Saraland quarterback Jamison Roberts unleashes a screen pass against St. Paul’s Friday night in Saraland. Roberts completed 14 of 19 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in the 42-10 win. (Bonita Roberts/Call News)
Saraland receiver Deshawn Spencer races for a touchdown during the Spartans’ 42-10 win Friday night over St. Paul’s. Spencer had six catches for 125 yards and two TDs. (Bonita Roberts/Call News)
Saraland’s Lawardrick Jonnes (1) hits St. Paul’s Jimbo Boteler (13) on a short pass in the first quarter Friday night. The Saints managed just 26 yards of offense against the Spartans’ starters. (Bonita Roberts/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
SARALAND — Four words have gradually become among the rarest to be uttered anywhere in Alabama, even the world:
“Pass incomplete, Jamison Roberts.”
Saraland’s public-address announcer used the phrase only five times Friday night as Roberts, who wears jersey No. 10, was nearly a perfect 10 on the 10th day of the 10th month, completing 14 of 19 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in the No. 2-ranked Spartans’ 42-10 rout of St. Paul’s at Spartan Stadium.
Roberts — the junior quarterback who was offered by Auburn earlier this week — was 13-of-16 passing for 230 yards in the first half as unstoppable Saraland (7-0, 6-0 6A Region 1) scored on all six possessions on the way to a 42-3 halftime lead. For perhaps the first time in school history, the Saints (5-2, 3-2) agreed to a running clock in the second half.
“Jamison was razor-sharp,” Spartans coach Jeff Kelly said after collecting his 199th career victory. “That was fun to watch. We’re continuing to grow as a team. We’re getting better. St. Paul’s is a good football team and our guys kind of dismantled them a little bit tonight. I felt like the two quarters we played in the first half is probably the best we played all year long. Maybe that’s a sign that we’re improving and getting to the point where we need to be toward the latter part of the season.”
Roberts is making folks gasp in disbelief when one of his passes strikes the ground. In his last five games, Roberts is 69-of-91 passing — that’s a 76% completion rate — for 1,158 yards and 14 TDs. He hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 99 attempts.
“We had a very clean game,” Roberts said. “Coach told us it’s gonna be a hard game, a tough game, but if we prepare the right way and execute the right way, it’s going to be easy.”
Roberts continued to dismember defenses Friday night even while operating behind an offensive line missing injured starting senior right tackle Ashton Bailey. But if there was any concern 6-foot-2, 220-pound freshman right tackle Landon Law or anybody else on the offensive front could handle Saints five-star edge rusher Tank Jones, those worries evaporated into the night as fast as Roberts could unlimber a few passes to Duke commitment Deshawn Spencer, who makes comets seem lethargic and finished with six catches for 125 yards, often moving around the formation so St. Paul’s could not bracket him.
“The offensive line did an amazing job,” Roberts said. “Landon is going to be a dawg in the next couple years. And I’ve been saying it all season — get the ball in Deshawn’s hands and good things are going to happen.”
Kelly was pleased with the performance up front that allowed only one negative play at the point of attack.
“They really allowed our skill guys to run wild tonight,” he said.
Saraland did a good job isolating Jones, who has committed to Oregon, often running plays opposite his side but also keeping him from sacking Roberts.
“We’re not afraid of anybody,” Roberts said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to play football. We don’t really care about names but I will say he’s a great player.”
In the first quarter, Spencer slowed down to suck in a curl-in, then unwound 42 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
The Saints actually cut the lead to 7-3 later in the quarter on Turner Antoon’s 47-yard field goal in a drive aided by two Saraland personal fouls but five plays later Spencer caught a 15-yard slant for a 14-3 lead, St. Paul’s lost a fumble to linebacker Jakari Harris at its 26 near the end of the quarter and the Spartans tasted blood. It was 42-3 at halftime, with Saraland outgaining the Saints 330 yards to 26.
“They just kicked our butts in every phase of the game,” St. Paul’s coach Ham Barnett said. “When you get behind the sticks on offense, which we can’t afford to do, that’s kind of what happens. Their quarterback’s a really good player. He makes good reads. He’s a big kid and throws the ball well and Deshawn’s a phenomenal football player. We knew he was gonna be an issue and we just didn’t have an answer.”
Roberts also threw a 7-yard scoring pass to L.J. Edwards and scored on a 2-yard run, Spencer scored from 18 yards out and P.J. Brown had a 6-yard TD run. Blair Evans punted just once in the shortened second half and it went 57 yards.
The Spartans — who have been ranked in 48 straight polls — expanded some notable streaks. They are 88-0 since 2000 when scoring at least 40 points, are 7-0 all time against the Saints, won their 27th straight regular-season game, 23rdstraight region game and a state-leading 36th straight home game.
The ease of the victory might have shocked many but Saraland has been part of three of the worst losses in the history of a St. Paul’s program that has won five Blue Maps — a 47-3 win in 2023, a 35-0 win in 2018 and Friday night’s 32-point win.
“They’re a good football team,” Spencer said. “They got great players. They’ve got Tank. They’ve got a lot of good guys on the defensive side of the ball. This week, coach was pressing the issue, like we’ve got to play fast, we’ve got to play smart, we’ve got to move the ball down the field, we’ve got to be able to do whatever we want. Last year was a close game, so we set the bar high and said we’re not going to let that happen.”
Jones turned Roberts’ only tangible mistake into a 38-yard scoop-and-score early in the third quarter after Roberts got stripped of the ball while starting to scramble.
