Jackson quarterback Landon Duckworth is chased down by Saraland’s Demaron Dunklin Friday night during the Spartans’ 17-6 win at Legion Field. (Mike Kittrell/Call News)
Saraland’s A.J. Martin scores on a 31-yard pass from Jamison Roberts over Jackson’s Jeremiah McKenzie late in the second quarter Friday night. The pivotal play on fourth-and-20 gave the Spartans momentum and a lead they never relinquished. (Mike Kittrell/Call News)
Jackson five-star running back E.J. Crowell greets his teammates before Friday night’s game against Saraland in Jackson. Crowell was suspended for the game but will return next week against Demopolis. (Mike Kittrell/Call News)
Saraland coach Jeff Kelly walks the sidelines during Friday night’s 17-6 win over Jackson. (Mike Kittrell/Call News)
Jackson coach Cody Flournoy speaks to his players during Friday night’s 17-6 loss to Jackson. (Mike Kittrell/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
JACKSON — E.J. Crowell or no E.J. Crowell, Jackson would have found it difficult to beat Saraland after committing four turnovers in the second half Friday night, including three lost fumbles in the fourth quarter.
The No. 1-ranked Class 4A Aggies — who scored 69 points the last time they were on the field in the state championship game — self-destructed with the turnovers and 15 penalties for 107 yards while the No. 3-ranked Class 6A Spartans patiently kept their hands on Jackson’s throat for a 17-6 victory before 4,500 fans jammed into Legion Field.
Saraland quarterback Jamison Roberts, in his first start in a big game, upstaged Aggies star Landon Duckworth by completing 17 of 28 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns.
In a play the game pivoted on, Roberts stuck a perfect post between defenders for a 31-yard scoring pass to A.J. Martin on fourth-and-20 late in the first half to give Saraland the lead for good at 7-6.
“That throw on the fourth-and-long was as good a throw as you can make with great coverage,” Spartans coach Jeff Kelly said. “We tried to slip A.J. through the middle on the post and he really was covered well but Jamison threw an absolute rocket in there and that was a huge play in the game. Up to that point, we hadn’t made a lot happen and that was a big turning point in the game. I think it gave our team confidence going into the second half.”
Roberts said Martin was not his primary receiver on the play.
“I really tried to focus on looking off the safety so I can open up the middle of the field and A.J. made a good play,” Roberts said. “He stuck it in, ran a beautiful post and I just did what I had to do.”
In the fourth quarter, Duke commitment Deshawn Spencer took a tunnel screen from Roberts and broke past a couple of defenders for a 17-yard TD with 9:44 to go to make it 14-6. Spencer had 9 catches for 115 yards.
“Later on in the game, I got a little bit more wear and tear on my body and coach Kelly was just like, ‘Hey, just give me all you’ve got this last half,’” Spencer said. “That was just my whole mentality, just give them all for my team. They were pretty good. They’ve got some great DBs, probably the best DBs I’ll play all year. They got me better today.”
Roberts knew who to look for when he needed crucial yards. Spencer made catches of 16, 38, and 9 yards on third-and-long.
“Deshaun is a playmaker,” Roberts said. “Our main goal is to try to get him the ball and let him work because we know what he can do.”
Spencer said he was happy to send a message to those who felt Jackson was a vastly superior team.
“I hope it did,” he said. “Coach Kelly said don’t worry about the internet. You know, we do all our talking on the field. Everybody in the state had us losing this game. It feels good to kind of say, hey, we proved y’all wrong.”
Kelly admitted he enjoyed his players’ response to the doubters.
“I think they just wanted to show that they’re a pretty good program too,” he said.
The Spartans controlled the second half despite failing to convert a third down but dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 29:57 compared to Jackson’s 18:03.
“Our kids played their hearts out,” Kelly said. “To give up six points to a team that scored 70 in the state championship last year, I was really proud. And then we were patient. We really wanted to slow this game down a little bit. It ain’t going to be like that all year but I felt like that was to our advantage to come up here on the road and try to keep that potent offense off the field.”
The Aggies were held to their lowest point total since a 14-6 loss to Baker in 2019, Cody Flournoy’s first season as Jackson’s coach.
“The defense played really well,” Flournoy said. “I’m proud of them. We just weren’t clean enough.”
Duckworth was just 13-of-22 passing for 174 yards and an interception, although his perfect 27-yard throw to Jamarrion “Juicy” Gordon, who high-pointed the catch against tight man coverage from Jayden Sullivan, gave the Aggies a 6-0 lead in the second quarter.
Duckworth lost a pair of fumbles on the wet field in the fourth quarter after a heavy rain passed over the stadium at halftime and into the third quarter. One at Saraland’s 28 stopped a Jackson scoring threat and the other at the Aggies’ 49, which was recovered by linebacker Brayden Clifton, led to a short field and Roberts’ scoring pass to Spencer.
A third fumble recovered by Leslie Nobles at Jackson’s 18 led to Garrison Little’s 27-yard field goal with 5½ minutes remaining to make it 17-6.
Crowell, the preseason All-American running back and five-star Alabama commitment, was suspended for the game by the Alabama High School Athletic Association for violating its amateurism rule. Last year, he ran for 206 yards and three touchdowns in Jackson’s 35-27 loss to the Spartans and Flournoy said Crowell would have made a difference.
“Oh yeah, I mean you’re talking at least 14 points where we had couple of fumbles where we’re trying to run Landon or we’ve got some other backs that don’t get a lot of carries during the week,” Flournoy said. “We’re not going to cry about it. We had chances to push the ball down the field and when it clicked, we moved the ball. We just didn’t play well enough overall.”
Kelly said he and his defensive coaches did not change their strategy with Crowell out of the game and held the Aggies to 24 yards rushing while getting consistent pressure on Duckworth, who rarely had time to set his feet and throw.
“They’ve got a bunch of great players over there,” Kelly said. “We knew regardless of anything, we needed to stop the run. We needed to make them one-dimensional. We were able to get some pressure. We ran a lot of blitzes and stunts and that kind of stuff. We did not want Landon to be able to sit back there and have all day to throw and also hurt you with his feet.”
Duckworth was held to minus 6 yards on 13 carries.
Flournoy said the rain, Saraland’s coaches and some in-game injuries to receiver Keeyun “Red” Chapman and defensive back Gordon were too much for Jackson to overcome.
“They coached the stew out of their kids,” Flournoy said. “You can see it where they did more things right than we did. We got sloppy there at the end but there was some reason for it. Rain had one thing to do with it. And then Red was out with a knee hurt, Juicy was out with ankle and E.J.’s already out, so you end up with a lot of young guys but I think that pays off for us in the long run. It just sucks right now because we lost at home to a team that we felt like we could have beaten.
“Credit to Saraland because they found a way to come up here in a hostile environment. But, dang, here we are, two big games in back-to-back years and Saraland’s got the best of us. I’m thinking I’m going to try to move that game to game 10 or something. Let us work out the kinks and then play them.”
