was thrown for a 5-yard loss on third down, trotted Patience out to kick a field goal. He knocked it through the uprights but was roughed on the play, giving the J-Hawks an automatic first down at the 5. Senior Kyle Mann carried it in from the 1 to cut East's lead to 20-20 with 9:39 left in the game.

Jefferson got the ball back, but turned the ball over on downs for a third time on 4th-and-12 from the East 45. Two plays later VanArsdale whisked around right end and raced 50 yards for a touchdown.

The J-Hawks turned the ball over on downs again and VanArsdale countered with a 28-yard touchdown run. He finished with 123 yards on eight carries, but gained 102 on his last three carries. Taylor finished with 89 yards and Love 82.

"We kind of have a three-headed monster back there," East Coach Kody Asmus said. "We wanted to get those guys going and we were able to do that."

East's first two games were against ranked foes Cedar Falls and Iowa City West.

"We let them outside too many times," Jefferson senior defensive back Christian Knox said.

"There is nothing (East did) that we didn't see on film," Jefferson senior Mic Vesey said of the Trojans' big-play success. "It was just blown coverages and bad reads on the line."

Womochil said he and his coaching staff have to coach up the defense in a hurry. The J-Hawks play at No. 1 Cedar Falls a week from Friday. The Tigers mauled East, 41-6, last week.

"Defensively, we have to do a better job to help our kids because we can't continue to give up the big play like we did tonight," Womochil said. "We're going to play better teams, there's no doubt about that."

Mann, starting his first game at tailback in place of the injured Austin Short, ran 24 times for 123 yards. Baxter scrambled for 99 yards on 22 carries and completed 11 of 29 passes for 100 yards. Knox caught six passes for 58 yards and senior Austin Goodell caught five for 41 before suffering an apparent shoulder stinger in the fourth quarter.

"We moved the ball on offense, but we need to capitalize in the red zone," Vesey said. "But defense is probably our primary focus."

"It's Week 3. We have a long way to go," Womochil said.

"I know we have it, we just have to find it right now," Knox said.

"We have the team for success," Vesey said.

Jefferson also played without junior tackle Colton Spicer.

WATERLOO EAST 33, JEFFERSON 10

Waterloo East     6    7    7   13   -    33
Jefferson            3    0    0    7   -     10

CRJ - FG Andrew Patience 25
WE - Aaron Taylor 53 run (kick failed)
WE - Desmond VanArsdale 4 run (Juan Martinez kick)
WE - LeTray Reed 38 pass from VanArsdale (Martinez kick)
CRJ - Kyle Mann 1 run (Patience kick)
WE - VanArsdale 50 run (kick failed)
WE - VanArsdale 28 run (Martinez kick)

Team Stats

First downs -- WE 15, CRJ 23

Rushes yards -- WE 30-292, CRJ 49-216

Receiving yards -- WE 84, CRJ 124

Comp-Att-Int -- WE 4-8-2, CRJ 14-35-1

Punts-avg. -- WE 2-37.5, CRJ 2-36.0

Fumbles-lost -- WE 1-0, CRJ 1-0

Penalties-yards -- WE 4-25, CRJ 4-30

Individual Stats

Rushing -- WE: Desmond VanArsdale 8-123, Aaron Taylor 12-89, Corshundous Love 9-82, Team 1-(-2). CRJ: Kyle Mann 24-113, Alex Baxter 22-99, Layne Sullivan 2-6, Taylor Olson 1-(-2).

Passing -- WE: VanArsdale 4-8-2-84. CRJ: Baxter 11-29-1-100, Sullivan 3-6-0-24.

Receiving -- WE: LeTray Reed 2-56, Love 2-28. CRJ: Christian Knox 6-58, Austin Goodell 5-41, Taylor Birkicht 2-17, Olson 1-8.