By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
SAND ROCK – The old saying goes it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Indeed, Sand Rock football coach Alan Heath was proud of how his Wildcats stepped up in the second half of their Class 2A Region 7 game against Pleasant Valley Friday night. However, he wondered where that effort was in the first half.
The result was a 20-13 setback on the Wildcats’ homecoming that ended their three-game winning streak.
“If we’d have come out and played in the first half the way we did in the second half, then I think we have a different outcome on the scoreboard,” Heath said. “We had everything from false starts to not reading our wristband right and knowing what play we were running to dropped passes. Anything you can name we did, but hat’s off to Coach (Jonathan) Nix and Pleasant Valley. They played a really good ball game.
“In the second half, we played Sand Rock football. We came out and executed, made very few mistakes. We gave it all we had the last two quarters, but I just wished we’d have done it for the first two.”
While Sand Rock (3-2, 2-1) struggled to put things together in the first half, the Raiders (3-2, 1-1) got off to a good start in the second quarter.
After a scoreless first quarter, Jaden Sparks provided just the spark Pleasant Valley needed. Filling in for injured starter Braxton Salster, who had a sprained wrist on his throwing hand, Sparks scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with 10:49 remaining before intermission. Sparks was sacked by Sand Rock’s Morgan Tucker on the 2-point try, keeping the score at 6-0.
The Raider defense came up with a big play of its own just one play after the kickoff. Nicolas Acker recovered a Sand Rock fumble near midfield. Seven plays later, Sparks were flying again as Jaden Sparks connected with Hunter Sparks on a 24-yard touchdown pass. Jaden Sparks ran in for the 2-point conversion to give Pleasant Valley a 14-0 advantage at halftime.
Following a Raider punt to open the third quarter, Sand Rock began to put a promising drive together. However, the drive ended when Alec Ashley was intercepted by Cooper Dougal at the Raider 15-yard line.
But the Wildcat defense returned the favor.
After Jaden Sparks led Pleasant Valley on another substantial drive down to the Wildcat 9, Jaden Sparks was intercepted by Sand Rock’s Gavynn Cunningham in the end zone at the end of the third quarter.
The Wildcats cashed in the turnover 11 plays and 80 yards later. The end result was fullback Kane Robison’s 6-yard touchdown run to cut the Raider lead in half at 14-7 with 7:31 remaining in the game.
Sand Rock’s defense forced a Pleasant Valley punt, which the offense turned into another touchdown. Another Robison score – this time from 5-yards – pulled the Wildcats within a point at 14-13. However, Tucker missed on the extra point, keeping the Raiders out in front by a point.
But it appeared as if the Wildcats would have a shot at taking the lead when the defense put Pleasant Valley into a third-and-9 situation at its own 17 with 1:38 remaining.
Salster, who played at running back, took a handoff and dashed 83 yards for a touchdown. Jaden Sparks was intercepted by Sand Rock’s Ryker Woodall in the end zone on the 2-point try, but the Raiders had extended their lead to 20-13 with just 1:19 remaining.
That proved to be enough time for Sand Rock’s offense to march down the field.
Ashley drove the Wildcats down to the Raider 12. A 5-yard penalty backed them up to the 17 with 6.1 seconds remaining. Two straight Ashley incomplete passes brought the game down to one final play with less than a second on the clock. The Raider defense forced Ashley to roll outside the pocket and a throw to lineman Tucker. Tucker caught the pass for a 4-yard loss, but was flagged for illegal touching, which ended the game.
“Winning at Sand Rock is hard to do,” Nix said. “They’ve got great tradition here. They’re hard-nosed kids. They’re going to fight you tooth and nail until that buzzer hits, and that’s exactly what they did. I’m proud of our guys for matching the fight.
“We’ve had some teams in the past that could go either way and we just didn’t believe in ourselves enough to finish. I’m proud of how they finished, how they believed in each other and just how they kept fighting.”
Jaden Sparks ran for 102 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown. He also completed three passes for 49 yards and a touchdown. Salster came away with 107 yards on seven carries and a score. Kayden Vick finished with 62 yards on 13 totes.
Ashley completed 16 of 27 pass attempts for 122 yards for Sand Rock. His top target was Gatlin Cox, who caught seven passes for 78 yards. Robison finished with 56 yards on 15 carries with both Wildcat touchdowns.
“We’re 2-1 in the region right now, so we’re still in a good place,” Heath said. “We just have to keep our heads on straight. We won’t roll over and say our season is over. We still have multiple opportunities to win and make the playoffs. I know we’ll come back on Monday and work hard and get prepared for next week’s ball game (at Collinsville).”
