Spain Park pulls away from Pelham, remains perfect at 6-0

Published 11:45 pm Friday, October 4, 2024

By Alec Etheredge

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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Publisher

PELHAM – The Spain Park Jaguars took their perfect record on the road to kick off the month of October on Friday night, Oct. 4 and pulled out of Pelham unscathed with a dominant win to remain perfect.

The Jags opened up a 21-7 advantage at the break and continued to pull away in the second half with 21 more points en route to a 42-7 victory to improve to 6-0 on the season.

“These kids, it matters to them. They care about each other,” head coach Tim Vakakes said after the win. “We’re at a point in our program where our kids care about each other, the coaches care about them and there is a lot of love. Our kids work really hard and do a lot of hard things to be the best they can. I think our kids just rested on that.”

He added that the team’s ability to be able to face different adverse situations and bounce back has been key in their growth as a team this year to be undefeated and in position to chase down a region championship.

“We talked all offseason about playing for each other and not with each other,” he said. “There’s a big difference. When you’re playing with somebody, you’re playing for yourself, but when you’re playing for somebody, you don’t want to let that guy down. We’ve talked about that and the kids are responding. We have a devotional every day about what it’s like to be a man. It’s not always roses and there is always adversity. Adversity might look like a touchdown, an interception or a fumble, but it might be you lose your job when you’re 35 and have kids. That helps them be prepared to go through the hard work it takes to be part of our program.”

That showed up in the matchup with the Panthers, as the Jaguars were able to overcome sustained drives by Pelham by bouncing back with big sacks and forced turnovers.

Both offenses got off to fast starts in the game, but after back-to-back sacks from Spain Park’s defense stalled Pelham’s opening drive, the Jags were the first to capitalize.

After a few positive plays got them in plus territory, it was a handoff to CJ Cowley, who went 35 yards to the house up the right sideline to give the Jags an early 7-0 lead midway through the opening period.

Pelham, however, quickly responded.

The Panthers put together an 80-yard drive to answer with several big plays eventually leading to a great pass from sophomore quarterback Dylan Smith. Rolling to his left, he saw Tristan Darden rolling the opposite direction and threw a bullet where only Darden could make the grab for a 13-yard touchdown that evened the score with 1:44 left in the opening quarter.

The back-and-forth offensive battle continued after that, as the Jaguars got a 63-yard pass from Brock Bradley to Corey Barber Jr. to set up a 24-yard touchdown pass to Dakarai Shanks that gave the lead back to the Jags at 14-7 on the first play of the second quarter.

From there, Pelham had positive plays on each remaining drive in the half, but sacks and penalties became costly.

On the ensuing drive, it was a penalty and sack that forced third-and-30 and a short punt.

Then, after a Spain Park punt, the Panthers got another shot after starting at their own 5-yard line thanks to a 63-yard run from Kalib Porter. The Jags, however, forced a long field goal attempt that ended up forcing another stop shortly after.

Spain Park then put together a 97-yard drive that featured consistent gains of 15-20 yards before a personal foul set up first-and-10 from the 13-yard line.

From there, Bradley floated a screen pass to Dakarai Shanks who broke a couple of tackles before finding his way into the end zone for another touchdown that put the Jags in front 21-7 at the half.

“They did a good job of trying to stop the run,” Vakakes said of the first-half success on offense. “Brock did a good job of getting the ball on the perimeter to some guys. I feel like with Brock, if somebody tries to take this away, we feel like we can try to go to something else.”

Spain Park then came out of the locker room and put together an ideal start to the second half that put the game away.

It started with an opening drive that was over in the blink of an eye after when Bradley hit Barber for a long touchdown pass to quickly make it 28-7.

Then, after Pelham looked to be stringing together another good drive, a deep pass from Smith to the corner of the end zone was intercepted by Joseph Cross to give the ball right back to the Jags.

From there, the Jags marched right down the field with another impressive drive capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run from Cowley to make it 35-7 with 1:57 left in the half.

Spain Park added one more late touchdown on a short touchdown plunge from Charleston Gray to finish off the 42-7 victory.

Bradley finished the night 20-for-25 with 290 yards and three touchdowns passing, while Cowley totaled 86 yards on the ground with two touchdowns and tacked on 21 receiving yards.

Shanks added 50 rushing yards on eight carries, while he also put together 37 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Barber led all receivers with another impressive outing thanks to 140 yards and one touchdown on eight receptions.

Spain Park will now take on undefeated Chelsea in a battle for first place in the region next Thursday at home. A win would put the Jags one win from a region title.

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