Mid-Season High School Football Report Is Mixed In Results
MADISON- The 2019 regular season of high school football is now complete and there is a variegated results from the four local schools through five games on the season schedule.
SPARKMAN
The No. 9 ranked Sparkman Senators (5-0, 3-0) have surprised many with five consecutive victories to kick-off their tough schedule in Class 7A. The squad from Harvest has taken no prisoners rolling up big time numbers in cruising to success.
Sparkman spanked Hazel Green 48-14, defeated Gadsden City 51-27, walked over Grissom 45-6, outlasted Huntsville 38-21 and crushed Buckhorn 31-0. The cardinal and black squad, led by third-year head coach Laron White, has used an explosive offense and stinging defense to corral the opposing teams, but still have Austin, Bob Jones, James Clemens, Florence and Decatur on its remaining schedule.
JAMES CLEMENS
James Clemens began the season on a rough ride losing to both Grayson, Georgia 23-13 and Clay-Chalkville 38-37, but have since rolled off three straight victories in Region 4 play. The Jets with head coach Wade Waldrop as pilot have rolled off victories over Bob Jones 35-17, Huntsville 49-0 and Florence 51-20. Overall, the Jets have averaged 37 points and rolling up 396 yards on offense a game while allowing 19.5 per outing.
Most of the rushing work has been carried by junior running back Dylan Blackburn who has totaled 627 yards with seven touchdowns. Additional players with success in the backfield have included Chase Starling (137 yards) and J.T. Elliott (100 yards). Receiving passes from quarterbacks Connor Cantrell and Chase Starling is led by senior Chris Hope with 29 catches for 522 yards and seven TD’s. Cantrell has had most of the time at quarterback hitting on 69-percent of his passes for 812 yards and nine scoring strikes.
On defense, senior linebacker Tae Strother is tops on the squad with 40 tackles while junior Jaylin Grigsby has 36 and Devon Hadaway, a senior, 34. Senior defensive back Tyrone Wilson has three interceptions to lead in that category.
The Jets still have Gadsden City, Grissom, Sparkman, Austin and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa on its schedule with three of those contests at home.
BOB JONES
Bob Jones has had a most unusual start in recent memory. The Patriots opened with four straight losses before nailing down its first win of 24-20 over Gadsden City. The lone victory was preceeded with losses to Christian Brothers 40-26, Muscle Shoals 46-19, James Clemens 35-17 and Florence 55-24. They’ve scored 110 points while allowing 196.
Longtime head coach Kevin Rose knew going into the season depth and overall size would be areas of concern and that has come to be. The Patriots have scored 13 touchdowns with nine of those on the ground. Multi-position senior player Caden Rose has 177 yards on 29 carries while fellow seniors Jake Guyton has 33 carries for 135 yards and Amiyi Maxwell has 97 yards on 34 attempts.
The receiving corps is led by seniors Donavon Brown who has 27 catches for 335 yards and two touchdowns and Dylan Ray adding 19 grabs for 237 yards and four scores.
Bob Jones has utilized a two quarterback system with junior Slate Alford seeing most action as he has hit 53 passes on 89 attempts for 644 yards and four scores while Rose has hit 37 times on 65 passes for five scores. Team scoring is led by senior kicker Jake Fruewalhd with 26 points. He has hit five of six field goals and 11 PATs.
On defense, Deanadre Smith, a senior linebacker, leads all on defense with 57 tackles followed closely by sophomore D.J. Davenport with 55, Rose from his defensive back spot with 53 and senior Walker Styles with 50.
The Patriots 1-4, 1-2, still have Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Grissom, Sparkman, Austin and Huntsville to fill out the 2019 schedule.
MADISON ACADEMY
In Class 5A, the sixth ranked Madison Academy Mustangs (4-1, 3-0) began the current campaign with a 44-7 shellacking by Briarcrest Christian, but have bounced back with enormous success winning the next four contests easily. The Mustangs posted victories of 17-7 over Lawrence County, 42-20 over East Limestone, 44-16 on top of Brewer and 41-14 over Ardmore.
Junior signal caller Avery Seaton has totaled all of the passing statistics at this juncture of the season with 1,030 yards on 63 completions and nine touchdowns. Receiving those Seaton passes have been senior Slate Rucker with 23 catches for 442 yards and five touchdowns, and sophomores Tim Spurlock with 13 catches for 172 yards and one score and Jailen Holmes with 147 yards and one touchdown on 10 catches.
The rushing offense has been led mostly by Seaton with 381 yards and six touchdowns on 58 attempts and senior Josh Malone who has scampered for 347 yards and four scores on 60 carries.
The Mustangs have home games with Guntersville and Scottsboro remaining and road contests against Madison County, Arab and Brooks. Heading into the second half of the season, Madison Academy is averaging 30 points a contest on its side of the scoreboard while allowing their opponents 20 per outing.
The 2019 high school regular season concludes November 1 with post-season play getting underway the following week. The Super 7 State Championship Games will be held the week of Dec. 4-6 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on the campus of Auburn University.
