After being on the wrong end of a 56-20 beating on the road last year, we asked Bears Coach Greg Smith after a post-game team meeting on their home field whether revenge was indeed as sweet as it looked. “It certainly is what we said in the huddle right there. We love that one. And we just did a great job on offensive line. Big hats off to them. They did great.”
The line gave quarterback Jaxon Smith the protection he needed to do serious damage with several long passes caught by receivers Karson Hamilton, Henry Townshend and Jackson Putz. The Bears could have scored more than they did, with two drives stalling in the red zone, but ball control and stiff defense against the Hornets’ go-for-broke onslaughts told the tale Friday night.
There was no scoring in the first quarter, though it began excitingly enough with the Hornets fumbling the ball away on the third play to Spring Hill’s everywhere linebacker Maddox Dickson. The ensuing drive featured bursts of running by QB Jaxon Smith and RB Levi Askew that got the Bears as close as the six yard line but a pass on second and goal was caught and fumbled, giving the Hornets the ball.
The Hornets’ second drive would last a little longer than their first, but also end in futility as it stalled on the team’s own 48. By then it was the second quarter and the Bears ran the punt up to their own 39. The drive would end with a touchdown scored on Jaxson Smith pass from the Hornets 34 that found Jackson Putz, who displayed his speed in running to paydirt. The conversion attempt was no good.
The Hornets would answer with a passing touchdown of their own but could not collect on the conversion attempt after. On their own drive, the Bears would get as close as the Hornets’ 35 but ran out of time. The score at halftime was 6-6.
Spring Hill got the second-half kickoff, which was on-side, and moved the ball quickly down the field from their own 48, starting with a long gain by Henry Townsend that got to the Hornets five. A passing touchdown from fourth and goal capitalized on the big play. Another failed conversion on an incompletion made the score 12-6 Spring Hill.
The Hornets couldn’t answer in their next drive, bogging down with a turnover on downs on Spring Hill’s 32. The Bears would launch its next drive, spearheaded by another long pass from Smith, that got to the Hornets’ 40. On a third and 13 from the Hornets 33, Smith found Karson Hamilton for another touchdown, expanding to a two-possession lead for the Bears, 18-6.
There would be no more scoring, but the game was most likely put away when a Bears punt glanced off the calf of a Hornets player and was claimed by a Bear on the Mineral Springs 29. Rather than go for the humiliation, as last year’s Hornets did, the Bears ran down the clock. Jaxon Smith kneeled the ball dead at 30 seconds to go.
On his team’s attitude during the game, Smith said, “We had some kids step up and make some plays. We just did it. And it's been kind of tough to get that to happen. We had some kids say, ‘I'm gonna go get it. Coach, hey, let me go get it. Let me go do it. Give me the ball. Coach.’ When they start wanting the ball like that, that's answering the call. We had three or four do that same thing tonight. They stepped up, made the play.”
Asked about the game’s importance, Smith said, “This is a big win. This is an important win. Everybody's 0 and 0 starting tonight, and we're one and 0, on top of it right now going into the conference. We're thrilled to be right where we are.”
Spring Hill will take to the road next week, Friday, October 3rd against the 3-1 Dierks Outlaws in another conference clash.
