By Will Fairless
Associate Editor
Smiths Station got its winning percentage to .500 with a win against Jefferson Davis High School last Friday at Panther Stadium at T.VC Britton Field.
The Panthers’ first drive against the Montgomery high school ended in a rushing touchdown by running back Jhameir Gore. Smiths station would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game, and Gore would go on to have a huge game against the Volunteers with another touchdown and plenty of yards to go with the pair.
Jefferson Davis’s first drive proved to have been predictive of their night, as it shared the same themes as the visiting team’s game as a whole. Illegal substitution and false start penalties doomed the drive before it began. Although an option play got a portion of those referee-paced yards back, the Volunteers were unable to rip off a chunk for the first down against Smiths Station.
Smiths station got the ball back after the three-and-out and immediately gained 50 yards on an inside screen pass to Ciannon Williams, who ran behind a wall of Panther linemen before shifting into an extra gear and outpacing them and everyone but the Jefferson Davis secondary.
Two plays later, Corey Minton threw a touchdown pass to Amahri Peabody, who was running across the middle on a slant route to go up 14-0 (after the PAT from Josh Childs, who ended the night 7-for-7 on extra points) with 5:33 remaining in the first quarter.
Smiths Station would then get the ball back on a short kickoff that went through the hands of a Jefferson Davis player. Gore scored his second rushing touchdown and the Panthers led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
There was no scoring for most of the second quarter, as the two teams went back and forth stifling run plays and pressuring the quarterbacks on passing plays. Sloppy special teams play and penalties kept the ball between the red zones until Smiths Station got the ball in the middle of the quarter.
On third and five with just under three minutes left in the half, Smiths Station threw an incomplete pass over the middle. Panthers fans in the bleachers called pass interference, but there was no consequence on the field. A fourth-down gamble paid off as Williams made a toe-drag catch on the sideline to extend the drive.
Two plays later, after receiving a pass on the left side of the field, WR Devyn Pearman did some resistance training, churning his legs for extra yards as a fallen Jefferson Davis player hung onto his jersey. Minton would then throw a feathery pass to the far corner of the endzone, where Peabody was headed just a step ahead of his defender; a toe-tap catch while going out of bounds gave Smiths Station their fourth touchdown of the half with Jefferson Davis still scoreless.
The Minton-Peabody connection would strike again with 7:25 left in the third quarter, almost exactly recreating their first score with another slant. That would be the last score of Smiths Station’s and the largest gap of the night after Childs nailed the point after to bring it to 35-0.
Before the players would board the buses, Jefferson Davis scored 14 points on the ground unconventionally, combining two rushing touchdowns and a run to convert after the second.
Smiths Station’s next game will be against Enterprise High School (4-2) on Oct. 9 at 1801 Boll Weevil Circle in Enterprise, Alabama.