Dermott stopped the Bears first drive as the game opened, forcing a punt after a Spring Hill incompletion on third and 13. Zane Minton’s kick was a boomer that pinned Dermott back at their own nine. The Rams did get a first down to their own 40, but a pass, hurried by a Spring Hill rusher, managed to be caught only to be fumbled to the Bears, who recovered the ball at the Dermott 38.
Unfortunately for Spring Hill, the next play was an interception on an 18-yard pass that barely avoided a sack. The Rams began a new drive at their own 20.
Dermott started with a 20-yard run to their right, then proceeded as far as the Spring Hill 41 on a fourth-down play that saw a receiver for Dermott fumble out of bounds. Penalties set Dermott back ten yards but their running attack still got a first down. But the Rams would fumble and lose the football at the Spring Hill 25 before the first quarter ended on a 0-0 score.
The first and ten play for Spring Hill at their own 25 was a run to the right for five yards for T.J. Tipton, playing in his first home game of the season, having sat out the first two home games in concussion protocol. The second and five was a 45-yard quarterback keeper for Jaxon Smith, which got the ball to the Dermott 17. On first and ten, Tipton sprinted right for the end zone. The conversion attempt was no good, making the game 6-0 Spring Hill at 10:27 left in the quarter.
That first touchdown by Spring Hill turned out to be the go-ahead winner, since Dermott would not score in the game. Spring Hill would get into the endzone twice more, collecting four more points on successful conversions to end the half at 22-0.
In the second half, Spring Hill blew the doors off of the sputtering Dermott team, frequently stuffing their run attempts, allowing very few pass completions by a team that has scored 118 points in four games this season. Dermott could not stop the running of Tipton or the passing of Smith. Spring Hill scored their 36th point on a ten-yard run by Zane Minton with 10:43 left in the fourth. At this, the refs signaled the timekeeper to keep running the clock. Still, Spring Hill would get a conversion, an additional touchdown and another conversion.
Bears’ Coach Greg Smith summed up what the game meant for his squad. “Another victory. That’s 2-0 in the conference. We just kind of ran our offense and did what we tried to do. And then defensively, we were playing some good hard-nosed defense.”
Running back T.J. Tipton, having piled up yards in his home debut this season, described his return as “a lot of fun,” but pointed to his teammates for their contributions: “Credit really goes down to the o line and defense. They look really good. They really played well and allowed me to hit the pocket every single time and gave us a chance to throw. I want to give all credit to the linemen and defense for getting the picks and everything.”
Defensive lineman Maddox Dickson described the game as the kind of “smash-mouth football” the team hopes to make its brand all season and said, “It's very very nice to win on our home field with everybody watching, all the pageantry going on and be able to walk away to the homecoming dance tomorrow night and have a win under our belt.”