Saraland punches out Benjamin Russell 38-21 to reach Super 7 for unprecedented fourth straight year

 

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

SARALAND — Jamison Roberts went from haltingly banging the wrong key on a piano to a maestro orchestrating Saraland’s once-again unstoppable offense Friday night in about as much time as it would take him to hum a few bars of “Golden.”

“I’m done hidin’, now I’m shinin’ … we’re goin’ up, up, up … gonna be, gonna be golden.”

After struggling with hands that felt like chilly, dry bricks, Saraland’s 24-karat quarterback suddenly uncoiled four straight passes for 136 yards and a touchdown and yanked the plug on Benjamin Russell’s chances with an improvised and scintillating 67-yard scoring run, all in a span of 3½ minutes digging early into the fourth quarter, to lead the No. 2-ranked Spartans to a 38-21 win over the No. 4 Wildcats in the Class 6A semifinals.

Roberts and wideout Deshawn Spencer again provided all the elevating powers Saraland needed to return to the Super 7 for the fourth straight year — an unprecedented feat for a Class 6A team since the state went to seven classes in 2014.

Roberts was 16-of-30 passing for 300 yards and two touchdowns and Spencer had seven catches for 191 yards and a touchdown as the Spartans (13-0) advanced to the state championship game against No. 1 Clay-Chalkville (14-0) Friday at 7 p.m. at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.

Saraland — which has Class 6A’s best record at 75-9 over the last six years — has lost two classic state finals to the Cougars: 36-31 in 2014 and 31-28 two years ago.

“I’m really proud of all of our kids over the years, having the ability to play at a high level with everybody else giving you their best game week in and week out,” Spartans coach Jeff Kelly said after his team’s state-leading 41^st straight home win. “We’ve had the bull’s eye for a long time. We’re proud of them tonight finding a way to win but with our bunch, just getting there doesn’t satisfy you. You want to go win it. Our kids are hungry.”

After a night in which he didn’t get into a rhythm until the decisive stretch, Roberts couldn’t believe he had 300 yards passing.

“Three-hundred?” he asked bemusedly as he walked off the field with Spencer. “I didn’t play as good as I wanted to,” he conceded, “but we got the win.”

Roberts, who is scheduled to visit Saturday night’s Iron Bowl in Auburn with Spencer, found Spencer for a 24-yard TD pass on a fade ball in the first quarter but they laid dormant for much of the game until late in the third quarter.

With Saraland leading 14-7, Roberts and Spencer began taking target practice against Benjamin Russell’s man-to-man coverage, squeezing off consecutive completions of 47, 47 and 30 yards.

“We’ve just got that connection,” Spencer said. “We just look at each other and we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s go make a big play.’”

They were too much for the Wildcats.

“When you’re playing against Jeff Kelly and a quarterback and a receiver who’s cooked everybody, you gotta make the plays and we didn’t,” Benjamin Russell coach Kirk Johnson said.

In between those throws to Spencer, Roberts tossed a 12-yard TD pass on a throwback play to tight end Sye Byrd to make it 21-7 late in the third quarter and Landon Burchfield kicked a 24-yard field goal to make it 24-7.

“They kept on going man to man against our guys and we feel like if you go man to man against our guys, that’s like a match made in heaven,” said Roberts, who has the state’s best quarterback rating (146). “You shouldn’t do that, especially with a receiver like Deshawn or any of our receivers. When you put them one on one, you’re just asking to lose.”

The next time Roberts touched the ball, he saw Spencer covered to his right, then pivoted left, raced to the sideline, abruptly split two defenders like he was kicking a saloon door off its hinges, cut back across the field and floated into the end zone on a 67-yard run for a 31-14 lead.

“That was just off script,” said Roberts, who also scored on a 10-yard run in the second quarter. “I was trying to throw a fade ball to Deshawn. He kind of got walled to the sideline, so I just made a play with my feet.”

The Spartans overcame some difficulty in the first half as they fumbled the opening kickoff, then stopped Benjamin Russell on downs at Saraland’s 9. To open the second half, the Wildcats drove 65 yards to a fourth-and-half-a-yard at Saraland’s 2 before getting stopped again. The Spartans, protecting the 14-7 lead, then worked their way off the goal line and Blair Evans launched a towering 51-yard punt to flip the field.

“Coach Kelly told us it was gonna be a dogfight,” Spencer said. “We knew they were gonna throw some punches but as a team, you’ve gotta have some adversity. Everything can’t go your way all the time. At halftime, we were like, ‘Whatever it takes to win.’ When you’ve got the whole team thinking one mind, one song, you can’t stop us.”

Until his outburst, Roberts felt as if he had been grabbing a balloon that had been punctured or throwing a shot put. In the first half, he fumbled three snaps and lost two of them, one at Benjamin Russell’s 40 and another at the 29 on back-to-back possessions that could have put the game out of reach. And he was out of rhythm, never completing more than three straight passes.

“I would just say it was not total focus,” Roberts said. “I didn’t play as good as I wanted to. I wasn’t as focused as I wanted to be. I think the elements got to me a little bit and I take full accountability for that. I’ve just gotta do better next week.”

While Roberts emerged from his doldrums, Saraland’s defense made sure Alabama commitment Cederian Morgan — the 6-5, 210-pound wideout who is physically reminiscent of Julio Jones — didn’t do any damage until the game was decided.

Morgan, frequently double covered and the subject of constantly changing and camouflaged coverages, was held to three receptions in the first three quarters before catching TD throws of 31 and 24 yards from Kingston Preyear in the fourth quarter. Morgan finished with seven catches for 161 yards and Preyear, a four-star quarterback who is the state’s No. 1 prospect in the 2028 class, was 19-of-35 passing for 283 yards and an interception.

“We were just taking what they were giving us, which is what we should’ve did all night,” Johnson said. “Kingston did not play his best football and in a game like this, you gotta be almost perfect.”

Kelly said the Spartans wanted to double team Morgan every play.

“He’s an elite player and we knew if we just played the standard defense that we always do that he would have a monster night,” he said. “Our kids really worked hard this week to do some different things coverage-wise and our coaches had a great plan to try and frustrate them and try to make them run the ball. We did several different personnel packages and several different coverages and trying to mix looks up but always having multiple guys accounting for (Morgan).”

Cornerback Kieth Turner often went head-up against Morgan with safety help.

“I knew I had to step up and be a baller,” Turner said. “Once he saw us bracketing him for the first few plays, he really got in his head like he thought he wasn’t getting the ball. So, we left him on the island with me and I had to step up. I’ve got to be 10 toes down and go to battle with him. He’s a real man, a really good receiver, and I love that challenge.”

P.J. Brown, who had 92 yards on 12 carries, added a 14-yard TD run with 34 seconds left to make it 38-21.

Johnson, who at 67-4 in five years reached 67 wins faster than any coach in AHSAA history, paid homage to Saraland after finishing 12-2 in his first season.

“We’re gonna keep on pushing forward to try to make this place what Saraland is,” he said. “They’ve been here before. The moment for us at times was too big and we’re gonna continue to work on that in the offseason so when that moment comes again, we’re ready for it.”