Staff Reports

VALLEY HEAD – Spring Garden’s Connor Bates churned out 269 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, and John Welsh added 150 yards and a score on just six totes to lead the Spring Garden Panthers past Valley Head 32-13 in Class 1A Region 8 football action on Friday.

Bates got Spring Garden (5-0, 3-0) on the scoreboard first with his 54-yard touchdown run at the 10:42 mark of the first quarter. The extra point put the Panthers in front 7-0.

Valley Head (4-1, 2-1) answered with a touchdown of its own at the 7:08 mark of the first to tie the game at 7.

The Panthers regained the lead at 13-7 on Noah Barber’s 1-yard run with 3:50 to go in the opening quarter, but Valley Head responded to tie the game again at 13 with another score with 8:15 remaining in the first half.

Spring Garden responded just 14 seconds later with Welsh’s 80-yard score. The 2-point try was no good, but the Panthers led at halftime 19-13.

It remained 19-13 until the fourth quarter. Bates scored on a 42-yard run with 10:28 remaining. Clayton Sadler put the game away with just under five minutes to go with his 2-yard touchdown run for the final.

Colton Driskell led the Panther defense with nine tackles. Barber, Tanner Ruark and Zane Edwards had eight tackles each.

Spring Garden travels to Cedar Bluff on Friday.