Jags come up short at Bessemer City
BESSEMER -- Spain Park had endured more than an hour and a half weather delay at Bessemer City Friday night to take a one-point lead. The Jaguars were just minutes away from notching Win No. 2 on the 2018 season.
But head coach Shawn Raney’s team couldn’t corral Rishard Densmore. The junior who saved the Purple Tigers in their season-opener donned his superhero cape again to put the home team in a position to notch a 16-14 victory.
Spain Park’s Jalen Henderson gave the visitors the lead on a 15-yard run with 3:41 on the clock. But that was more than enough time for a dose of Densmore.
Densmore took the handoff, started up the middle, darted right and headed down the sideline for 53 yards to the Spain Park 5.
“That’s Densmore. That’s what he do,” Bessemer City coach Derone Fagan said of his leader, who finished with 159 yards on 24 carries. “He’s been a leader for us since May. He hasn’t missed a day in the summer, no summer workouts missed. He’s built his body up for the long haul.”
Said Raney: “We just missed a couple of tackles and that kid – if you give him some space – he can take it. That’s what he did. They got in field goal range, our kids bowed up down there to make the kid kick the field goal and he stepped up and kicked it. We didn’t have any timeouts left, couldn’t do anything on offense and that’s it.”
Four plays later, Brandon Basave continued his perfect run kicking field goals for Bessemer City, nailing the game-winner from 28 yards out.
Raney, the Jaguars coach, said it was just one of those nights.
“Everything we did was wrong – coaching (and) we made too many mistakes on the field,” he said. “I thought from the time we got off the bus we screwed the night up. We’ve just got to move past this and not let this linger with our kids.
“It was a very frustrating loss but we’ve got to move on,” Raney continued. “All of our goals are still out there. We’ve got Vestavia coming in next week, and it’s a huge game for us to open up region play. We cannot let this one beat us again. We’ve got to put this behind us and roll to the next game. I promise you Vestavia ain’t feeling sorry for us.”
Jaguars running back Jalen Henderson had 26 carries for 108 yards and 2 TDs. Quarterback Mason Pronk hit 11 of 18 passes for 79 yards and an interception.
Raney said all of Spain Park’s goals still lie ahead. He said he and his staff must play “what if,” figure out what went wrong and fix it.
“The kids, they’ll bounce back,” he said. “As coaches, we just have to figure out what our issues are and work to fix them. That’s all we can do. That’s our job. I’ll challenge our coaches and we’ll show up Sunday and try to get that done.”
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