Saraland tight end Sye Byrd reaches for a pass from Jamison Roberts in a 38-14 win over Theodore Friday night in Saraland. Byrd had three receptions for 103 yards, including a 54-yard TD from Roberts. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
Saraland quarterback Jamison Roberts prepares to fire a pass against Theodore Friday night. Roberts completed 13 of 21 attempts for a career-high 310 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-14 win. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
Saraland’s Blair Evans (45) puts pressure on Theodore quarterback Crishon Overton Friday night. After giving up 94 yards in the first quarter, the Spartans allowed just 84 more and four first downs the rest of the game. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
SARALAND — For the first time all season, somebody landed a heavyweight haymaker on Saraland’s jawbone in the first quarter Friday night. But unfortunately for Theodore, it wasn’t nearly enough to take down the Spartans.
Saraland spit out a little blood but was unfazed and Jamison Roberts completed 13 of 21 passes for a career-high 310 yards and two touchdowns as the No. 2-ranked Spartans blew past the Bobcats 38-14 at Spartan Stadium.
Saraland (9-0, 8-0 6A Region 1) won its third straight region championship, its 29th straight regular-season game, its 25th straight region game and its state-leading 38th straight home game — but not before Theodore jammed the football down the Spartans’ throats on their first possession to lead 7-0 on quarterback Crishon Overton’s 26-yard keeper. It was the first time Saraland had trailed since the season opener against Jackson.
But from that point, Roberts — a 6-3 junior who has steadily ascended to a place among the top high school quarterbacks in the nation — showed he is also becoming a master vivisectionist. With star receiver Deshawn Spencer shunted off deep and deprived of explosive plays, Roberts showed he has plenty of other options to tap into.
While Spencer didn’t hurt the Bobcats downfield, Roberts and tight end Sye Byrd opened ugly wounds in their defense.
Byrd, who had just 12 catches for 156 yards coming into the game, caught three for 103 yards against Theodore, including a brilliantly executed 54-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter for a 17-7 lead, a play that hammered a wedge between the two teams and helped the Spartans spring to a 31-7 halftime lead.
“We hadn’t faced any adversity all year,” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said. “We got hit in the mouth tonight. We got challenged physically and our guys had to show up and make plays. The thing I’m proud of is offensively, we were able to keep pressure on those guys and we’re able to play with great tempo and spread the ball out.”
Roberts — who has thrown 128 straight passes without an interception, completed 72% of his passes for 1,903 yards and 24 TDs and has the best quarterback rating (140.4) of the top 10 passers in Class 6A — also scored on runs of 11 yards and 1 yard and threw a 19-yard TD fade to Spencer, who caught seven balls for 89 yards. Jakari Harris scored on a 2-yard run and Landon Burchfield kicked a 28-yard field goal.
The Bobcats’ Kendrick Able, the No. 3 rusher in Class 6A, had 133 yards on 19 carries, including a 10-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
“Kendrick was phenomenal,” said Theodore coach Steve Mask, whose Bobcats (6-3, 6-1) finished as the region runner-up and will host a first-round playoff game.
But after Theodore knocked the Spartans off the ball for 110 yards on its first nine carries, the Bobcats were held to only 57 yards on the ground the rest of the way against what is statistically the best defense Kelly has had in his 15 years at Saraland.
“I don’t know if you want to see that football team in the playoffs,” Kelly said of Theodore. “They’ve got a game that plays well in November — a very physical, run-based attack. They’ve got an outstanding O-line and running backs and their defense has a lot of guys that can run and play.”
Mask’s best hopes and worst fears all came true in the first half. Able and his offensive line mashed the Spartans up front early in the running game, then saw Saraland quickly gather itself to seize a 31-7 halftime lead in just 27 plays.
“Give Saraland credit, they are what they are,” Mask said. “You give them momentum and then they start running with it and you have a hard time slowing it down. But I think we both have got a chance to play for a while (in the playoffs). I’m disappointed in the fact we didn’t win but we didn’t quit at the half. I thought we played hard the second half and we could have folded it up. I think we’ve got a lot of good football left ahead of us. I’m disappointed but not despondent.”
The Spartans outgained the Bobcats 412 yards to 178 in total offense and controlled the football for 27:48.
Saraland’s defense had allowed just 47 points in the first eight games (5.8 per game), the lowest of any Spartans defense in Kelly’s tenure. And it held Theodore to 167 yards on the ground, a full 100 yards below the Bobcats’ average.
Theodore manhandled the Spartans on its first possession as Able gained 9 yards and then 36 before Overton faked to him on the third play and scored easily on a 26-yard run around right end.
But after allowing 94 yards and five first downs in the first quarter, Saraland’s No. 2-ranked defense gave up just 84 yards and four first downs the rest of the way.
“We settled in,” Kelly said. “It’s hard to simulate that level of physicality at practice unless you’re going ones against ones. The speed and how physical they came out and played, I think it just took us a few drives to get adjusted.”
Defensive end Blair Evans said he deciphered some clues on Theodore’s first possession.
“Their guard is a big guy,” Evans said. “I was trying to figure him out. Well, as soon as I figured out about the eighth play that he was standing on his toes, I was snatching. There was nothing they could do about it. They just played real heavy on their toes and I pretty much took advantage. The first quarter was pretty hard, I’m not going to lie. They came at us out of the gate but from the second to fourth (quarter), that was all worth it.”
A season’s worth of planning also proved worthwhile for Byrd, who almost ran unchecked to Chickasaw after the Bobcats jumped on Spencer, who had motioned to his right. After a pump fake, Roberts delivered a perfect throw for a 54-yard touchdown.
“When I got on the field on my first drive, I noticed they were bracketing Deshawn,” Roberts said. “And I’m like, OK, somebody else is gonna be open or it’s gonna be another open zone or void in the defense. We’ve got guys all around and that’s what y’all are gonna find out. The more we play, going farther in the playoffs, you’ll find we’ve got other guys. We don’t have just Deshawn and me.”
Byrd said the Spartans had worked on the play all year and hadn’t shown it.
“We’ve been working that for weeks and weeks getting ready for this game,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons. This was very needed to get ready to go into these playoff games.”
Mask knew it would be nearly impossible to crimp Saraland’s offense, which is No. 3 in Class 6A in scoring at 41 points per game.
“Roberts is such an accurate thrower,” Mask said. “He puts the ball where it’s supposed to go. He doesn’t make a lot of bad decisions and they always seem to have one open somewhere.”
Going into their 15th straight postseason appearance, the Spartans have a week off to rest before opening the postseason at home.
“We’ve got to be smart enough to understand that the regular season don’t matter now,” said Kelly, who is 30-13 in the playoffs at Saraland. “It’s all about the playoffs. Hopefully, we’re equipped for that because that’s the kind of world that we try to live in. We want to keep it one week at a time and put the blinders on and go.”
