Wake-up call: Jags overcome sleepy first half to beat Huffman
HUFFMAN — Spain Park High School football coach Shawn Raney shook his head, chuckled and said, “They’re 17-year-olds, man.”
He was at a bit of a loss to explain why his team played so sluggishly in the first half, and then so well in the second in the Jaguars’ 35-26 win Friday over Huffman High.
Down 18-14 at intermission thanks to a 7-yard touchdown run by the Vikings’ Nyre Holden with 31 seconds left in the half, Spain Park took over the game with two touchdowns within four minutes in the third period.
Quarterback Braxton Barker quickly directed the Jags downfield from the opening kickoff after the break, finishing it with a 48-yard scoring bomb to Jalen McMillan to take the lead. It was the second touchdown for the tandem in the game; the two connected on a 36-yard pass for a score in the first period.
Then roughly halfway through the third quarter, Barker led another quick march which was capped by running back Jalen Henderson on two plays – a 27-yard charge that set him up for a 6-yard touchdown.
Kameron McDaniel intercepted a toss from Huffman quarterback King Williams that set up the Jaguars’ last score, a 6-yard run by D’Arie Johnson midway through the final period.
Still, the domination in the second half was needed because of a lackluster first half, in which Barker was sacked twice and threw an interception. That pick led to a touchdown by Huffman’s Deshawn Finch that put the hosts up 12-6 late in the opening frame.
Barker had trouble explaining the slow start as well.
“We had a good off week,” he said, “so I thought we would come out fast, but we came out slow. For us to do what we need to do, we need more focus and energy.”
Still, Barker had a good night through the air, with 15 completions in 25 attempts for 236 yards and three touchdowns. The third one came on 10-yard pass to Kenyon Hines, taking advantage of great starting field position when the Huffman punter kicked the ball straight up for a punt that went three yards in the other direction. That miscue put the Jags in business on the Vikings 14.
Spain Park struggled to contain Holden, who scored twice. The first came on a 42-yard romp for the first touchdown of the contest. Holden was the Vikings’ main offensive threat all night, carrying the ball 23 times for a game-high 130 yards.
Henderson rushed for 111 yards and Johnson added 105 for the Jags. McMillan caught five Barker passes for 114 yards.
Linebacker Josh Wallace led the visitors’ defense with five solo tackles, one for a loss.
Spain Park drew quite a few penalties as well, with 14 flags for 150 yards. Two infractions negated long gains.
Williams was 5-of-13 for 105 passing yards for Huffman, with one touchdown pass to Michael Barber.
So what was Raney’s secret inspiration in the halftime locker room? Not much of anything, he said.
“[I told them] just play with energy and have fun,” Raney said. “It came down to two quarters of football for our season, so I challenged them to come out and play with some effort and energy. We’ve got to be that kind of team — we’re not good enough just to come out. Anybody can beat us, but we’ve shown that we can beat anybody.”
And next week, Spain Park (4-2, 2-2 region) has to beat more than just somebody. They host top-ranked Thompson, which manhandled Vestavia Hills 45-14 on Friday. Tuscaloosa County and Oak Mountain follow that, and the Jaguars will likely need to win two of those three to get into the Class 7A playoffs.
Huffman falls to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the region.