No. 2 Saraland not at its best but still good enough to beat Mary Montgomery, 33-14

 

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

SEMMES — The standard at Saraland is so mountainous that the Spartans can solidly beat a team in a higher class, watch quarterback Jamison Roberts complete 17 of 20 passes for 231 yards, dig their fingernails into the dirt to avoid falling off a cliff and still be disappointed in the way they played.

Roberts was efficient if not spectacular, throwing for a touchdown and running for another, and No. 2-ranked Class 5A Saraland forced a fumble at the goal line to deny Mary G. Montgomery a touchdown just before halftime to change the complexion of the game in a 33-14 victory over the Class 6A Vikings in a meeting of the two winningest teams in the Mobile area the last three years Friday night at Grider Stadium.

“We didn’t play as well as we can,” said Roberts, the Oklahoma quarterback commitment who didn’t quite average a first down every time he touched the ball, as he did last year as he burgeoned into one of the nation’s best at his craft. “It’s the first game and it kind of felt like a first game. We have lots to improve on. But we’re gonna go celebrate. We’ve been looking forward to this game for years now. This is definitely a good win, a quality one.”

Roberts scored on runs of 1 yard and 29 yards and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Turner, which landed with an audible thump into Turner’s hands in the end zone. But Roberts’ longest completion was 26 yards on a well-executed curl-in to Chris Cunningham.

After a nearly perfect opening drive of 80 yards in nine plays, which ended with Ayiden Pugh’s 2-yard touchdown run, MGM denied Roberts and his receivers the explosive play downfield by playing their safeties deep, forcing Roberts to go underneath the coverage and accept what was given him.

“They tried to play it soft and not let anything get behind them,” Roberts said. “And then when we do get behind them, we’ve just got to hit it.”

Spartans coach Jeff Kelly — who is 15-1 in season openers and whose team has been ranked in 54 straight polls — conceded that the Vikings’ defensive approach made him antsy.

“They’ve traditionally been a big blitz team but they gave (Roberts) a ton of respect and they dropped coverage and made him be patient,” Kelly said. “I am probably not as patient as I need to be. I want to be midseason form in the first game. It just wasn’t the case. … They made me be patient calling plays because they kept their safeties back there a bunch. We had to get in the flow of the game, get in the feel of the game. I had to put the call sheet down.”

Nonetheless, Saraland led 19-0 in the second quarter before the Vikings began knocking the Spartans’ defensive front off the ball and looked every bit like the more physical and aggressive team.

Kam Smith went into his bam, slam, wham mode — taking big chunks of Saraland’s defense with him — on a 91-yard, 12-play drive in the second quarter.

“We were on the ropes there,” Kelly said.

But on first-and-goal from the 1, Vikings quarterback Conner Tillman, playing back in the pistol set, had to cover about five yards before he got to the goal line, where the ball was wrenched loose and recovered by Spartans linebacker Ricky Strong.

On the next series, Tillman led a 79-yard drive that he finished with a perfect fade pass to Smith, who caught the ball against tight coverage from defensive back Derrick Durgan from 4 yards out to cut the lead to 19-7 at halftime.

But MGM first-year coach Alex Page knew the turnover at the goal line would haunt his team, which lost 17 starters from last year. Tillman also lost a fumble to Saraland edge rusher Keoni Snipes at his 7 in the first quarter after a bad snap, leading to Roberts’ 1-yard TD run.

“That was one of our keys to success — no turnovers,” Page said. “We turned one over and gave them a short field that led to a touchdown. And then we had a touchdown that we turned over on the goal line. You can’t do that and expect to beat really good teams. … They’ve got good coaching, they’ve got good players and any little mistakes, they take advantage of it.”

The turnovers were uncharacteristic of the Vikings, who had only 20 turnovers in the last three seasons.

Coming out of halftime, Roberts and the Spartans took control, as he led them to a touchdown in just 1:57 for Pugh’s 4-yard TD run and a 25-7 lead.

“We played a lot tougher in the second half,” Kelly said. “It’s good for us to get challenged physically. We got hit in the mouth there in the first half and they kind of had their way with us a little bit at times. I felt like we played tough and got some stops in the second half, which was big.”

But Kelly considered his team’s 19^th straight road win at a campus site a sloppy victory, considering Saraland was penalized 13 times for 107 yards and converted just 3 of 6 third downs.

“We’ve got to clean up some penalties and convert third downs and we’ll be fine,” he said.

But there was a lot more good than bad for the Spartans, who won despite MGM slowing the tempo and controlling the ball for 28:27.

Kelly said he was pleased with the play of his offensive line in the running game, which has been an offseason priority. Pugh, a sophomore, ran for 88 yards on 16 carries.

Kelly said senior hybrid end and receiver Sye Byrd blocked particularly well.

“I was pleased with the play of Sye Byrd,” Kelly said. “I thought he was really, really good in there. Ayiden Pugh is a sophomore really getting his first opportunity. Every time he’s touched the ball in practice, good things have happened. We decided to give him a shot and he proved today that he could play. I’m really encouraged by him.”

Page, meanwhile, was happy that his team didn’t fold after falling behind 19-0.

“There was no quit,” he said. “They had a lot of fight. At times, I saw really good things from the offense in the running game and even in the throwing game. You’ve just got to find ways to go punch it in.

“Our guys will learn a lot from this. We’re really young and inexperienced in some areas. That kind of showed at times. Sometimes, it takes that game experience to actually see, OK, ‘This is what coach has been teaching me. This is how it translates. I better do the drill full speed that way. It can actually work whenever I go do it live.’ We’re going to get back to work and we’re pouring everything we’ve got into it. I think our kids will rise to the challenge and they’re not going to hang their heads.”

Smith ran for 115 yards on 17 carries and Tillman was 15-of-24 passing for 140 yards.