Photo: Sardis High’s Temon Wilson tries to break free from a Douglas defender during the Lions’ 43-7 win on Sept. 21 in Sardis City. (Courtesy of Bentley Gray)
By Taylor Beck/Sand Mountain Reporter
Sardis High coasted to its first 5A, Region 6 victory with a 43-7 win over Douglas last Friday (Sept. 21) in Sardis City.
The Lions (2-2,1-2) put points on the board in a hurry in the first quarter. Following a three-and-out by Douglas, Sardis quarterback Trent Presley heaved a 47-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Hopper under heavy pressure after bobbling the snap twice. Trey Salers’ kick for the point after opened the Lion lead to 7-0 with 7:45 left in the first quarter. Salers finished 5-of-5 on PATs.
Almost three minutes later, Presley intercepted a pass from Eagle quarterback Jonathan Ray and took it 37 yards to the end zone, putting Sardis up 14-0.
The Lion forced three turnovers and allowed only nine yards in the first half.
“Defense is a major focus every week,” Sardis head coach Gene Hill said. “We really harp on defense. We go on defense first, usually to try and set the tone with our defense, and we did that tonight. Our guys played well.”
Mason Golden put the Lions on the board again after taking an end-around from eight yards out to increase the lead to 21-0 at 2:35 left in the first quarter. Two plays later, Presley recovered a fumble and returned to the Eagle 2-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by Luke Morris to increase the Sardis lead to 27-0. A 2-point conversion was converted by Presley to go up 29-0.
With 11:02 on the clock in the second quarter, Sardis’ Justin Fuller pounded the football into the end zone from 10 yards away to widen margin to 36-0.
With under seven minutes left in the first half, Johnny Corona burned the Eagle defense on a 16-yard run for touchdown to make it 43-0.
Douglas found the scoreboard late in the third quarter to narrow the Lions’ gap to 43-7 after
Kevin James broke loose for a 16-yard touchdown run.
“This was a good win for us,” Hill said. “We got to play a lot of our young kids early. Hopefully we didn’t get anybody banged up, and got to rest them after two really physical football games [against Etowah and Southside]. Hopefully we can regroup and pick it up for a tough, physical team in Geraldine next week.”
Presley finished with 115 total yards from scrimmage and two total touchdowns, while Corona led the Lion rushing attack with 69 yards and one touchdown.
Sardis hosts Geraldine in the Lions’ homecoming this Friday (Sept. 28).