T.J. Tipton escapes Dermott defenders to score Spring Hill's third touchdown of the night.

Thanks to a 34-0 Homecoming game win tonight over the Dermott Rams, the Spring Hill Bears now take a 6-0 record into its home stand next week against the Mountain Pine Red Devils, the team it seems the Bears have been waiting all season to play so as to avenge last year’s 62-54 loss.

The game was a runfest for the Spring Hill Bears, with primary running back T.J. Tipton running for 128 yards and two touchdowns on a mere nine carries. His backup Alex Arriaga got 12 carries and put up 126 yards and one touchdown.

Spring Hill did most of its scoring on the Rams in the first quarter, with a 29-yard run by T.J. Tipton, a 28-yard reception by Blane Tuttle, another touchdown by Tipton on a 37-yard sweep and then a Dalton Glover run from the three. 

At the end of the quarter a vicious hit on the Rams’ James Burelle caused an extended injury timeout as Burelle had to be loaded into an ambulance on a board near midfield. Word by game’s end was that Burelle was moving his extremities and talking as he was being moved and his trip to the hospital was precautionary.

With Spring Hill now ahead 28-0 and the Rams’ numbers reduced to ten players, the two head coaches agreed to proceed from the second quarter on under the mercy rule, meaning the clock would continue to run except prior to kickoffs. They also agreed halftime would be only five minutes.

In the second half, Spring Hill worked many of its second string players. Alex Arriaga was especially effective despite it being pretty well known Spring Hill would restrict itself to running plays. Arriaga’s one-yard touchdown came with 6:45 left in the third.

Neither team scored in the fourth. After time ran down and it was a final, Spring Hill Coach Greg Smith assessed his team’s performance:

“We wanted to go out and just take care of business quickly. We saw what we told them throughout the week. They came out, and we told them what it was going to look like. They understood. And they just went out and did their jobs tonight. So it was a business like environment, and they just did what we asked them to do. I'm thrilled they came out and executed the way they did.”

The next game will see the Mountain Pine Red Devils come to Spring Hill, putting their 5-0 undefeated record to the test against the now 6-0 Bears.  Kickoff will be at 7:00 p.m.