Sparkman homecoming comeback falls short to Jags

HARVEST – The Sparkman Senators (2-4) were facing a massive hole to climb out of against Mae Jemison (3-3) down 20-0 at halftime.

It was last Friday night at Sparkman High School; the air was cooler as the sunset faded into the trees with an orange glow in the horizon.

The visiting Jaguars were able to hold off a hard-charging Sparkman team 34-27 in a game that became quite compelling in the second half.

The Senators struggled offensively in the first half with a rash of interceptions that halted drives and handed Jemison all the momentum it wanted.

But Sparkman didn’t quit after the homecoming king and queen were named at the midway point of the game.

The team clad in all black kept playing good defense and took advantage of opportunities from a complacent Jaguars team that just barely kept the plane from crashing into the mountainside in the fourth quarter.

The first quarter moved quickly with defensive stops by both sides including a monumental play from Sparkman’s senior star linebacker Blake Battle who stoned Jags running back Marcus McCarver on fourth down near the goal line at 3:51.

As McCarver followed the flow of blockers to the right side of the line, Battle lowered his shoulder and stopped the Jemison tailback like he had ran into a brick wall.

Sparkman took the ball back and was moving the pigskin down the field until junior quarterback Josh Naylon threw an interception to the Jemison defensive back Xavier Teague at 2:11.

The Jaguars used the turnover to find the end zone with McCarver from six yards out to make it 8-0 Jags with 2:01 remaining in the opening quarter.

Naylon threw another interception midway through the second quarter that was returned by the sophomore linebacker Harland Patton II to make it 14-0 Jemison after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

The game was halted for almost 30 minutes in the second quarter when a Mae Jemison player suffered a leg injury that required him to be taken off the field on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance with 7:11 to play before halftime.

The Jaguars scored its final points of the first half to make it 20-0 when quarterback Jaden Burroughs found receiver Latrell Jackson for a 19-yard TD snag.

Sparkman was attempting to move the ball once again right before the half when Naylon threw a second interception to Teague, his third of the game.

As the contest advanced into the third quarter, frustrations were boiling over for Sparkman on defense who were penalized for talking trash between snaps.

A 5-yard run by McCarver with 6:42 to go in the third quarter made it 28-0 Jags.

Sparkman was finished, or so it seemed. Nobody told Sparkman’s Zayden Bodner that this game was over.

Bodner proceeded to return the ensuing kickoff all the way to midfield.

With good field position, the Senators went on the attack as Sparkman’s junior star running back Braylon Lawson bolted seven yards on a sweep to give the home team its first points of the game with 5:05 left in the third.

It was suddenly 28-7 and Sparkman had the beginnings of a comeback and some time to make it happen.

The Jaguars answered with an 80-yard touchdown catch from Burroughs to Ar’mon Hannah for a 34-7 score with 3:02 on the clock.

As time ran down in the third, Sparkman scored another touchdown using a big run by Lawson to create a scoring opportunity for receiver Kam Reynolds for a 34-13 Jags lead.

Things got really interesting with 2.6 on the clock when Bodner burned Jemison with a 28-yard TD grab that made it 34-20 with one quarter to play.

The Jags were starting to crumble.

Like when Burroughs threw an interception to Senators defensive back Braylon Caudle with 10 minutes left in the game.

Sparkman was set up with good field position and appeared destined to score once more on this drive.

Jemison dug its heels in though and forced a turnover on downs to neutralize the Senators’ attack.

The Jags’ University of Tennessee commit Hezekiah Harris had a mostly quiet night until he intercepted a ball that was tipped at the line of scrimmage with 4:19 left in the fourth quarter.

Sparkman was running out of time, but that didn’t stop them from trying to make create some magic as Bodner scored another touchdown catch with 2:52 on the clock to pull the Senators a touchdown away from knotting the game up somehow at 34-27.

The Senators appeared poised to prevent Jemison from getting a key first down that would run the clock out to end the game, but of course it came down to a penalty marker.

A defensive pass interference call that two officials didn’t even agree on would doom Sparkman in the end as the Jaguars escaped with the narrow victory.

Sparkman is back on the road with a classic battle against rival Bob Jones (42) on Friday at 7 p.m.