Staff Reports

WOODVILLE – The Spring Garden Panthers had a chance to clinch the Class 1A, Region 8 championship on Friday night at Woodville, but the home Panthers had other ideas.
Woodville scored 34 unanswered points to take a 47-8 victory to force a 3-way tie in the region, along with Appalachian.

In the tie-breaking scenarios, Woodville (8-1, 5-1) clinches the region title, with Spring Garden (5-4, 5-1) finishing runner-up. Both teams will host playoff games on Nov. 6.

Woodville took a 13-0 first-quarter advantage on a pair of touchdown runs. Brady Ruark got Spring Garden on the board with his 14-yard touchdown run with 9:18 to go before halftime to make the score 13-8, but it was all Woodville from there. The home team scored two more touchdowns before halftime to take a 27-8 lead heading to the locker room.

Ruark led Spring Garden with 13 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown. He was also 2-of-4 passing for 45 yards.

Ryder Kralka added 52 yards on four totes. Lucas McGatha managed 40 yards on two carries and had a pair of interceptions on defense. Ben Baker caught a pair of passes for 45 yards. He also ran for 24 yards on seven carries.

Cayden Thompson tallied 6 ½ tackles on defense for Spring Garden. Baker made six stops. Jake Marlow recovered a fumble.

Kaden Franklin ran for 127 yards on eight carries and completed 5-of-8 passes for 125 yards to lead Woodville. Caleb Lancaster ran for 138 yards on 10 carries, and Jonah Sparks had 49 yards on eight totes. Sparks also caught a pair of passes for 80 yards.

Mott Wilson had two interceptions for Woodville’s defense.

Spring Garden closes out its regular season on Friday at home against Class 2A Ranburne.