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Spain Park's Nic Hendrix (64) and JD Thompson (14) celebrate a touchdown during game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Tristan Hill (12) lined up on defense during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Parks Offense huddles before a play during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Rhys Jones (81) kicks a PAT during game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Brock Bradley (5) throws for a touchdown during game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Arnav Kumar (19) on the sideline during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park cheerleader celebrates a win after a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park head coach Tim Vakakes after a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park dance team member performing during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's JD Thompson (14) and Nicolas McKissic (2) celebrate a touchdown during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Parks Nicolas McKissic (2) celebrates a touchdown during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park drum major performing at halftime during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Barrett Price (7) motions to sideline during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Nicolas McKissic (2) lines up for a play during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
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Spain Park's Nicolas McKissic (2) rushes for a first down during a game between Spain Park and Sparkman on Friday Aug. 22 2025, at Sparkman High School. Photo By Zach Irvine.
Spain Park head coach Tim Vakakes got two things he hoped for from his team’s season-opening trip to North Alabama on Friday night to face Sparkman. He got adversity — and he got a win. Both are important for the Jags as they move forward following the 48-21 victory over Sparkman.
“I kept telling (the Spain Park players),” Vakakes said after his team extended the program’s regular-season winning streak to 16 games. “I hope we have adversity, we need adversity. Coming into the game, we needed it because I don't know how they're going to respond to adversity. We knew what last year was going to do. We don't know what this group's going to do. So, it was good to see everybody not panic. We took some good shots, some of them self-inflicted. They got after us and they made some plays, but our kids and coaches, nobody panicked.”
Early on, everything went right for Spain Park, as the Jaguars scored on three of their first four drives to build a 21-0 advantage. The scores came on a 26-yard pass from Brock Bradley to Kena Rego and two short touchdown runs by sophomore Nic McKissic. Sparkman trimmed the lead with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Keaton Williams to Zayden Bodnar with 6:44 left in the half. But Spain Park countered with a 7-play, 83-yard scoring drive that concluded on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Bradley to Mason McClure. The extra point failed, but Spain Park still took a 27-7 lead into halftime.
Spain Park had 350 yards on 36 first-half plays, while Sparkman managed 110 yards on 31 plays.
Spain Park opened the second half with a 48-yard run from McKissic to the Sparkman 16-yard line on the second play from scrimmage. That’s when adversity showed up. Bradley tried to get a quick screen to the right side, but Sparkman cornerback Hovet Dixon intercepted the pass and raced 82 yards for a touchdown.
“The pick six, that was my fault,” Vakakes said. “I mean, we threw a little quick screen to the boundary and they had a press corner. I should have got out of it. So, that was not on Brock, that was on me.”
The play energized Sparkman. After a defensive stop, the Senators drove 79 yards on 10 plays, with the drive culminating in an 8-yard touchdown run by Braylon Lawson. All of a sudden, the comfortable halftime lead was cut to 27-21. Spain Park did what good teams do. The Jaguars responded by marching downfield, but the drive seemingly stalled at the Senators’ 27-yard line. The Jaguars needed a fourth-and-8 conversion to keep the drive going. They did just that — and more — when Bradley threw a perfectly placed pass to McClure in the back corner of the end zone. McClure made a leaping catch to build the lead back to 33-21.
The final two scores came on a 34-yard pass from Bradley to JD Thompson and a 1-yard run by Hudson Hibbard. Bradley also threw a 2-point conversion pass to McClure.
Spain Park finished with 333 passing yards and 298 rushing yards. Bradley was 16-of-24 through the air, and McKissic had 149 yards on 19 carries. Thompson had five catches for 104 yards, and McClure had four catches for 121 yards.
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