Saraland’s K.J. Lacey stays hot after fever breaks, passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns in 35-27 win over Jackson

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

SARALAND — Everybody in a record crowd of 7,000 fans crammed into Spartan Stadium and the other 21 players on the field found out in the most breathtaking fashion Friday night the truth above all other truths about K.J. Lacey, who plays high school football at its highest peak.

When there’s a K.J., there’s a way.

Saraland’s quarterback finally got his 101-degree fever to break the morning of the game, then went out and broke Jackson’s defense with three scrambling throws for spellbinding touchdowns in the first quarter to lead the top-ranked Class 6A Spartans to a 35-27 victory over the No. 1-ranked Class 4A Aggies.

Lacey, the four-star Texas commitment, threw for four touchdowns in all and finished 14-of-26 passing for 326 yards — his third straight game to surpass 300 yards — with an astounding 212 yards coming in the first quarter. He threw scoring passes of 65, 28 and 23 yards to C.D. Gill, the long one coming on the game’s third play, and a 63-yarder to Ole Miss commitment Dillon Alfred.

Gill had 178 yards on five catches and Alfred, despite frequent double-teaming, had 122 yards on six receptions.

Lacey was so adept at staying on his feet, then hurling mortar rounds, that the only thing he didn’t do was weave through the standing-room-only crowd to grab some nachos between touchdown throws.

“K.J. made me look real good,” said Saraland coach Jeff Kelly, who is now 14-1 in season openers with the Spartans. “He made some tremendous plays. Those first two or three touchdowns were on him. He did a great job buying time and keeping his eyes downfield and we’ve got some solid playmakers who do a great job.”

Jackson sophomore E.J. Crowell, the nation’s top-ranked running back in the 2027 class, countered with 206 yards on 22 carries and touchdown runs of 54, 6 and 47 yards to keep the Aggies in contention in a game featuring 817 yards of total offense.

“That tailback is probably as good as I have played in a long time,” Kelly said. “He wore us down a little.”

Lacey was also worn down after dragging through the week with what he said was a serious cold that included a fever of 101 degrees on Thursday.

“My head was banging all week,” he said.

But when he awoke Friday morning, his temperature was normal “and I got my appetite back,” he said.

Come game time, he gorged on press coverage and escaping pressure to deliver Saraland’s state-best 26^th straight home win.

“The first touchdown, I’m not sure now what the play was,” Lacey said. “I was just trying to survive. But we work that scramble drill a lot and I have chemistry with my receivers and I know where they’re going to be at when I scramble. Sometimes, we make it up as it goes.”

The improvisations were too much for Jackson’s defense, which otherwise kept the Spartans from sustaining any drives.

“We had some secondary busts early and that was one of my fears coming in,” said Aggies coach Cody Flournoy, who saw his team’s 16-game winning streak in season openers end. “And that’s a really good football team. When things broke down, K.J. made it happen. K.J. Lacey to C.D. Gill is going to run through my nightmares tonight. It doesn’t feel good but we don’t have anything to hang our heads over.”

Kelly paid tribute to his opponent with a radiant prediction.

“I have a lot of respect for Jackson,” he said. “I doubt they’ll lose another game this year.”

While Lacey proved nearly untouchable, the Aggies gave Saraland little running room behind four new offensive line starters. The Spartans didn’t have a possession go longer than five plays with the game in the balance, although Santae McWilliams finished one of the five-play drives when he burst up the middle untouched for a 66-yard TD run in the second quarter. At that point, Saraland had already thrown seven passes and run six times and the Aggies weren’t sure what they would see next.

“I was so happy when Santae broke that run,” Lacey said.

Despite the balance — the Spartans finished with 26 passes and 24 runs — Saraland had only 94 yards rushing, with McWilliams running for 98 yards on 16 carries.

The Spartans led 28-7 in the second quarter and 28-13 at halftime before managing only eight yards on just 2:48 of possession time in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Crowell sprinted around left end for a 54-yard TD run in the second quarter and added a 6-yarder in the third quarter to cut the lead to 28-20.

But with plenty of time in the fourth quarter to tie it, Jackson four-star quarterback Landon Duckworth had a snap bounce off his chest and Saraland’s Pat Buford recovered at the Aggies’ 13. Two plays later, Lacey threw a missile on an out route to Gill, who beat two defenders at the pylon to make it 35-20 with 8:14 to go.

Gill said he found the press coverage “disrespectful” but happily dined on it.

“Any team that walks down and plays cover zero on us with the receivers and quarterback we have, it’s a slap in the face,” he said. “My eyes got big.”

Much is expected of Gill this year after two years playing behind two-time Mr. Football Ryan Williams.

“I’ve been waiting on this,” he said. “K.J. and I have been playing together since we were 10 or 11 years old. It’s a special connection we have. I trust him a lot. There’s no circumstance where I feel like he can’t make it happen. He can make any throw required. I get into my route and if I look up and the ball’s not in the air, I know he is scrambling.”

Lacey — who has thrown for 1,040 yards and 10 touchdowns in his last three games dating back to the 2023 playoffs — is confident Gill will get open when he’s in trouble.

“Me and C.D. have been playing together for so long, I roll out and turn around and he’s open,” Lacey said.

Crowell kept the game close, scoring his third touchdown on a 47-yard run around right end to make it 35-27 with 6:49 to go but Arterus Moffett intercepted Duckworth on a deep throw and the Spartans ran out the final 3:43.

Crowell showed the power and speed the great backs possess but Flournoy said he can’t wait for him to get in better condition.

“E.J.’s got to get in better game shape,” Flournoy said. “If we had played this game at the end of the year, and that’s something we talked about, it might have been different.”

Duckworth, ranked the nation’s No. 1 dual-threat quarterback by ESPN, was 9-of-20 passing for 178 yards but was held without a touchdown throw for the third straight game.

Saraland’s strategy was to keep Duckworth in the pocket and not let him break containment. He had zero net yards rushing on eight carries, even as the Spartans missed four-star nose guard and Auburn commitment Antonio Coleman, who was held out of the game for undisclosed reasons. Kelly said he would return soon.

Jackson had won 16 straight season openers. Kelly started the streak when he started coaching the Aggies in 2008 and he ended it on Friday night.