Spanish Fort beats Muscle Shoals in Champions Challenge

Submitted by Ron Ingram
Posted 8/24/12

MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Spanish Fort High School rolled up 387 yards total offense - 214 in an explosive second half - and nipped Muscle Shoals 33-22 to claim the Champions Challenge preseason football game played Friday night at the Cramton …

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Spanish Fort beats Muscle Shoals in Champions Challenge

Posted

MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Spanish Fort High School rolled up 387 yards total offense - 214 in an explosive second half - and nipped Muscle Shoals 33-22 to claim the Champions Challenge preseason football game played Friday night at the Cramton Bowl.

Senior Sammy Tolbert rushed for 103 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns on runs of 2 and 29 yards. The second score came with 8:40 left to play and put Spanish Fort ahead for good 26-22.

Tyler Johnson tacked on an insurance score with a nifty 36-yard touchdown run with 4:32 left for Coach Mark Freeman's Toros.

"What I was most proud of was our ability to and find a way to answer every time Musle Shoals did something good," said Freeman. "We kept our heads and continued to do our jobs. That shows some real maturity."

Senior quarterback Joel Poe completed 17-of-22 passes for 144 yards and one TD - a 20 yard strike to Samuel Harris with 26 seconds left in the half to cut a 15-6 Muscle Shoals lead to three points (15-12) at halftime.

Harris finished with seven catches for 89 yards and Deon Johnson had seven for 47. He also returned three kickoffs for 136 yards.

Javian Ramson ended almost 19 minutes of scoreless action in the first half with a little juggling act in the end zone when he caught a pass he tipped to himself from Ryan Ware to give Muscle Shoals an early 6-0 lead. Ramson scored the two-point conversion to make 8-0 with 5:22 left in the first half.

Spanish Fort struck back quickly, thanks in big part to Johnson's 72-yard kickoff return to the Trojans 14-yard line.. Tolbert went in from the 2-yard line three plays later to pull the Toros to within two at 8-6 with 4:09 left until halftime.

The Trojans needed only 2:09 to find the end zone again when Jamarcus Nance hauled in a pass from Ware and sped 82 yards for the TD. Blake Logan's kick gave Muscle Shoals a 15-6 lead.

Spanish Fort kept its composure, however, and got back on the scoreboard with only 26 seconds left in the half when Harris caught Poe's pass for the 20-yard TD.

Johnson scored on a 2-yard run late in the third quarter to give Spanish Fort its first lead 19-15. Weston Allen's 2-yard run for a TD early in the fourth quarter put Coach Scott Basden's Trojans ahead one last time 22-19.

Muscle Shoals rushed for 199 yards with 10 different backs having at least one carry. Jamarcus Nance had 55 yards on 11 carries and Tyler Jackson had 53 yards on nine tries. Ryan Ware also completed 6-of-9 passes for 121 yards and two scores. Ramson finished with three catches for 54 yards.

Blake Logan had nine tackles and Alex Willis eight to lead the Trojans defense. Kylan Cotton's 14 tackles led Spanish Fort. Jonathan Cook also had 11 stops.