The Game Plan By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



Some strange things happen on the high school football fields of North Jefferson County last Friday night. One game looked to be over, but the outcome changed in only 14 seconds. A winless team rose up and scored 40 points to grab its first victory. A club that hadn’t scored in two weeks, put up 28 points on the No.7-ranked team in the state. A club fighting for a playoff spot, took a 19-6 second quarter lead only to be outscored, 34-6 the rest of the game to fall by 15 points.

When recounting all these happenings, while trying to get my paper out on time, my wife Susan reminded me there was a full moon out Friday night. You know the old saying, strange things happen when the the moon’s full.

Look at the list of strange occurrences last Friday.

The Fultondale Wildcats were within 54 seconds of a region title, but then a big special teams play by J.B. Pennington and a 2-point conversion play gave the Tigers the lead just 14 seconds after Fultondale had taken its final lead of the night.

The turn of events was shocking, but it highlighted once again the importance of special teams play to the outcome of a game.

In Hayden, a club that entered the game averaging 8.4 points per contest, suddenly got rolling and scored nearly five times that many as they topped Curry, 40-8 in 5A, Region 6 play.

The Wildcats scored in the air, on the ground and even got a defensive touchdown on an interception return. For a team that has struggled to score points, the game was strange in a good way, but also unexpected.

In Cullman, Gardendale finally scored after two weeks of not putting up any points, but the Rockets found themselves trailing No.7 Cullman, 28-7 at the half. Instead of continuing to struggle, the Gardendale offense scored 21 unanswered points to tie the Bearcats, before falling late by seven points.

In Springville, Mortimer Jordan was rolling, taking a 19-6 lead over the Tigers early in the second quarter, but then something happened and the Tigers offense got moving in a big way. Springville scored 34 points over the final two-and-a-half quarters and allowing only six after giving up 19 in the games first 14 minutes. Strange turnaround indeed.

The loss by the Blue Devils opened the door for their bitter rivals from Gardendale to have a shot at taking the final playoff spot in Region 6 play.

Just a week before, after the Blue Devils defeated Hayden, most Gardendale supporters had resigned themselves to the fact their club would be at home on Nov. 9 when the playoffs started. Now, it’s anyone’s guess how things could turn out in the standings. Will Gardendale get in? Will Mortimer Jordan get in? Who knows? But if some strange things take place on the football field this week, go ahead and look up and check to see if there’s a full moon.