But Foreman arrived at Spring Hill Stadium ready to play and fully bought-in to its game plan, while the Bears looked tired and disengaged. The final was 24-16, Foreman winning its first conference victory of the season.
At first the Bears looked like they had redeemed themselves for a three-and-out on their opening drive by recovering a fumble by Foreman at the Foreman 11-yard-line. An early score looked likely. But on second and six, the Jaxon Smith’s pass attempt was jostled and then controlled by a a Foreman defender who then ran the ball over 90 yards to the Spring Hill end zone. A successful two-point conversion run on a quarterback keeper quieted the crowd a little more. The Gators led 8-0 less than three minutes into the game.
The Bears would respond by mounting a drive that would take up nearly ten minutes and lead to a stand-up run by Jaxon Smith and then a good conversion to tie the game 8-8.
Foreman would answer with a scoring drive that took less time, mostly by virtue of a third-and-five sweep play that cleared a lot of room for their running back to get from the 31-yard line to the end zone in short order but benefited, too, from many missed tackles. The score read 14-8 at the start of the second quarter after the two-point conversion failed to get in.
A wandering kickoff return obliged the Bears to start at their own 15. The Bears’ speedster Jackson Putz was lost to a leg injury on this play and was taken first to Southwest Regional Medical Center and then to a hospital in Texarkana. An MRI will be performed tomorrow.
When play resumed, Smith went back to pass. There was a fumble that the quarterback recovered, but he was then tackled for a safety, allowing the Gators to tack two onto the score and receive a kickoff.
Foreman’s return-man made his catch then wended his way to the Bears’ endzone. But the play was called back due to a Gators block-in-the-back penalty and the ball placed on the Foreman 44.
Foreman would mount a drive that would end on an incomplete pass on fourth and 12. Taking over at their own 30, the Bears would give the ball right back to the Gators on a pitch-attempt fumble. Fortunately for the Bears, due to some stingy defense that forced two fourth downs, time ran out in the half before the Gators could capitalize on their fumble recovery. They got as close as the six yard line and went four-and-out, turning the ball over as the seconds ticked to zero. Still they led 16-8.
The third quarter passed scorelessly with both offenses preferring tough slugging running plays. As the quarter’s final minutes ticked away, Spring Hill was deep in the redzone. It would capitalize finally, two minutes into the fourth with another quarterback keeper by Smith for a touchdown. The successful conversion meant the game was now tied at 16 all.
Bears fans would get even more excited when a Gator fielding the Bears kickoff fumbled and the Bears recovered. But opportunity did not mean achievement this time as the Bears went three-and-out, having to punt. The ball would be downed by the Bears at the Foreman 20.
Long running plays, possibly helped by the toll of the punishment the Gator offensive line had doled out in the third quarter, propelled the Gators to the 18 of Spring Hill. The first and ten was a pitch to the Foreman runner and a quick scamper into the endzone. The touchdown and the successful conversion put the Gators up 24-16.
Foreman, for the fifth time in the game, lined up for the onside kick. This time the choice worked out as the ball coming down hit the chest of a Bears player and was pounced on by a Gator at the 50-yard line. There was 5:32 left in the game.
The Gators could not extend their lead on the drive and indeed coughed up the football on a third-and-9 attempt with 3:12 left. Starting at their own 19, Spring Hill found itself equally unable to advance the ball on a series of incomplete passes that found receivers’ fingertips but not hands. The fourth-and-ten attempt from the 19 was a complete pass, but only worth five yards. By now there was only 2:16 left and the Foreman Gators, on running plays, got the first downs they needed to run out the clock. As time and the game ticked away, the Gators were at second and goal. The final was 24-16.
After the game, Coach Greg Smith gathered his team as usual on the field and told them the loss had happened and the best way to deal with it was to get it out of their system and begin working toward their next game, which will take place at Gurdon Go-Devil Stadium next Friday night.
Asked for his assessment of the game and what the team does from here, Smith said, “We're beat up and hurt right now. We’ve got kids that are playing that are not real healthy, and they're not 100 percent, so we lose a step here and there, but we’ve just got to gather up, go back to work. That's our first conference loss. We're fine. Everything's going to be fine. We’ve just got to go back to work, start executing offensively, defensively, go back to our fundamentals, and we'll be fine.”
The now 4-3 and 3-1 Bears travel to Gurdon Friday to face the Gurdon Go-Devils who are now 4-3 and 3-1 themselves after a 28-22 victory against Mineral Springs. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.