By Will Heath, For the Tribune
SPRINGVILLE — When the dust had settled and numbers were tallied Friday night at Tiger Stadium, a few numbers stood out for the Leeds defense in their region opener.
Two possessions. One first down. Not counting punts, 9 total offensive snaps. 75 total offensive yards allowed.
It all added up to a 23-7 victory for the Green Wave.
Springville’s Noel Cox with a tough run against Leeds September 8, 2023.
Photo by: Ron Burkett
“It’s nice to go up against people that are as big as you, and put in as much effort as you and as much work as you put in,” Leeds H-back Grayson Ford said after the game. “And you just battle for four quarters.”
Ford and the Leeds Greenwave (2-1, 1-0) offense monopolized the football for almost the entirety of the second half. The killer possession covered 65 total yards, beginning at the 1:45 mark of the 3rd quarter and not finishing until quarterback Conner Nelson scored his second touchdown, with 4:51 remaining on the Tiger Stadium clock.
Nelson finished with 215 yards rushing and throwing, and accounted for all three Leeds touchdowns. Ford, ZJ Dale and slot back Tay Gaiter accounted for 176 yards rushing between them, and carried the bulk of the rushing load in the second half.
“We’ve been practicing it a lot this week,” he said. “And when (Nelson) was down a little bit, it opened up my opportunities more.”
That support was all the Green Wave defense needed. Tiger tailback Mahlon Alverson finished with 38 yards rushing on the night, on 19 carries. Springville head coach Jon Clements called Leeds “as good of a defensive front as you’re going to see.”
“I thought our guys kept battling, I thought our guys kept fighting tonight,” Clements said. “That’s a lot of punch coming from that other side.”
Leeds head coach Jerry Hood said the defense was prepared for a physical battle.
“Really beat the kids up a little bit this week,” Hood said. “But it was necessary to get that kind of performance. And they did. I’m dang proud of them.”
The offense opened the game with consecutive TDs on their first two drives. Nelson found Gaiter wide open for a 52-yard score on the first drive, then capped a 74-yard march with a 5-yard TD run early in the second quarter, making it 14-0.
Springville (1-2, 0-1) got a rushing TD from quarterback Jacob Conner late in the second quarter, at the tail end of a 31-yard drive following a short Leeds punt. The Green Wave responded to Conner’s touchdown with a 2-minute drill that resulted in a 38-yard field goal by Avery Langford, giving them a 17-7 lead at halftime.
Hood noted that, following a first half in which his offense only had 4 possessions, it was necessary to control the ball in the second half.
“We wanted to purposely run our big back (Ford) as much as possible,” he said. “We ran him for a while, and (Dale) got to run some more. That’s the kind of football we like.”
Clements lauded his own team’s effort in the loss.
“I thought our kids fought like crazy tonight,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough in the end.”
Leeds will return home to face St. Clair County next week. Springville travels to face Southside, in Gadsden.
