Senators stun Bob Jones in epic clash
MADISON – The Sparkman Senators toppled old rival Bob Jones last Friday at Madison City Stadium 2926 in a tight game full of action.
The Bob Jones student section had a paper banner on the fence row facing the field from the end zone that said, “I’ve got 99 problems, but Sparkman ain’t one.”
That was the mentality around the stadium before this game.
The stands were half-empty as fans came in just before the kickoff while the lights glowed over the field and the cooler air of early October made it feel like this was the last Friday night in short pants.
Sparkman had something to prove in this contest and the Senators did just that with every hit at the line of scrimmage.
Nothing was going to come easy for Bob Jones who was used to mowing through teams early in the season with its high-flying offense.
The Patriots had outscored its opponents (Cullman, Lee, James Clemens and Grissom) in the first four games 174 to 38, but with this latest defeat to the Senators last week, Bob Jones is reeling with a three-game losing skid (Florence, Gadsden City and Sparkman).
The Sparkman vs Bob Jones game was full of penalties or at least the officials were throwing flags on almost every play.
The constant stopping made the game drag with teams trading penalty yards early on.
Bob Jones took the early lead 3-0 in the first quarter with 5:32 on the clock from a Nolan Whigham 22yard ¬field goal until Sparkman answered with an 82-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Naylon to receiver Zayden Bodner.
Bodner hauled in the pigskin on a 15-yard slant that turned into to gold when the Senator receiver scorched the Bob Jones defensive back with his breakaway speed.
Sparkman’s Bodner nearly ran over the back judge as he bolted toward the end zone at the 4:29 mark of the opening quarter as the Senators jumped out to a 7-3 edge.
A 35-yard field goal by the Patriots kicker Josh Stewart pulled Bob Jones within one point of tying it up at 7-6 with 1:04 left in the first quarter.
The Patriots drilled at 24-yard field goal with 8:39 remaining in the second quarter to lead 9-7.
Bob Jones padded its lead with a 21-yard rushing touchdown by Jaden Rice with 2:20 on the clock to make it 16-7 Pats.
Sparkman didn’t pack up and go home though.
The Senators answered once again just before halftime with a perfectly executed play by Naylon to his running back Braylon Lawson.
Bob Jones was blitzing and as the pocket collapsed around Naylon he dropped the ball over the heads of the defenders right into the hands of Lawson who had floated out of the backfield for a screen that made the Patriots pay.
Lawson used his blocking help as he charged down the field with a swiftness of a wolf gliding through a forest he knows all too well.
The Lawson TD made it 16-14 Bob Jones with plenty of hope for Sparkman with two quarters still to play.
Well at least the Sparkman football team had plenty of hope.
The Senator Band packed up and left after halftime for some reason, so the team had to chant and cheer for themselves on from the sidelines.
Bob Jones kicked another field goal from 31 yards out to push its advantage to 19-14 at 8:44 of the third quarter.
The teams traded interceptions starting with the Pats’ Savion Pou and then Sparkman’s Benjamin Battle ended up with a pick roughly a minute later.
Bob Jones quarterback Gakobey Gill found receiver Rhys Dorsey for a 24-yard touchdown connection to expand the Patriot lead to 26-14 with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter.
Sparkman responded in the fourth quarter when Naylon got the ball to Kam Reynolds for a 52-yard TD grab that made it 26-21 Pats with 11:18 to play.
The Senators were right there knocking at the door to take this game over as the teams traded punts in a slow-moving fourth quarter.
Sparkman got the ball back with just over five minutes to play and the road team went to work moving the rock down the field with powerful carries by Lawson who refused to be denied with the game on the line.
The Senators faced a fourth down and goal situation as Naylon rolled to his right and threw a dart into traffic in the end zone that found the hands of a lunging Reynolds who scored the 6-yard go-ahead TD with 4:03 on the clock.
A successful two-point conversion made it a definitive 29-26 Sparkman lead in a game that had it all.
Bob Jones had time to mount a comeback, but those hopes were mostly dashed with a turnover on downs with 2:48 remaining in the fourth that handed the ball back to Sparkman who looked to run the clock out.
As the Patriots used a pair of timeouts to stifle Sparkman’s efforts to burn the time out of the fourth quarter, the Senators were facing a fourth down spot with 1:41 to play.
Sparkman appeared ready to punt and give the ball back to Bob Jones, but the visitors shifted gears at the last second and came to line with its offense and Naylon was able to get the Patriots to jump with a hard count that drew an encroachment penalty creating a first down for the Senators.
Bob Jones (4-3) hits the road this Friday with a test at Austin (4-2) at 7 p.m. while Sparkman returns to Madison City Stadium to face the other school from the area, James Clemens (2-4) at 7 p.m.
