No. 1-ranked Saraland unloads on Spain Park, 45-19, to reach 6A semifinals

 

 

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

SARALAND — Maybe it was the new cleats K.J. Lacey was wearing. Or the fact Spain Park was playing its safeties all the way back to Europe. Or how Saraland’s offensive linemen folded up the people in front of them like church chairs at a tent revival. Or the way the Spartans’ defense kept a tight grip on the Jaguars’ jugular.

There were a lot of reasons for No. 1-ranked Saraland’s 45-19 evisceration of previously undefeated and No. 4-ranked Spain Park in the Class 6A quarterfinals Friday night. Mainly, the autopsy showed it was an overdose of speed, blocking, tackling and, at times, brutal efficiency — especially the way in which the Spartans opened the game by bludgeoning the Jaguars with 11 first downs and 227 yards on just 17 snaps in the first quarter on the way to a 21-0 lead.

“I wish there was something I could have done different and pushed some different buttons at different times,” said Spain Park coach Tim Vakakes, who saw his team’s 17-game winning streak shattered. “They were the better team tonight. They’ve got skill all over the place. We knew we were going to have our hands full but our kids just kept fighting and swinging.”

Saraland swung harder and hit the Jaguars where it hurt.

Lacey was 18-of-24 passing for 301 yards and four touchdowns and slashed his way to 105 yards on nine carries and another touchdown — the first time the four-star Texas commitment has run for 100 yards in his spectacular career.

Santae McWilliams piled on 187 yards on 21 carries as the Spartans ran for a season-high 305 yards and demonstrated their running game can be a force in the most consequential games of the season. McWilliams also surpassed 1,000 yards rushing for the fourth straight season.

Receivers C.D. Gill and Deshawn Spencer got open almost at will — Gill had seven catches for 162 yards and TD catches of 17, 22 and 24 yards; Spencer had seven receptions for 128 yards and TD catches of 51 and 13 yards and threw the 24-yarder to Gill after taking in a lateral from Lacey.

“We took what they gave us and made plays,” said Gill, who wrote “Leave No Doubt” on his eye black. “That’s what we do.”

After all the adding was finished, Saraland had 630 yards of total offense — 401 in the first half alone — a state-leading 33-game home winning streak in the final game this season at Spartan Stadium and a gaping gateway to the 6A semifinals, where the Spartans (12-0) will visit Pike Road (10-3) Friday.

Lacey mashed the accelerator with his new red, gold, green and black Under Armour SRT cleats styled after the classic Dodge muscle cars and rose to No. 3 all time in passing yardage in state history, jumping past Bo Nix and Chris Smelley with 10,455 yards.

With Spain Park guarding against the deep ball and failing to get to him when it blitzed, Lacey quickly recognized he could run on the Jaguars. His first three scrambles of 15, 11 and 10 yards all came on first-and-10. He had a 20-yarder on a third-and-6 and a 13-yarder on a third-and-10 while backed up from inside his own 1 to start a 99.9-yard drive in the fourth quarter, which he finished with a 4-yard scoring run.

“It was the cleats,” Gill said. “They say SRT on them. He thinks he’s Lamar Jackson now.”

Lacey has rarely enjoyed so much running room.

“I realized that they weren’t going to come after me or send three at me,” he said. “Even when they blitzed, I had a couple right at the middle. I never had that much room before. I always get spied. If you don’t spy me, I can run a little bit.”

After the new cleats’ successful debut, Lacey said he’s not taking them off.

“I’m gonna keep them on for the rest of the playoffs,” he said.

Saraland coach Jeff Kelly — whose team has never trailed this season and never punted Friday night — said he wanted to turn Lacey loose against the multiple defensive looks Spain Park hoped would confuse Lacey and buy it some time to set its coverage. Instead, the only confusion seemed to come from the Jaguars while chasing Lacey, McWilliams, Gill and Spencer all over the field.

“I told our players we were going to put it in their hands,” Kelly said. “I told K.J. I was going to put it in his hands, to go play ball. He showed great poise sorting out the different looks they were giving him and being patient with the football. He didn’t force the ball. I thought what changed the game was when they dropped eight and really tried to take away the pass and he extended drives and made some big runs. That’s just an added dimension there that just really breaks the back of a defense. That was probably the best game that he’s played.”

Kelly said Lacey, who is 38-2 as the Spartans’ starter, is the state’s best player.

“I think he should be Mr. Football 100 percent, just with how he plays, the consistency in which he plays, and he’s done it for a long time,” Kelly said.

Vakakes said his defense did the best it could against Class 6A’s top scoring offense.

“We were trying to do some different stuff on defense ‘cause you have to,” he said. “You can’t just sit there and give (Lacey) the same picture every play ‘cause he’s good. Tonight, he made some plays with his legs. It’s pick your poison with those guys, you know?”

Vakakes indicated only Saraland can stop Saraland, which is 82-0 all time when scoring 40 or more points.

“You just hope they have an off night,” he said. “Unless you can just lock man on those guys and just play, (Lacey) is going to have big games.”

Perhaps the most satisfying of Lacey’s touchdown passes Friday night — he now has 127 in his career — was his 51-yard throw to Spencer in the first quarter to make it 21-0 despite Spain Park’s safeties playing deep. Lacey hurled the ball at least 60 yards through the air to Spencer, who cradled the ball while fending off a defender in the end zone.

“Shawn Shawn got one on three people,” Lacey marveled. “I honestly didn’t think I made it all the way there but he went and got it.”

Spencer — who has offers from Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Arkansas — said he was determined to make the catch.

“They were trying to play their safeties deep the entire game because they knew we could easily get over the top if we wanted to,” he said. “I’m running and K.J. just threw it. Just him having that trust in me to go get that ball, I don’t like letting my quarterback down.”

Lacey said it was one of his longest throws through the air in a game, although he touched 73 airborne yards during a workout at QB Country.

“I was expecting an incompletion,” he said. “I thought I threw it too far to the side but he went and got that thing. I could probably throw it farther but in the game, you don’t really get a chance to throw it that far.”

Spain Park showed brief signs of life in the second quarter but the Spartans’ defense, ranked second against the score in 6A, quickly squelched it with a pressure defense that had 10 tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries and four sacks.

C.J. Cowley’s 29-yard touchdown run made it 21-7 and Josh Tulloss recovered his own onside kick at midfield. The Jaguars drove to a third-and-7 at Saraland’s 33 but star defensive lineman Antonio Coleman shoved a blocker into quarterback Brock Bradley, then made the tackle for no gain. On fourth down, Bradley was flushed from the pocket and stopped for a 3-yard loss by Jaxon Roberts.

The Spartans rapidly drove 60 yards in the last 34 seconds for Tucker Singleton’s 22-yard field goal and a 24-7 halftime lead.

“We had a chance to turn it into a 21-14 game right before halftime,” Vakakes said. “That was a big momentum shift where they got the ball late and got three right before halftime.”

Saraland’s scoring drives were showcases of brilliance — including drives of 67, 91 and 69 yards in the first quarter. It had a 69-yard, nine-play drive in the third quarter without ever facing a third down. The 99-yarder lasted 11 plays.

The running game has asserted itself behind an ever-improving offensive line that blocked so well that Saraland didn’t have a play for a loss and McWilliams has run for 155 and 187 yards in back-to-back games.

“If we can continue to run the football in addition to protecting and throwing it, then we’ll have a chance every week,” Kelly said. “Santae McWilliams has proven over the last four years that the longer we play in November, the better he gets. And the job that (offensive line) coach (Rotch) Dungan has done with those offensive linemen, I’m so proud of all five of those guys up front. They are really, really playing well.”

McWilliams reflected on his performance with characteristic humility.

“The O-line is just dominating the front, getting good push, and they’re allowing me to do what I do,” he said. “It’s always good to have a great balance, especially this late in the playoffs. You don’t want to be one-dimensional. We’re just gonna keep it going.”

The Spartans, who have the best record in 6A the last five years (61-8), need two more wins to capture their second Blue Map in three years.

“When we get into the playoffs, we just want to play our best football,” Lacey said. “We know if we lose a game, we’re done, so we don’t want to be there.”