By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVERS – The Spain Park Jaguars didn’t wait long to live up to their preseason hype, making big plays on offense and defense en route to a 38-7 victory over the Sparkman Senators on Friday, August 23 at Spain Park High School.

“I thought our guys played hard,” said Spain Park coach Tim Vakakes. “You can tell it meant a lot to them and they had a lot of energy at the beginning.””

Both sides of the ball performed great: Freshman Clemson player Brock Bradley completed 9 of 15 passes for 243 yards and five touchdowns, and the defense recovered two fumbles and two interceptions.

Much of that was part of a 31-point first half that saw the Jags establish themselves as clear favorites in the contest.

Spain Park started with a strong defense from the start and answered all questions about his unit this year with a quick three-and-out.

The Jags’ offense quickly gained ground and came close to the goal line, but CJ Cowley put the ball in the end zone and turned the field over.

However, Hagen Holley intercepted a short drive by Sparkman and brought the Jags to the Senators’ 7-yard line.

Two plays later, Brock Bradley found Andrew Thornton down the left sideline for the opening 4-yard touchdown with 7:53 minutes left in the first quarter.

Joe Cross then made two interceptions in two drives for the Spain Park defense when he blocked a long throw. This time, however, the Jags went out with three interceptions.

After Sparkman converted on the third attempt, Spain Park kicked the ball loose and scored more points with a turnover and a 24-yard field goal by Josh Tulloss to make it 10-0.

The Jags forced another punt and got close to the goal line with a run by Cowley to the 11-yard line. Bradley then made an 8-yard pass to fullback Ryan Breazeale to make it 17-0 with 8:56 left in the half.

Spain Park stayed with the ball on its next drive with two passes to Corey Barber, bridging the 56-yard gap between Bradley and the end zone.

The Jags were nearly as fast on their final drive of the half, and Bradley scored his fourth passing touchdown of the half, finding Mitchell Frazer down the sideline for a 51-yard touchdown and a 31-0 halftime lead.

The momentum continued into the second half as Bradley led the Jags to the goal line, first with a first-down pass to Haygood, then a shot to Barber and finally a 17-yard touchdown pass to Frazer.

Leading 38-0 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, the Jags forced another fumble to get the ball back, but Spain Park’s drive ended with a Hudson Hibbard interception on a throw to the end zone on fourth down.

From then on, both teams found their rhythm and were unable to offer much more, especially when the Jags’ regular players left the game. Sparkman got on the scoreboard from a quarterback keeper with eight minutes left, but the visitors could not get any closer and Spain Park secured the 38-7 victory.

After the game, Vakakes praised the defense for their efforts, but acknowledged that they need to get a handle on their own turnovers, such as the fumble on the first drive and the interception in the third quarter. Especially with the Hoover game coming up next week on Friday, August 30, at the Hoover Mets, he knows the city rival will punish those mistakes.

“If you can take the ball away from other teams, it changes the course of the game,” Vakakes said. “But at the same time, we lost the ball a few times ourselves, so that can’t happen. But our defense did a really good job of taking the ball away.””

The Senators attempted to counter the run by occupying the penalty box, limiting Dakarai Shanks to 55 yards and Cowley to 28 yards on nine attempts each from both running backs.

However, this gave Bradley the opportunity to gain the upper hand in the air and win the game with his arm.

Vakakes wants his team to know that when opposing defenses neutralize part of their offense, the other aspect of the offense has to step up. He was proud of how Bradley and the receivers have started the season.

“The biggest thing our guys have to understand is that people are going to try to stop the run and if they can do that, we have to be able to make the plays on the field,” Vakakes said. “And Brock had a pretty good night. He missed a couple, but early in the season we’re not perfect, but I thought he played really well and our receivers made some really nice plays.”

The passing performance stood out even more because many receivers impacted the game. Four different receivers caught a touchdown, with Corey Barber being Bradley’s most frequent target with five catches for 133 yards and a touchdown.

In addition, Frazer had 80 receiving yards and scored touchdowns on two of his three catches, Thornton scored on his only 4-yard pass, and Jaxon Haygood caught a 30-yard pass.

In a game where the Jags were looking for receivers to replace graduate transfer Jonathan Bibbs and had to replace several transfer players, Vakakes was praised both for his belief in Spain Park’s system and for seizing the opportunity now that his strengths are being played to.

“Andrew Thornton, Mitchell Fraser, Jaxon Haygood, guys that have been here and haven’t left, and that says a lot about them,” Vakakes said. “They haven’t left and are reaping the rewards. Now is their time to go, and they’re going to get opportunities, and they’ve got to play when they get their opportunity.””