Jags rally falls short at Hewitt-Trussville
TRUSSVILLE – Things got interesting for a few minutes on Friday night.
After the Hewitt-Trussville High School football team took a three-score lead two plays into the fourth quarter, Spain Park mounted a charge that ultimately fell a little short in a 33-21 Huskies win in the first round of the Class 7A state playoffs.
Paul Tyson’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Logan Pitts gave Hewitt-Trussville a 27-7 lead with 11:10 to play and seemed to be the proverbial dagger, but the Jags had a rally left in them.
On the ensuing possession, D’Arie Johnson gained 40 yards on a short pass and quarterback Braxton Barker ran for a 13-yard score six plays later to cut the deficit to 27-14. It was Barker’s second rushing touchdown of the evening, as he gained 63 yards on eight carries.
The Jags (6-5) then forced a three-and-out, and immediately began driving again. Barker converted a third-and-15 with a 29-yard scramble to set up Johnson’s 3-yard run to make it 27-21 with 3:55 to play. That run put Johnson over the century mark, as he concluded his career with a 19-carry, 104-yard performance.
But Hewitt-Trussville put the game away with an eight-play, 83-yard drive in the final moments, capped off by an 8-yard run from Elliott McElwain to increase the score to its final margin.
“We just didn’t make enough plays when we had to,” said Spain Park head coach Shawn Raney. “I’m proud of the kids. They fought, kept fighting the whole time. I’m proud of them.”
Hewitt-Trussville came into the contest averaging 48 points per game for the season, and Spain Park’s defense came out looking like the team with something to prove. The Jags defense contained the Huskies offense for much of the first half, giving up nothing in the first quarter.
“We fought,” Raney said. “We just couldn’t do anything offensively in the first half. The defense kept us in it.”
On Spain Park’s second drive, Barker kept the ball on a zone read and scampered untouched for a 51-yard touchdown that would have given the Jags the first blow, but the play was called back for holding. The nullified play was one of the few bright spots in the first two quarters for the Jags offense.
“It was big, because offensively, in the first half, we had a goose egg. That’s part of it,” Raney said.
Parker Colburn’s 29-yard field goal put Hewitt-Trussville on top early in the second, and Tyson hit Pitts for his first score of the evening on a 16-yard missile down the middle of the field, as the Huskies held a 10-0 edge at the break. Colburn also tacked on his second field goal of the evening later in the third, a 31-yarder that split the uprights.
“Just slow them down,” Raney said of the game plan. “They haven’t been slowed down all year and we did some stuff, tried to take away the run game.”
Hewitt-Trussville scored on Tyson’s 3-yard run on its opening possession of the third quarter, but the Jags responded with the first of Barker’s two rushing scores on the evening to make the score 17-7. Spain Park converted three third-down plays on the drive, of 6, 7, and 11 yards.
After a rough first half, the Spain Park offense flowed much better in the second half. Success on the ground with Johnson opened things up for Barker and his receiving corps.
Raney said, “We were able to run the ball a little bit better and that opened up our wideouts. They were playing man coverage, and we just challenged our wideouts to beat some coverage and they started doing that the second half.”
Barker was just 2-of-10 passing for 8 yards in the first half, but finished the evening 12-of-28 for 134 yards. Michael Rogers was the Jags’ leading receiver, as he secured five grabs for 63 yards.
McElwain led all rushers with 115 yards on 17 carries. He also chipped in 83 receiving yards on seven catches. Tyson had an effective night under center, completing 22-of-29 passes for 210 yards and two scores. He also gained 38 yards on the ground with a touchdown.
Hewitt-Trussville will host Hoover in a big second-round playoff matchup next Friday. Spain Park’s season ends with the loss.
“They were persistent,” Raney said of his seniors. “Even the ones that didn’t get to play a whole lot, they were supportive. That’s just good for the program when you’ve got that many kids that can be leaders.”