STORY: Gators win second conference game

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 22, 2016 11:24 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek's defense has served as the understudy to its offense most of the season.

It finally stepped into the spotlight Friday evening.

Over the final eight minutes of play, the Gators stuffed county rival Rosewood on a two-point conversion attempt and stopped two critical fourth-down plays in SC territory.

Jessie Casper's interception on the next-to-last play of the game preserved a 21-20 victory at "The Swamp."

"I feel like, sometimes, our offense is flashy and they get a lot of attention, but our defense played really well," Gators head coach Aaron Sanders said. "For them to do what they did in the fourth quarter, I'm just so happy for them."

Down by a touchdown with 11 minutes left in regulation, Helt orchestrated a 57-yard scoring drive that ended with his 6-yard touchdown run. SC stepped into the neutral zone and drew an encroachment penalty on the PAT attempt.

RHS head coach Robert Britt sent his offense back onto the field for the two-point try. Helt took the snap and was halted in his tracks by the Gators' defense.

"You've got a yard and a half, we've got a good offense ... you give your team a chance to make a play," Britt said. "You've just got to tip your hat to Spring Creek. They made the play."

The stop energized SC's defense.

"That was big, put us over the edge, got us fired up," said the Gators' Cole Jacobs, who brought down Helt along with linebackers Nick Strickland and Spencer Jameson.

"Our leaders Najee Young and Jessie Casper got us up. The D-line did what it needed to do. We did our job."

SC rose to the occasion two more times.

Jameson and Strickland smothered Helt on a fourth-and-8 play after the Eagles had fumbled an onside kick. After a Gators' punt, Strickland nailed Tron Blue behind the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-3 near midfield.

Rosewood (3-6 overall, 1-3 Carolina 1-A) turned the ball over on downs on four occasions.

"We knew what we had to do to shut him down," Jacobs said. "We knew they going to give the ball to the best player on the team and they did that. That's one of the best quarterbacks we'll see all year.

"Our defense was there."

Helt put Rosewood in front with a 2-yard run barely three minutes into the opening quarter. Spring Creek (3-5, 2-1) answered with consecutive touchdowns -- Collion Kittrell's 23-yard ramble and Casper's 21-yard halfback option pass to Jamerion Dawson.

JaVon Newsome's 22-yard run extended the Gators' lead to 21-7 before the Eagles responded. Helt threw a 2-yard TD pass to Jack White and then scored again before getting turned away on the two-point conversion.

"Their kids were up to the task, played a heckuva ballgame with great emotion," Britt said. "I feel like our kids played hard, too."

HE'S THE MAN

* Helt accounted for 216 of the Eagles' 311 yards of total offense. Blue added 79 yards. Meanwhile, the Gators spread their offensive wealth among seven backs and amassed 330 yards of total offense. Landon Smothers finished 10 of 17 for 103 yards.

PROTECT THE BALL

* The Eagles and Gators combined for three turnovers. SC converted the lone miscue on Casper's "trick" pass just 10 days before Halloween.

RARE WIN

* Rosewood has dominated the series that started in 2001 with 13 wins in 15 meetings. But the county rivals have split the last four outings. This was the closest outcome since the Eagles triumphed 18-10 in 2001.

WE GOT NEXT

* Rosewood is off next Friday. Spring Creek is the guest of James Kenan, which hammered Hobbton 61-14.