By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE, ALABAMA – The Springville Tigers hosted the Jacksonville Golden Eagles on Friday night in a key region matchup on homecoming in a game that saw Springville come out on fire, but mistakes and a Jake Conner injury proved to be too much to overcome for the home team as they fell 44-14 to Jacksonville.
Springville got the ball first and used a healthy does of Gavin Webber to get the ball down the field. Mixed in there was a 22-yard connection from Jake Conner to Brodie Frederick that set the Eagles on their heels. On first and goal from the four-yard line, Webber punched in his first touchdown on the night and the homecoming crowd was electric as their team took a 7-0 lead at the 7:51 mark of the first quarter.
Jacksonville would be unable to get much done on offense as Springville’s defense was playing inspired and stuffed them, holding them to a punt. Springville would get the ball and move it a little, but an 18-yard loss on a bad snap forced a punt for the Tigers.
Jacksonville would drive the ball down and score on the final play of the first quarter to make it 7-7 after one period of play.
Springville would face a tough third and 14 at their own 20-yard line, but Conner found Cade Gleason for 19 yards to get the first. On the next play, Webber would bust up the middle for 15 yards, but the end result would be a fumble that Jacksonville would recover.
The Eagles would bust off a 41-yard touchdown run at the 8:52 mark of the second quarter. The PAT would be missed, making it 13-7 Eagles.
Springville’s next drive would end with a punt, along with an injury to Conner, leading to Jacksonville’s next touchdown with 7:12 to go in the half, this time a long pass to make it 20-7.
The Tigers would take over again and, on their third play, with 1:14 to go before the break, Gleason would fumble the ball and Jacksonville recovered, taking over at the 20 and scoring 20 seconds later to make it 27-7 Eagles and that would be the score as the teams went into the locker room for halftime.
After the break, Jacksonville started with the ball and drove it deep into Springville territory. The Tiger defense stood tall and held the Eagles to a field goal and it was 30-7 Eagles at the 9:10 mark of the third.
The Tigers, with Conner back at the helm, would get themselves into a fourth and two situation and line up in punt formation. Conner was the up-back and took the snap on the fake, but he only managed one yard and Jacksonville took over.
Using a running game that amassed over 300 yards on the ground, the Eagles extended the lead with 4:58 to go in the third, making it 37-7 and that is how the quarter would end.
The Tigers would not give up and, with freshman Brennen Archer at quarterback, they put together a drive that saw him go two-for-two for 22 yards and it was capped off by a Hunter Kreamer touchdown from 12 yards out to make it 37-14 Eagles.
Jacksonville would tack on another score at the 7:01 mark of the fourth and the game would end with the Eagles winning 44-14.
“It was embarrassing, honestly, said Jon Clements. “Offense was bad. Defense was bad. Special teams was bad. We didn’t do a whole lot right. It’s not good football. We turned it over. Couldn’t get off the field on third down. That’s my fault and I’m going to go tell them it’s my fault. Jake got hurt and I hope he gets better. That just kind of took the air out of the whole place. That says a lot about what kind of player he is and what he means to the program. It took the air out of me too, if I’m being honest. I was really proud of our ninth-grade quarterback Brennen Archer. He doesn’t realize it tonight, but this is going to pay dividends for him, getting a good bit of playing time against a good team. Hat’s off to them. They had four losses in a row and came in here and hammered us. They played the right way and we played like we just had to show up and that’s what happens to you.”
Springville will travel to St Clair County next Friday in a must-win region game. “We will go back to the drawing board and we will see what kind of team we have. There’s going to be a lot of honesty on Monday and we will see if we can’t fix this.”