Two interceptions from Cross lead to Spain Park victory over James Clemens – Shelby County Reporter

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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HOOVER ­– Backed against their own 5-yard line on the game’s opening drive, the Spain Park Jaguars were on the verge of giving up a touchdown that, in all reality, could have pushed all the momentum in favor of the visiting James Clemens Jets.

However, it was then that the Jags defense took ownership and stood up to the challenge at hand, and with the snap of the football, everything changed.

As James Clemens quarterback Matthew Evers took the snap from his center, he dropped back, rolled to his left and passed towards his wide receiver Aaron Gonzalez. But instead of getting the outcome he wanted, the opposite happened.

A black jersey came from behind, and Spain Park defensive leader Joe Cross got the ball before it hit the ground, getting the ball back on his own 1-yard line and keeping the Jets out of the end zone early.

That helped give a positive burst of energy to the Jags, which they used to pick up a non-region win against James Clemens on Friday, Sept. 26 at Spain Park High School.

“I just keep my eyes on the quarterback, reading the eyes and made the plays,” said Joe Cross. “We play hard, we worked hard all week, game plan, we played our butts off.”

Unfortunately, the interception did not end up working out in the Jags’ favor, as on their ensuing opening drive of the game, their offense drove down the field to the red zone before a mishandled handoff saw Spain Park give the ball back to the Jets with the snap of a finger.

The stall seemed to be the trend for the entirety of the first quarter, as the game was scoreless at the end of the first period of play.

However, the Jags finally found their groove after both teams went back and forth with punts into the second quarter. That was when a punt back to James Clemens was downed at the 1-yard line, and when the visitors could not gain anything, a shanked punt set Spain Park up at the Jets 21-yard line.

Spain Park drove down towards the end zone thanks to Mason McClure, but James Clemens started pushing back near the goal line, getting the Jags to fourth down. It was the efforts of Hudson Hibbard though that got his team on the board halfway through the second quarter, making it 7-0.

The Spain Park defense felt the momentum, and after forcing a punt, gave the ball back to Brock Bradley. Bradley then wound up at his own 30-yard line and chucked it down the field on the first play of the drive to Connor Greb, who ran the ball in for a 70-yard score to put the score at 14-0.

The rest of the first half rolled out with no major threats afterwards, and ended an opening two quarters that head coach Tim Vakakes was glad to see his team respond to.

“I thought we were kind of sluggish starting out,” Vakakes said. “We talked about starting fast and we didn’t. Our kids responded and the coaches, nobody panicked. We just kept swinging and finally started making some plays and didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot. But give credit to (James Clemens), they came out with a good game plan and they got after us and they hit us in the mouth. It was good to see our kids respond.”

The Jags got the ball coming out of the break, and immediately on their first offensive possession saw Hibbard run things deep inside James Clemens territory. That’s when wide receiver Kena Rego got involved though, catching a 28-yard pass before capping the drive off with a 10-yard reception in the end zone to make it 21-0.

The Jets responded with a vicious running attack and drove all the way down the field where MJ Gideon ran the ball to pay dirt for a 4-yard score, closing the score to 21-7.

That touchdown did not phase the Spain Park offense though, as it came right back out to move the ball with ease and drive back to the red zone.

After a short break to head into the fourth quarter, Hibbard put on the truck stick for a 17-yard touchdown to close the scoring out with his second score of the game, making it 28-7.

Things winded down quickly from there, and after a second interception from Cross, the Jags got back in the win column after a tough loss to Benjamin Russell.

“It shows that our kids care,” Vakakes said. “Our kids care and losing bothers them and didn’t always bother them here… Our coaches do a good job of keeping everything consistent. Whether we win or lose, we don’t get too high, we don’t get too low. We get back in the weight room. This week is a max week in the weight room, so I expect our max to go up on our lifts and we’re going to keep the same thing, rinse and repeat, and I’m proud of these kids and coaches.”

Bradley finished the night 12-for-16 through the air with 227 yards and two touchdowns. His hybrid quarterback counterpart Hibbard controlled the ground game at running back, gathering 18 carries for 92 yards and his two touchdowns.

Cross was the star of the night in helping his team keep James Clemens off the scoreboard for the most part, gathering his first two interceptions of the year after reeling in five last season.

Now, Spain Park looks back towards region play and will carry a 3-2 overall and 1-1 region record into a big game with a red-hot Pelham squad, which will take place on Friday, Oct. 3 at Spain Park High School.