The Spring Hill Bears benefitted from keeping the football for much longer than the Genoa Dragons with multiple long drives turning into touchdowns. Meanwhile the Bears defense kept Genoa hamstrung throughout, only allowing one score, a short-yardage touchdown at 7:37 left in the second quarter followed by a missed extra point attempt.
After Spring Hill’s senior football players and cheerleaders were recognized on the field, the Bears kicked off. Genoa’s D.J. Collins brought the ball to the Dragons’ 25. The drive began with two run plays with the Bears’ tackling the Dragons’ ballcarrier in the backfield, leading to a third and 15 at the 20 yard line. But Genoa’s quarterback Riley Harris completed a pass to Gray Wallace for a first down to the Dragon’s own 38 to earn a new set of downs.
After that, the drive stalled on incomplete passes and a fumbled snap. These, especially on high snaps, would plague the Dragons all game long. Finally, Genoa had to punt on a fourth and 25 from their own 13, giving Spring Hill ideal field position on its first drive of the 2024 season, especially after Genoa tacked on a five-yard penalty on an offsides. The Bears started proceedings on the Dragons’ 35.
The Bears began with a 14-yard gain after a Jaxson Smith handoff to this year’s featured back, senior Alex Arriaga for a first down. The next first down came because of an offsides on the Genoa defense that led to a first and goal. Tucker Vickers took the ball in on a run of six yards up the middle, setting the crowd to yells with the first 2024 touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt was no good and Spring Hill led 6-0.
Spring Hill’s kickoff was run by Genoa’s Jorge Herrera to the Dragons’ 24. After one no-gain running play on first down and a fumble recovered by Genoa on second, the Dragons turned the ball over on an interception that was caught by the Bears’ Reese Tarver and returned to Genoa’s 15-yard line. The Bears were in business again with 5:45 left in the first quarter.
After a time out, the Bears made short work of the drive. A toss to Alex Arriaga and a hard run from him gained ten. The next play was a Mason Moore running touchdown. The Bears first two-point attempt was stopped on a penalty. The next attempt from further back with a run failed to score. At five minutes left in quarter one the Bears led 12-0.
Genoa’s next drive was long but ended in disappointment. Starting at their own 25, Genoa managed with runs and one pass to get the ball to Spring Hill’s 34. But a high snap barely recovered by Harris set them back to the Spring Hill 45. A run on second and 22 and a pass on third and 20 only totaled two yards gained, but Genoa chose to go for it on a fourth and 20. The ensuing play was a very very near thing, with Harris completing a pass to Jaxon Muhl who, fighting for one more fraction of a yard, was met by a Spring Hill tackler and could not make the first down.
Spring Hill took over from its own 25, getting a three-yard run from Gavin Smith to end an eventful first quarter with a 12-0 lead. This drive would be a three and out ending in a punt by Caleb Clayton to Genoa’s 19.
Genoa’s only scoring drive of the game began with a Harris nine-yard pass to Skylar Page, then a completion for big yardage to Spring Hill’s 43 after the receiver got many yards after the catch. Another Harris completion got Genoa to the Spring Hill 30. Then another, to Muhl, reached first and goal. In the next play the one-yard touchdown was scored by Anthony Forte, making the score 12-6. The PAT was no good.
Things would stay tense in Spring Hill as the Bears went three and out on the next drive. A punt to Genoa pinned the Dragons back to their own 15 with five minutes to go in the second quarter. But this drive would also go three and out. The punt landed Spring Hill on its own 23 with a little over three minutes to go in the half.
On this possession, Spring Hill would capitalize. Inspired by a Smith quarterback keeper run to the 47 of Genoa, the Bears got runs that took them to the Genoa 33. Then Smith let fly a pass into the wind that fell perfectly into the outstretched hands of Karson Hamilton as he was passing through the left corner of the end zone. He was well-covered but still managed to haul it in, bringing the home crowd to its feet on a roar. The score was 18-6. A two-point conversion was good, pushing the score to 20-6. The Spring Hill kickoff and tackle of Genoa’s carrier Sullivan Wallace was the last play of the half.
The second half would see Spring Hill score 14, adding to their 22 unanswered flurry. The first drive of the half led to six points on a nifty Jaxon Smith quarterback sweep play that was so well blocked it was hard to believe Spring Hill has not been playing the 11-man game for years. The drive took up just over five and a half minutes. The conversion attempt was no good.
Starting at its 30, Genoa embarked on one of its longer drives of the game, seeing success in its running game with Brayden Adams. But a high snap at Spring Hill’s 11 was recovered by the Bears’ Mason Moore with 1:17 left in the third quarter. The next drive ended in another Spring Hill touchdown, this one on a pass from Smith to Arriaga and a huge run after the catch that benefited from a Karson Hamilton block. It went down as an Arriago 85-yard touchdown reception. What the Bears faithful registered on the Richter scale is unknown, but they shook the renovated press box. The two-point conversion successful, the score was 34-6.
The last eleven minutes was time for the Bears’ younger players to get some game experience.
After the game, Head Coach Greg Smith said, “We felt like with our experience that we had from the past season, coming into it, we would do things right. We had some issues that we found, and that's what you want from your first few ballgames. You want to find issues. We found some issues, and when those things come up, you can go to work and fix them. The problems that you have that you don't get to see, you don't get it fixed. Those are the problems that hurt you later. So we found some issues that we got fixed, and it's a 34 to six victory.”
About the team’s transition to 11-man football, Smith said, “There's a whole lot more to it when you get to the 11-man football, okay, but what it boils down to is the transition is it's all about blocking and tackling. That's what we did in eight man. That's what we do in 11-man.”
Jaxon Smith had a fine outing with seven carries for 74 yards, one touchdown and one two-point conversion. He passed 2/3 for 120 yards and two passing touchdowns. Alex Arriaga had five carries for 38 yards and one catch for 85 yards resulting in a touchdown. Mason Moore had one touchdown on three carries for nine yards. Gavin Smith had 12 carries for 42 yards. Karson Hamilton had one catch for 35 yards resulting in a touchdown. Tucker Vickers had three carries for nine yards, one touchdown and one two-point conversion.
Leaders in tackles for the defense were Mason Moore with 11, including one tackle for loss and one fumble recovery; Reese Tarver with ten, including one tackle for loss, two passes defensed and one interception; Caleb Clayton with nine tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack; Alex Arriaga with 9 ½ including 1 ½ tackles for a loss and Joe Phillips with three tackles and a fumble recovery.
Photos by Lance Hawley and Jeff Smithpeters
