Springville (1-3) at Southside (3-1)
Series record: Southside 8, Springville 2, three ties
Last meeting: 1973 – Southside 13, Springville 7
Last week: Fort Payne 45, Southside 20; Mortimer Jordan 54, Springville 14
By Gene Stanley/Messenger Sports Correspondent
A week after hitting the road for the first time this season – and a week after suffering its first loss of 2012 – Southside is back home and attempting to get back in the win column against a struggling Springville team.
So far, the Tigers’ only victory came against perennial doormat Hayden, and that was by only one point.
Southside coach Marty Smith, however, doesn’t discount Springville, which had Center Point, a semifinal team last year, beat in the fourth quarter.
“They run the option offense out of mu-ltiple formations and they run it well,” Smith said. “If we don’t understand where we need to be on defense, they’ll break through for big plays.
“The option is hard to defend because it calls for assignment defense and you’ve got to play your assigned play instead of the ball.”
Understanding that this is Springville is very important to the players, according to Smith.
“We can’t let Fort Payne beat us twice,” he said. “We’ve got to move on and put the loss behind us.”
Last week’s loss dropped the Panthers into a three-way tie for second place in the Class 5A, Region 7 standings along with Etowah and Arab, a game behind Fort Payne and Boaz.
Against Fort Payne, Blake Devine rushed for 161 yards on nine carries, while Holt Keeling ran five times for 55 yards. Dantley Coker added 46 yards on 14 attempts.
Patrick Lister completed 4-of-7 passes for 38 yards, with Devine and Justin Denson each catching two.
Chase Nobles led in tackles with eight, followed by Tyler Carr with seven and Hunter Armstrong and Saige Dale with six each.