By Gary Lloyd
HOOVER — What a difference a week makes.
A week removed from scoring just three points in a 14-3 defeat against Vestavia Hills, Hewitt-Trussville outlasted No. 8 Spain Park 64-63 in a heart-wrenching four-overtime game. Spain Park’s Tyler Sumpter missed the point-after attempt in the fourth overtime to preserve the Hewitt-Trussville victory.
“We played hard,” said junior linebacker Bailey McElwain. “It feels so good, first 7A win, first region win.”
The 64 points scored by Hewitt-Trussville (2-2, 1-2 Class 7A, Region 3) ties a school record. The Huskies accomplished that feat Sept. 7, 2001 in a 64-7 thumping of Erwin.
Junior running back Jarrion Street put up video game numbers, rushing 24 times for 221 yards and five touchdowns. He also caught a 20-yard touchdown pass.
“Everything clicked tonight,” Street said.
The game started fast and never really let up. Street capped an eight-play, 82-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter to give Hewitt-Trussville a 6-0 lead after a missed point-after attempt.
Spain Park (3-2, 1-2) answered four minutes later when Mason Duke connected with Derek Williams for a 23-yard score. The Jaguars increased their lead to 14-6 when Duke found Jordan Jolly for an 18-yard TD with 10:15 to play in the second quarter.
Hewitt-Trussville junior quarterback Zac Thomas found paydirt on the ensuing drive, taking it in from 21 yards out. A two-point try failed, making it a 14-12 Spain Park lead.
With 52 seconds left until halftime, Thomas found Street across the middle for a 20-yard touchdown, putting the Huskies on top 19-14.
But Spain Park’s Rondaius Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards, setting up a short field with 40 seconds until halftime. Duke took it in from one yard out 20 seconds later to give Spain Park a 21-19 halftime lead.
Hewitt-Trussville senior kicker T.J. McGettigan put Hewitt-Trussville back on top in the third quarter with a 38-yard field goal, and Spain Park’s Wade Streeter answered three minutes later with a 15-yard scoring run to give the Jaguars a 28-22 advantage. Street answered for the Huskies, capping a five-play, 80-yard drive with a 14-yard run. That drive lasted 1:17.
Thomas then increased the Hewitt-Trussville lead to 36-28 when he ran for a three-yard score early in the fourth quarter. With Hewitt-Trussville driving midway through the final quarter, senior Cyle Moore fumbled and Spain Park’s Jonah Tibbs, putting the Jags in business at their own 40-yard line. Streeter found the end zone from four yards out with 1:43 to play, and a two-point conversion from Duke to Parker Kelley knotted the game at 36. Hewitt-Trussville’s ensuing drive stalled deep in its own territory, sending the game to overtime.
It became the Street and Streeter show. Streeter scored on a six-yard run in the first overtime, putting Spain Park up 43-36. Street then answered with his own six-yard TD for Hewitt-Trussville, tying the game. In the second overtime, Street scored on a five-yard run, and then Duke pushed the pile forward for a one-yard touchdown, tying the game at 50.
In the third overtime, Streeter scored from four yards out to give Spain Park a 57-50 advantage. With Hewitt-Trussville facing fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line on its turn in the third OT, Thomas hit Dalton Meadows for the game-tying score.
Street scored on Hewitt-Trussville’s first play of the fourth overtime, a 10-yard run that gave the Huskies a 64-57 lead. Streeter then scored from eight yards out for Spain Park, but Sumpter’s point-after attempt went begging.
“Obviously it was a heck of a job by our guys finding a way to win,” said first-year Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd.
Floyd said just one Hewitt-Trussville player cramped up during the back-and-forth contest, a tribute to the team’s strength and conditioning program.
“That’s just how we do it,” McElwain said. “We’re built for this.”
Floyd called Street a “big-time player.”
“We’ve known that was coming,” he said. “We really felt like this was going to be his breakout week.”
For Hewitt-Trussville, Thomas completed 11-of-16 attempts for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 26 times for 143 yards and two scores. Meadows caught five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. Moore carried eight times for 62 yards.
For Spain Park, Streeter rushed 41 times for 172 yards and five touchdowns. All five touchdowns, plus 31 rushes for 116 of his yards, came in the second half and overtimes. Duke completed 15-of-23 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
Floyd summed up the win.
“Crazy game,” he said.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.