By Will Heath, For the Tribune
SPRINGVILLE — Taylon Gaiter scored on a 51-yard touchdown pass and a 61-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of Friday night’s region victory over Springville. Neither of those plays counted, however; both came back because of penalties.
The Springville Tigers huddle up.
Photo by: Michael Evans
“We just come back the next play and keep going,” Gaiter said.
Gaiter and his Green Wave teammates certainly did that in spades Friday night at Tiger Stadium. On the plays that did count, Leeds rolled up 472 offensive yards against the Tiger defense, good enough to key a 42-14 win to open play in 5A Region 6.
That total included touchdowns of 61 and 75 by Gaiter, and touchdowns of 49 and 22 yards from quarterback Conner Nelson. The Green Wave had tallied 341 yards of offense by halftime.
“I thought we just did what we do at Leeds,” head coach Jerry Hood said.
The offensive onslaught helped the Green Wave (3-0, 1-0) fend off a feisty offensive challenge from Springville (1-2, 0-1), which nearly matched them score for score in the first half. The Tigers tied the game at 7 on an 80-yard run by quarterback Jacob Conner in the first quarter; after Leeds retook the lead on a run by Nelson, Conner tied it again on an 18-yard pass to Brodie Frederick.
The Tigers’ senior signal caller finished with 254 all-purpose yards in the game.
“I was proud of our fight,” said Springville head coach Jon Clements. “I thought we played a lot harder than we did last week (against Fairview).”
Nelson retook the advantage on a 22-yard scramble. Then, after a Tiger missed field goal, Gaiter hauled in a short pass from the QB and took it 75 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-14.
“It was just great setup,” said Gaiter. “I just used my speed to get out.”
In addition to the big plays, the kicking game helped swing the result definitively to the visitors on Friday. Three separate Tiger drives ended with field goal miscues. Then, to open the second half, a fumbled kickoff gave Leeds the ball at the 13-yard line. Nelson scored on a run one play later.
“It just kind of took the air out of everybody,” Clements said.
In spite of the yardage total, Leeds defenders said they felt the team improved after halftime.
“Teams like (Springville), you can be way more athletic than them, way better than them, but if you’re not disciplined they can beat you,” said linebacker Miles Jones. “I feel like we played really disciplined and we played good Leeds football.”
Springville receiver Brodie Frederick hauled in 3 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.
“(Frederick) told me at halftime, … ‘They’re just too little, Coach,’” said Hood. “But I’ll take a 42-14 win over that.”
Hood’s squad will continue in region play on Friday when they travel to face Lincoln. Springville will step out of region play to host Alma Bryant.
