By Craig Hull

sports@joplinglobe.com

JASPER, Mo. – Justin Jack set the tone with his throwing arm in the first half.

Daniel Parscal finished it with his strong running in the second half.

All told, both athletes served up over 200 yards of offense Wednesday night for the Miller Cardinals.

Miller earned a 36-12 victory over Jasper in the in the MSHSAA Class 1 regional championship.

The victory for the Cardinals (9-2) will set up a second-round rematch at district foe Thayer, a 36-21 winner over Lockwood.

Jasper, celebrating its first playoff appearance since 1993 and still in search of its first postseason victory since the 1979 Class 1A state championship victory over Hardin Central, capped a resurgent 8-3 season.

Jack, a 6-foot-1, 180 pound junior, completed 16 of 33 passes for 274 yards with three touchdowns and completions to five different receivers. He completed 9 of 20 attempts for 191 yards in the first half.

All three touchdown passes were caught by senior tight end Luke Nunez, who caught scoring strikes of 45 and 33 yards in the first half and 15 yards in the fourth quarter to cap a five-reception, 117-yard effort.

Miller’s 16-6 halftime lead included a safety courtesy of Dustin Cates, who blocked a punt out of the back of the end zone with 7:35 left in the second quarter.

In the second half, the Cardinals loaded down Parscal, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound junior single setback who took advantage of Miller’s shotgun spread offense, running zone-read plays left, right and up the middle for 228 yards on 34 carries with two third-quarter touchdowns.

“It was the zone dive all night,” Parscal said. “The offensive line, those guys did a great job blocking it. It was amazing how much room they gave me to run and when the defense over pursued, there was a hole to cut back through.”

Parscal had 82 yards on 13 carries in the first half. On the Cardinals’ first possession of the third quarter, Parscal carried the ball on five straight plays covering 89 yards in 1:44 to account for the entire drive.

The first four plays were all zone dive plays including a 59-yard run through the middle of the Jasper defense from the Miller 14 to the Eagles’ 27. Two more zone dive plays followed before Miller used a power-I set to let Parscal blast in from six yards out for his first touchdown.

“We felt that we had some formations that would allow us to have some success running the ball in the second half,” said Miller head coach Dustin Baldwin. “We didn’t feel like we were engaging our blocks long enough and staying with (the defense) throughout the play.

“You don’t have to give Daniel much (space) and he will hit it. ... He gets overlooked a lot. He’s been in the shadow of a two-time all-stater (Darin Clark) but he’s a player.

“It was zone read, he hit a veer give once for a big play and we ran trap a few times but I’m proud of the way our line played and the way Daniel ran the ball.”

Parscal’s second touchdown run capped a 13-play, 53-yard drive in the third quarter where he carried the ball eight of the 13 snaps on the drive including the final four carries capped by a 1-yard touchdown run.

Jasper scored its first touchdown in the first quarter on senior quarterback Matt Newman’s 1-yard sneak with 1:18 left. The missed PAT kick left it a 7-6 score.

Trailing 36-6 in the fourth quarter, halfback Austin Spencer broke a 32-yard run off an option play right for a 36-12 score with 8:23 left in the game.

The Eagles recovered the onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but lost senior Logan Stump on the play after he suffered a broken left arm and was carted off the field.

“They had a good game plan because we had a hard time stopping their (zone) dive play,” said Jasper head coach Josh Dirks. “Straight up the middle, I don’t know what they call it, but it was a run straight up the middle.

“Spencer played a great game for us tonight, capping a tremendous season.”

Spencer, 5-11, 205 senior, ran for 144 yards on 23 carries to finish with over 1,300 yards for the season.

Newman was 10 of 26 passing for 105 yards with a pair of interceptions. He eclipsed 1,600 yards passing for the season and senior receiver Jeff Piepenbrink caught three passes for 57 yards and added another 33 yards rushing on two carries.

He finished the season 50 receptions and over 1,000 yards receiving.