By Jonathan Bentley, The Daily Mountain Eagle
JASPER — Center Point’s Jabari Collier and Troy Bruce put on a show Friday night at Jasper Ki-Ro Gambrell Field.
The duo had a hand in eight touchdowns as the Eagles earned a 55-27 victory in the season opener for both teams.
Jasper stayed within striking distance in the opening half, but was done in by four-touchdown effort by Collier and Bruce in the third quarter, turning a 30-20 lead into a 55-20 advantage.
Seven of Center Point’s eight touchdowns came via the big play. Collier had touchdown runs of 47, 67 and 13 yards and also had touchdown passes of 42 and 24 yards. Bruce’s touchdown runs covered 23, 69 and 31 yards.
Jasper now hits the road for three consecutive weeks, playing at Cullman, Ramsay and Fairfield.
Center Point took the opening drive to the Jasper 2-yard line before fumbling the ball away. That would be rare miscue for the Center Point offense.
The Eagles scored on their next two possessions. Bruce broke free for a 23-yard touchdown run for the first score. A 2-point pass from Collier to Demario Hicks made the score 8-0. Collier went 47 yards on the first play on Center Point’s next possession for a 15-0 lead.
The game was a shootout over the final 7:17 of the first half with Jasper scoring three touchdowns and Center Point adding a pair of scores and a field goal.
Down 18-0, Jasper’s Micah Pledger put the Vikings’ on the scoreboard with a 33-yard run into the endzone. After a Bruce 69-yard score, Pledger struck again, taking the kickoff back 60 yards for the score, cutting the lead to 24-12.
Both teams added a touchdown in the final minute of the half. Collier hit Harold Holloman on a 42-yard touchdown pass for a 30-12 with 47 seconds left in the half. Jasper had enough time to strike back with quarterback Spencer Rosenfeld connecting with Cory Shephard on an 8-yard pass. The two connected for the 2-point conversion as well to make the score 30-20 at the half.
That was as close as Jasper would get.
Collier scored on runs of 67 and 13 yards and added a 24-yard touchdown pass to Bruce. After a Bruce 31-yard run made the score 55-20, Jasper added the final score on a Tanner Morrow 60-yard pass to Garrett Busby.