Spain Park wins thriller in OT
Published 1:12 am Saturday, September 7, 2013
By LUKE GRANTHUM / For the Reporter
The Spain Park Jaguars went on the road and won a come-from-behind 19-16 victory over the Prattville Lions on Sept. 6.
Spain Park opened the scoring in the first quarter. After forcing Prattville to punt on their opening possession, the Jaguars took over at the 44-yard line and drove to the 25 before settling on a Thomas Taylor 35 yard field goal.
On its next possession, Prattville marched 80 yards in seven plays to take the lead on Kamryn Pettway’s 57-yard run. The PAT was good, and the Lions led 7-3 with 5:30 to go in the first quarter.
Prattville intercepted the ball to start the second quarter and took over at its own 31. Kalen Whitlow led the Lions on a seven-play drive culminating in an A.J. Reed field goal to put Prattville up 10-3.
With 7:29 to go in the half, the Lions recovered a fumbled snap on a Spain Park punt at the Jags’ 36. Prattville got to the 20-yard line before the Jaguar defense stiffened, and the Lions settled for another A.J. Reed field goal to go up 13-3.
Spain Park went on a 12-play drive that ended in a missed field goal from 34 yards out, turning the ball over to the Lions to end the half, trailing 13-3.
The second half saw both teams trade punts before Thomas kicked a 22-yard field goal with 2:50 left in the third quarter to pull the Jaguars to within a touchdown.
Both teams swapped punts to start the fourth quarter, with Spain Park punting on its first two possessions. With 6:24 to go Devin Pughsley recovered a Kalen Whitlow fumble at the Jaguar 38-yard line. Spain Park drove 62 yards in 9 plays to tie the game with an Otis Harris 3-yard run and another Thomas PAT with 2:14 left in the game.
The game went into overtime after the Jaguar defense stopped the Lions at the Jaguar 34 yard line.
Prattville scored first in overtime on A.J. Reed’s field goal giving the Lions a 16-13 lead. Spain Park answered with 3 straight Otis Harris carries, the last one covering 3 yards and the winning touchdown.
Harris finished with 28 carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 4 receptions for 28 yards. Mickey Forrest was 15-of-24 for 175 yards. The Jaguar defense was led by Perry Young with 6 tackles.
“I am so proud of the kids, they just hung in there and kept playing,” said head coach Shawn Raney. “We talked all week about being a program people talked about, and to beat a team like Prattville, you start to get mentioned a little bit. It is huge for our program.”
The Jaguars will host Chelsea Sept. 13