Gardendale struggles with No. 9 Oxford

Published 11:01 pm Friday, October 26, 2018

Gardendale brought Class 6A, Region 6 play to an end on Friday nigh at home, losing to ninth-ranked Oxford by a score of 61-21.

The Rockets (5-4, 3-3) entered the contest with a list of injuries plaguing the linebacking corps and a physical Oxford offense took advantage for four quarters. The Yellow Jackets (7-2, 4-2) posted 560 yards of offense, including 452 yards on the ground.

“They play with great pad level and that’s something that’s always hard to beat,” said Gardendale head coach Chad Eads of the Oxford offensive front. “There’s not one part of their offense that you can shut down and it all goes back to the offensive line because they can do all the things they need to—they can pass protect, they can run block and they run a multiple offense.”

The visitors turned 11 possessions into nine touchdowns. Their only two drive to miss the end zone came late in the fourth quarter with backup players on the field. Senior Jordan Booker lost a fumble on Oxford’s tenth drive and their final drive ran the clock empty.

Gardendale received the opening kickoff and marched right down the field for a 7-0 lead. Running back Jacob Wright provided the spark, as he pulled in a screen pass on third-and-10 and ran 56 yards to the Oxford 3. Jay Brooks pushed into the end zone on the next snap.

It was all Yellow Jackets from there. They quickly answered with a five-play touchdown drive, which ended with a 35-yard gallop by Tyetus Smith-Lindsey.

He would have plenty more to say, as he went home with 199 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 17 carries. All but one of those yards came in the first half of play. Smith-Lindsey scored on a 1-yard rush with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter and never returned to the backfield.

Gardendale, after six punts and a turnover on downs, found some offense in the fourth quarter. Freshman running back LT Sanders checked in and made the most of his opportunities. The youngster ran with it seven times for 102 yards and two late touchdowns.

Sanders charged 40 yards right up the middle to cut into a 54-point deficit with 5:57 remaining. He later finished the scoring with a 24-yard weaving effort down the home sideline.

“We’ve liked him all along,” said Eads of Sanders. “He’s just a freshman and I think he’s going to be a great back. He works very hard and he’s learned from the older guys—there’s a few older ones that really like him being around and don’t resent him getting some reps.”

With the loss, Gardendale locks up the No. 4 playoff seed coming out of Region 6. The Rockets will visit the Region 8 champions (likely Fort Payne) in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 9, but not before they visit Mountain Brook next Friday in a non-region game.

Eads believes a tough regular season schedule could benefit his team in the postseason.

“The blessing of our region is it gets you ready for [the playoffs]. I think the top three teams in 6A (Pinson Valley, Clay-Chalkville and Oxford) are in our region and we couldn’t beat any of the three,” said Eads.