Sparkman football team sophomores make ‘good trouble’

HARVEST – Sparkman went into its Class 6A, Region 4 football opener at Gadsden City with a major concern as two starting offensive lineman out sick with illness.

The Senators turned to sophomores Peyton Gibson and Kaiden Douglas with both making their first start after being elevated into the lineup late in the week of practice.

It turns out there was no need to fret as Sparkman dominated the Titans in a 42-14 win.

“They played phenomenally,” Sparkman head coach Ronnie Watson said. “I think the first drive; we ran right behind them five times (en route to a touchdown). They stepped up and did what they needed to do, but we knew going in we were gonna have to get the jitters out of them because they’ve never started a Friday night game before.”

The pair made up the interior right side of an offensive line that paved the way for 309 rushing yards on 39 carries for a hefty average per carry of 7.9. Sparkman also had five rushing TDs.

Now, Watson has a quandary–insert previous starters Mateo Hill and Miles Gauthier back into the lineup if healthy or stick with the newcomers.

“When you get in a situation where you get two guys that come in and they do well, I mean, you know it’s gonna be a fight these four (practice) days before we play a game,’’ Watson said. “Are you gonna up and take those spots back away from those guys?

“The program’s all about competition if it comes to that. I’m sure they’ll be healthy. I’m sure there’ll be some big banging this week at practice, starting (Monday) morning. A great thing about having competition like that is, in a game, if something happens, somebody makes a bad play, you can put a guy in there just to get that other guy’s attention.”

Watson said the Senators are in capable hands with Coach Greg Campbell leading the offensive line staff as Sparkman (2-1, 1-0 region) prepares to play at Hazel Green (0-3, 0-1) this week.

It’s enough to make late United States Congressman John Lewis, who made the phrase “good trouble’’ in the political arena, proud.

“It’s a good problem to have, but you couldn’t ask for a better group of coaches,” Watson said. “I mean, my gosh, they honestly got (the sophomore backups) ready in about a day. They’re getting reps throughout the week and stuff, but we didn’t know we were gonna have them start until Thursday afternoon.’’