By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
ODENVILLE – On Friday night, the Saint Clair County Saints celebrated the 1993 Alabama State Championship team that went undefeated. In addition to that celebration, the Saints hoped to make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The visiting Springville Tigers had other ideas. Not making it to the playoffs since 2009, Jon Clements had his boys ready to play on Friday night, which led to a 42-13 victory for the Tigers.
Springville’s Nathan Baldwin (62) lifts Mahlon Alverson into the air in celebration after a Springville Touchdown.
Photo by: Johnny Sanders
Saint Clair gave Springville a scare early on as they took less than a minute to get the first touchdown on the board. Landyn Smith found Jeremiah Thomas for an 80-yard bomb on the second play of the game to put the Saints on top 7-0 at the 11:09 mark of the first. Springville would simply do what they do when they got the ball. Run, run and run. Jake Conner did find Noel Cox for a 22-yard gain on the drive, but it ended with Conner running it in from the six to make it 7-7. Springville’s defense would hold the Saints and the Tigers would get the ball back, marching it to the St Clair 12 where Conner would find Cox for a touchdown at the five-second mark of the first. The quarter would end with Springville holding a 14-7 lead.
The second quarter would start much like the first. Smith would find Thomas again, this time from 85 yards away, to make it 14-13 after a missed PAT. After a Jake Conner fumble, the Saints were feeling like they had a mismatch with Thomas, but Smith’s next pass to Thomas would be picked off by Noel Cox. Springville would be unable to move the ball on the next drive, but the defense would hold St Clair to a punt on their next drive. The punter dropped the ball and the Tigers pounced on it at the 11. Cox finished off the drive with a six-yard touchdown run with 4:55 to go in the half. After another defensive stand, the Tigers took over and so did Mahlon Alverson. On a third and four from their own 32, Alverson turned on the jets and broke multiple tackles on his way to the pay window, putting the Tigers up 27-13 with 42 seconds in the half. Seth Jones would pick off a Smith pass to give Springville the opportunity to put up more before the break, but they would settle for the 14-point advantage.
Springville’s first drive out of the locker room ended when they went for it on a fourth and nine from the 31 where Conner would find Alverson for the score making it 35-13 Tigers. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Cox would punch in another touchdown, this time from a yard out, to make it 42-13 and that would be the final.
Jake Conner finished the night four of eight passing for 73 yards and two touchdowns to go with 12 carries for 58 yards and another score. Noel Cox had a nose for the end zone Friday, scoring twice on the ground and once through the air. Alverson, the workhorse of the offense, carried the ball 27 times for 196 yards and a touchdown to go with his 31-yard touchdown reception, giving him 227 all-purpose yards. The defense held St Clair to 173 total offensive yards with 165 of them coming on the two long pass plays.
Jake Conner said of the game, “It is awesome. We had a great week of practice. Wednesday may be the best day we’ve ever had. We were ready to come and play. I’m just happy for the seniors. They stuck it out and everyone was talking to them about us and nobody believed in us. The seniors believed in what we do and they stuck by us. They deserve everything.”
Senior running back Mahlon Alverson had the following thoughts, “It’s not my last game and that is amazing news. The best news I could have right now. Last time we went to the playoffs, I was four years old. That’s the year I started playing football. Every year I’ve played football has led to this moment right here to go to the playoffs my senior season. It feels amazing to be a part of it. It was an amazing night for us. Now we set new goals. Get to the second round is our goal now.”
Senior linebacker Cole Tittle said, “Me and Mahlon grew up together playing the sport. I feel amazing. We are changing history right now. Haven’t done this in 14 years and we are changing the tradition of losing here. I think my performance could have been a lot better. I felt slow today but I think I did alright.”
An emotional Jon Clements said the following, “It’s all them (seniors). This is a special group of kids. They’ve got good momma’s and daddies. Our crowd tonight was incredible. They show up every Friday and we feed off of them. These seniors are special. They had opportunities to go other places and do other things or not even play. They decided to stick together. Very cool thing.”
Clements shifted to the play of his team. “The big plays were just guys out of position and we just didn’t make the play.”
Coach Clements gave credit to his coaches. “We’ve got seven coaches and it’s like a brotherhood. I’ve got to thank them for this. It’s great to come to work with them. I especially have to thank Matt Partridge. He talked me into doing all of this and got the kids in the weight room. I was told to hire people smarter than me and he is. He’s our defensive coordinator, strength coach, offensive line coach. He does it all.”
“It’s a great night to be a Springville Tiger!”
The Tigers will likely head to Arab in round one of the playoffs in two weeks, but they will take on Pell City next week to close out the regular season.
