Saraland’s Ayindae Pugh (9), Tamadrae Sewer (5) and Blair Evans (45) swarm over Theodore’s Demarcus Beckham for a loss during Friday night’s 38-14 victory. The Spartans are playing the best defense in school history. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
Theodore’s Kendrick Able bloodied Saraland early with 84 yards on his first seven carries but Tamadrae Sewer (5) and Jakari Harris (8) recovered and helped hold the Bobcats star to just 49 yards on his last 12 carries. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
SARALAND — You sometimes must strain your eyeballs through a highly magnified loupe to find any surprises from Saraland but there were a few in its 38-14 win over Theodore Friday night that awarded the Spartans their third straight region championship.
Blair Evans had to punt three times and may have had to soak his size-17 foot in Epsom salts afterward. And for the briefest of moments in the third quarter, with Saraland leading 38-7, quarterback Jamison Roberts threw four straight incompletions — a streak of futility not seen in these parts since anyone tried to run against retiring Mayor Dr. Howard Rubenstein, who never lost an election. Roberts showed he is assembled with flesh and bone, not nuts and bolts and microprocessors, but he has still thrown 128 consecutive passes without an interception. By the way, he passed for a career-high 310 yards and accounted for four touchdowns against the Bobcats.
Another surprise, at least to some, is that the Spartans are playing the best defense in school history if you believe the numbers. They have allowed just 61 points and 6.8 points per game, the only time the defense has been in single digits this late in the season in the program’s 16-year existence.
“Numbers don’t lie,” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said. “I don’t think they’ve gotten the credit that they deserve.”
That’s because defense is often overlooked in Saraland since it has averaged more than 40 points per game in each of the last four seasons on the way to Class 6A’s best record (71-9) in that span.
“They’re a huge reason why we’re where we are right now,” Kelly said, which is at 9-0 and ranked No. 2 in the state — the 51st straight poll in which the Spartans have been ranked and the 46th straight in which they have been no lower than No. 4.
Carver-Montgomery might have devised the best scheme against Saraland’s defense — skulk out the back door and not play at all. Had the Wolverines not cancelled this week’s game in Saraland, it would have been interesting to see if a team that hung 35 points on No. 1-ranked Class 7A Central-Phenix City could have made the Spartans perspire.
First-year defensive coordinator Skylar Mosley, an All-State linebacker under Kelly and the program’s all-time leading tackler, isn’t interested in history, only in what is to come.
“We don’t really get caught up in those types of things,” he said. “We’re worried about getting better each week. We’ve still got to clean up things week in and week out and the guys are up to the challenge. That’s been a big calling card for us. Everybody’s buying in on doing that.”
Mosley said in the preseason that he wanted “11 guys who play like their hair is on fire” and nobody has doused it yet. The Spartans are allowing just 69 yards rushing per game and have given up only four touchdown runs and two TD passes. They have 79 tackles for losses. And they don’t get gouged for big plays, thus making teams grind over long distances and raising the probability of a mistake — amazingly, Saraland has allowed only 13 runs of 15 yards or more; two of those were against the backups.
“We’ve got a bunch of kids that really nobody knew a bunch of their names,” Mosley said.
But there doesn’t seem to be a weak link on a defense that uses speed and leverage. The front of Evans (6-3, 205), Kenterrio Scott (6-0, 225), L.J. Nobles (5-10, 215) and Keoni Snipes (6-6, 250) can get to the quarterback and lets linebackers Demaron Dunklin, Ayindae Pugh, Jakari Harris and Brayden Clifton — all of whom are voracious tacklers and seem to be cut from the same 6-foot and 200-pound mold — do the chopping. On the back end, Lawardrick Jones, Tamadrae Sewer, Derrick Durgan and Keith Turner have allowed just nine completions of 20 yards or more.
“Up front, a big thing we tell our guys is you’ve got to earn the right to rush the passer,” Mosley said. “You’ve got to dominate the run and be able to rush the passer and squeeze and be in your gap and don’t get kicked out of your gap. Linebackers have to have great fits and the safeties have got to be ready to come downfield. We’ve been able to get lined up and play fast. The more you can play fast, the less you have to think about it.”
Even a great quarterback and a big, physical running back haven’t severely wounded this defense.
As good as Jackson four-star quarterback Landon Duckworth is, the Spartans’ pressure made him fidgety with seven hurries and a sack.
Theodore’s Kendrick Able, who ran for 133 yards and savaged Saraland early, wasn’t enough either.
“He’s a tough guy, a good player, and you’re not going to bring him down with arm tackling,” Mosley said. “After that first drive, I was thinking we better get it cleaned up quick or it’s going to be a long night.”
Roberts predicted the Bobcats would go far in the playoffs, which would also be a good omen for the Spartans.
“They’re very physical, got the size, got everything,” Roberts said. “We got punched in the mouth. But coach was like, ‘You can’t get punched and just fold.’”
Saraland seems likely to reach its fourth straight Super 7, not that Evans is thinking that far ahead. He needed to cool off his foot — after all, he had punted just 11 times all season going into Friday night — and didn’t even realize where this defense ranks in the pantheon of Spartans football.
“I wasn’t aware of that,” Evans said. “That’s an amazing accomplishment. But we’ve still got games to go and I’m not focusing on our achievements until the whole season’s over.”
