By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
MORRIS – On Friday night, the Springville Tigers took to the road in a matchup with the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils in a game that saw a back-and-forth fight in a rainy, messy game between two tough teams who were both coming off of wins in their first game of the season. The Blue Devils would end up with the advantage at the end, getting the win over Springville 34-28.
Mortimer Jordan would strike first on a 17-yard run to go up 7-0 over Springville. The Tigers would answer with a 28-yard Mahlon Alverson touchdown run. The Blue Devils answered with a 71-yard touchdown and the quarter would end with Mortimer Jordan leading Springville 14-7.
Springville would get the scoring going first in the second with a 39-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jake Conner. Mortimer Jordan would answer on a 35-yard run but the Tigers would not go away. This score would see Conner find Noel Cox for a 78-yard touchdown to get the fans on their feet and send the Tigers into halftime with the momentum and with the game tied at 21.
The third quarter would only see on score and it would be a 10-yard touchdown run by the Blue Devils to make it 28-21 Mortimer Jordan heading into the final stanza.
The fourth quarter would see Springville’s Mahlon Alverson get his second touchdown of the night, this time on a three-yard plunge into the end zone. The game would be tied at 28 at this point. Mortimer Jordan would score next on a 14-yard run to go up 34-28. The Tigers would now have an opportunity to go ahead if they scored and got the extra point, but they would not be able to find paydirt, even though the intercepted a Mortimer Jordan pass with around five minutes left in the game.
The Blue Devils would amass almost 400 yards on the ground to defeat Springville, only gaining 49 yards through the air. The Tigers’ Jake Conner threw twice (both passes complete to Noel Cox) for 110 yards and a touchdown with the largest coming on a 78-yard strike in the second quarter to tie the game at 21 before halftime. Springville also had a good night running the ball with 267 yards on the ground, three of those runs going for touchdowns (2 for Alverson and 1 for Conner).
The Tigers fall to 1-1 with a trip to cross-town rival Leeds Friday night. The Greenwave are coming off of a close win against Pell City, now 0-2, this past week.