Staff Reports
WADLEY – Throughout the 2021 football season, the Spring Garden Panthers have been faced with adversity. Their latest hill to climb happened earlier this week when they lost senior lineman Landon Gowens for the remainder of the season with a meniscus tear.
But just like they’ve dealt with other injuries this season, the Class 2A, No. 5 Panthers did so again on Friday night at Class 1A, No. 6 Wadley, and made a little history in the process.
The Bulldogs took a two-touchdown lead early, but Spring Garden battled back behind the running of senior Andrew Floyd to take a 21-19 victory and secure its first 10-0 regular season in school history.
“I’m real proud this group of kids got to experience it,” Howard said. “This group of seniors now has been with me for such a long time. Every senior class has those special moments, and all the kids are special no matter what, but these guys have been playing with me since they were in ninth grade. A bunch of them have been starting since ninth grade.
“We’d sort of been geared up thinking in 1A we were going to make a run the last two years, then all of a sudden we got bumped up to 2A. Nobody really gave us a shot, and we made a pretty good run at it last year. A lot of people said after losing Luke (Welsh), Ryley (Kirk) and Weston (Kirk) and those guys that we would be down. For these kids to overcome that is special.”
Overcoming Wadley (9-1) on Friday night was pretty special too.
The Bulldogs took a 13-0 lead into the second quarter, but the Panthers scored with 1:04 remaining before halftime on a 4-yard run by Floyd to make it 13-7 at the break.
Spring Garden took its first lead of the game at 14-13 on another Floyd touchdown run and Larry Rogers extra point with 9:45 remaining in the third. Floyd’s second score came from 25 yards.
Wadley countered with a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:09 to go in the third, but the extra point was no good, keeping the score at 19-14 Bulldogs.
Floyd scored what turned out to be the winning touchdown on 3-yard run 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. Rogers’ extra point provided the Panthers a two-point edge that they were able to hold on to and escape with the win.
“The kids kept battling, kept fighting, and we were able to win the ball game,” Howard said. “It came down to missed extra points and hit extra points. Larry Rogers was 3-for-3 on ours, and that turned into the difference in the game.”
Floyd finished with 143 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. He also posted nine tackles and a pair of sacks on defense.
Panther quarterback Chapel Pope threw for 75 yards and ran for 30 yards on 14 carries. Receiver Cooper Austin caught three passes for all 75 yards through the air.
On defense, Cade Williams posted 11 tackles and four sacks. Cam Welsh finished with six tackles and two sacks.
Both teams will host first-round playoff games on Friday. Wadley entertains Gaylesville, while Spring Garden welcomes Hatton.
“I’ve been watching them (Hatton) all week, and they’re really good,” Howard said. “They’re the biggest team we’ve played this year. They’ve got a beast of a lineman. He’s by far one of the best we’ve seen the past three or four years. Their quarterback is real good. They’re very disciplined at what they do. They’re going to be a big, strong team that’s going to try to roll over us. We don’t have a whole lot of size, so that could give us some trouble.”