By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE – Looking to put the woes of a 1-9 2022, the Springville Tigers welcomed Matt Glover’s Etowah Blue Devils to Tiger Stadium on Thursday night and proceeded to play old-school, smash-mouth football and get a huge win to start off 2023 the right way.
Springville used a traditional wishbone attack to wear down Etowah and, while it was not too effective early on, it worked in the end. Blue Devil players began dropping like flies late in the game due to cramping and the Tiger players, though it was hot and they had a few cramps of their own, were able to gain momentum late in the second half to get a big lead and end the night with a 28-21 win.
Springville won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball first to showcase their offense. On the first play, Mahlon Alverson took it 14 yards for a big gain. However, the drive would stall out after 3 more Alverson runs would only gain the Tigers 3 total yards and force them to punt. Long snapper Kayden Hanrahan would snap the ball over the punter’s head, setting the Blue Devils up at the seven yard line. Two plays later, Etowah would punch it in from the one and go up 7-0. The Tigers would find no success on the next four drives, going three-and-out each time. But, the defense continued to work hard to not let Etowah score again, even stopping them at the 11 yard line on one drive.
Late in the second quarter, the Tigers would gain some momentum. They put together a 91-yard drive that ended with quarterback Jake Conner running it in from the seven. Conner got hot, but not throwing the ball, on this drive and that was all the momentum he would need to have a fantastic night, totaling 48 yards in that drive alone. Springville would go into the locker room tied with Etowah at seven apiece.
The third quarter was somewhat similar to the first in that, Etowah struck first blood. Blue Devil quarterback Jameson Scissum would find paydirt from 19 yards out at the 8:25 mark of the third to put his team up 14-7 and take back the momentum that was taken from his team before the half. On the kickoff, Noel Cox would electrify the crowd and the sidelines with an 87-yard return, but it would be brought back due to a holding penalty. Springville would stall out once again, but the defense held Etowah to a punt that was blocked and recovered by junior defensive end Cooper Tibbs and recovered by Brady Seamon to set the Tigers up at the 14. 3 plays later, Conner scored for the second time of the night, this time from six yards out. He also ran for a two-point conversion to put the Tigers up 15-4 with just one minute to go in the third.
Etowah would not be able to answer the Tigers’ score and, instead, would stall out on a fourth and seven from the 32. Springville would drive the ball down and Conner would get his only pass completion of the night, finding Noel Cox for an eight-yard touchdown. The extra point snap would be dropped, but Springville would still have a 21-14 lead over the visitors.
Etowah fumbled the kickoff and Springville recovered it at the 33, but could not capitalize on the mistake. Etowah abandoned the running game and went to the air, but Scissum barely had any time, so many of his throws were inaccurate, leading to a turnover on downs. Springville would see Alverson punch it in from 17 yards out to give Springville the 14-point lead at 28-14 with three minutes to go in the game.
The Blue Devils never gave up and fought until the very end. With just 31 seconds to play, Scissum found Jalien Walker for a four-yard touchdown to narrow it to a seven-point lead for Springville. After two failed onside kick attempts, Springville would find themselves in the victory formation and with a 1-0 record, matching last year’s win total.
An emotional Jon Clements had this to say about matching the one-win total from last year. “I’m just glad they stuck with me. A lot of people told people to leave and that we were not going to win and that the program was going downhill. But, the 67 guys in that locker room stuck it out here. It had a lot to do with Jake Conner and Noel Cox and Kayden Hanrahan and these seniors. I can’t thank them enough. The defense just played lights out for us tonight, which was probably a surprise to us. We didn’t really know what we had over there. They played with tons of effort.”
Clements continued, “Our defensive coordinator is also our offensive line coach, Matt Partridge. We played great defense and we ran the damn rock. So I’m going to give this win to him tonight. He’s also our strength coach and he’s our number one guy.” Getting emotional once again, Clements said, “He kept those kids motivated, and I appreciate it.”
Speaking of the throwback to old school offense, Coach Clements said, “I heard some guy up in the stands tell us to throw the ball and I’m like ‘why?’ Matt convinced me to go out to Air Force this off season and we stayed up there for four or five days. When we got back on the plane, I asked what he wanted to do and he believed we could do it. I asked him who would coach the offensive line and he said he would. When we came back and were in the gym, I told the players what we were going to do and they thought I was crazy. Some quit and some didn’t want to play because it is not sexy. Well, 1-0 is sexy to me.”
Jake Conner put the team on his back in this game, running the ball 16 times, gaining 80 yards and two touchdowns to go with his passing touchdown as well as some pass breakups on the defensive side of the ball. “I’m just proud of our team. We played great tonight. We went 1-9 last year. We needed this win and we got it and it’s good motivation for the season. We just have to keep doing what we do.”
The leader on defense was Kayden Hanrahan, who dealt the Etowah offense fits while also making numerous tackles on punts. He had the following to say about his performance. “It definitely didn’t start how I wanted it to. I snapped that ball over the punters head and that led to their first touchdown, but my coaches told me to put that in the past so I did. We just did what we were supposed to do. We proved it, making them go four and out four times. My message to our defense was that we know we are better than what people believe and we need to prove people wrong.”
Mahlon Alverson added 105 yards on 22 carries for a touchdown as well.
The Tigers, now 1-0, will travel to Morris, Alabama to take on another Blue Devil next Friday, this time the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils.