Saraland’s Ayiden Pugh races for a big gain against Auburn Thursday night in Saraland. Pugh had 153 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown in the Spartans’ 48-34 victory. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
Saraland’s Eddie Turner breaks loose on a 49-yard touchdown pass from Jamison Roberts in the third quarter against Auburn. Turner had eight catches for 128 yards. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
SARALAND — Considering that Saraland had led at halftime by scores of 45-3, 35-0, 40-10, 36-8, 50-0, 49-0 and 42-14 in the previous seven games, the fact that Auburn managed to tie the Spartans 13-13 at intermission Thursday night with a backup quarterback who couldn’t throw should have set off alarm bells.
Instead, coach Jeff Kelly turned it into a moment of psychological brilliance.
“What we had watched on tape, they did none of it,” Saraland quarterback Jamison Roberts said. “And coach said that’s actually them respecting us, them having to change their whole game plan up for us. We took that as respect and adjusted on the fly and started doing what we had to do.”
Roberts overcame an uncomfortable start to complete 19 of 31 passes for 221 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Eddie Turner and ran for three touchdowns himself as the No. 4-ranked Class 5A Spartans passed a test they said they needed to defeat the No. 4-ranked Class 6A Tigers 48-34 and close the regular season on an eight-game winning streak.
“Jamison had another big night,” Kelly said. “I think he should be a leader in the clubhouse for Mr. Football.”
Roberts said he welcomed being seared by Auburn’s defense.
“We definitely needed something like that,” said Roberts, who was sacked three times and tackled for another loss. “I haven’t faced a defense that good since (a loss to) Gulf Shores. But we know our identity and I feel like we can compete with any defense in the state.”
Roberts found Turner for TD passes of 49 and 11 yards — the longer one featuring Turner shearing off a defender’s contact on a slant — and scored on runs of 1 yard, 8 and 24 yards. Ayiden Pugh, whose physical running put Auburn’s defense in a thresher, conjured 153 yards on 12 carries and scored on an 8-yard run.
“Ayiden did a good job breaking some tackles and getting a bunch of yards after contact,” Kelly said. “He had some tough runs and our offensive line did a real good job. It wasn’t super complicated in the run game but we found a few things that were working and kind of stayed with them.”
The diminutive Pugh said opposing defenses had best not underestimate him.
“I love sending messages,” said Pugh, a 5-foot-9, 155-pound sophomore. “A lot of people doubt me because of my size but it just fuels me even more and makes me go even more.”
The message Saraland (9-1) sent before hosting Pelham (8-2) in the first round of the playoffs is that it proved itself capable of surviving adversity against a solid team.
“We weathered the storm early,” Kelly said. “We had some adversity pop early and we just settled in. They were showing us some different looks defensively. Their coaches did a good job of mixing things up. We got in at halftime and we reverted back to day one install stuff, a lot of things that we had put in for this game. We weren’t seeing the looks that we expected and that’s a credit to their guys. But our guys made plays.”
The Spartans had not trailed in 49 quarters — since their 34-24 loss to Gulf Shores in the season’s second game — but appeared disheveled early as a high snap on a punt two minutes into the game flew over Sye Byrd’s head and came to rest at Saraland’s 1, from where Jaeden King scored to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.
Auburn quarterback Cason Myers, who has committed to Arkansas, suffered an injury to his non-throwing shoulder on the second series, turning the Tigers into a one-dimensional offense. But backup John David Pate proved a challenge before going out late in the game with a wrist injury, using quarterback draws to lead Auburn into the red zone before the Spartans held and forced field goals of 43 and 21 yards from Andrew Fligel to tie it 13-13 at halftime.
Linebacker Jakari Harris made the play that may have turned the game, penetrating to stop Pate for a 2-yard loss on third-and-goal at the 1 and forcing Fligel’s shorter field goal.
“Third-and-goal, we needed a big stop,” said Harris, Saraland’s leading tackler. “I came up and filled the gap and made a big tackle for a loss. Holding them to a field goal was a big momentum shift.”
Up to that point, the state’s second-highest-scoring offense regardless of class — the Spartans averaged 53 points per game coming in — was barely the second-best offense in Spartan Stadium, as the Tigers’ defense appeared to be written in a foreign language. Roberts couldn’t get into a rhythm and he wasn’t the only one.
“I wasn’t in a rhythm,” Kelly said. “They were doing a great job of mixing looks and playing a little more man than they’ve shown. I wasn’t putting Jamison in great situations to be successful early on in the game. … We really needed to see the size, the speed, the talent, the caliber of defense they had.”
In the second half, Auburn’s defense saw the caliber of Saraland’s offense, which is now 99-0 all-time when scoring at least 40 points.
“I kind of put the call sheet down and said just go play and adjust to what we see,” Kelly said.
The Spartans scored on their first three series of the second half, driving 70, 80 and 65 yards to take a 34-20 lead on Roberts’ two TD passes to Turner and Roberts’ 8-yard run on which he reversed field and scored standing up.
“We needed this going into the playoffs,” said Turner, who had eight receptions for 128 yards. “We’ve been on a tear where the starters haven’t even been playing for two quarters and some change. We needed to really get pushed to our limits to sharpen our sword, as coach Kelly would say.”
Turner said he knew he could attack the middle of the field on the 49-yard touchdown play, when he broke away from Ryan Donaldson at the 30 and sprinted to the end zone.
“They had a lot of two high (safeties),” Turner said. “We knew that it would be open. I stuck the post and Jamo stuck it in there and I broke a tackle and took it to the house. We knew the receiver room was gonna need a big night.”
Opponents are finding Turner and the rest of that receiver room to be just as effective as when Ryan Coleman-Williams and Deshawn Spencer were catching passes.
“I feel like we have the best offense in the state,” Turner said. “We can put up points on any defense because we’ve got whatever we need. We’re balanced. We’ve got weapons and we’ve got a great quarterback.”
Those receivers know how to atone for mistakes, too. Larry Pettway shook free on a go route on the game’s fourth snap only to juggle Roberts’ perfect delivery, although he made amends in the fourth quarter by scoring on a 35-yard punt return.
“Tonight, Eddie had a good night and Jamison did a good job of surveying the coverage and getting the ball on time to the right person,” Kelly said.
Tigers coach Keith Etheredge, who has five career state championships, said losing Myers early was a blow too difficult to overcome.
“We did some good things,” he said. “We just couldn’t throw the ball, so it changed everything. With Cason going down, it made it really tough.”
Etheredge was also critical of the officiating on the edges, saying many holds were missed.
“They’re like, ‘We can’t call every one of them’ but you can if it’s holding every time,” he said. “But that’s no excuse. We got beat. They’ve got a really good football team. We’re gonna go back to the drawing board, work hard and get better.”
Auburn (7-3) get a first-round playoff bye. Meanwhile, Saraland has won six straight playoff openers and is 10-5 in the first round.
“Now we’ve got to hit the reset button and get ready to go play next week,” Kelly said.
