Game of the Week: Rockets host Spain Park after falling to Pelham
Danielle Pelkey
The North Jefferson News
The Gardendale Rockets will take on the Spain Park Jaguars this Friday night at home after a loss to Pelham last week. The loss put Gardendale’s record to 3-4 on the season with 2-4 in region play, eliminating the Rockets from any opportunity to secure a spot in the playoffs.
According to Gardendale head coach Chris Fancher, Spain Park is a much better football team than indicated by their 1-6 record (1-5 regional record). “They are a very solid football team. They are very good,” said Fancher.
Spain Park was defeated last week by Vestavia Hills in a 17-7 shut down.
“We will have to play well on offense, defense and have a good kicking game. We can’t make any mistakes if we want to win against Spain Park. They are a well-coached football team,” said Fancher.
Last Friday night, the Jaguars were only able to get 40 yards on their 20 carries. Spain Park quarterback Graham Craig passed for 125 yards, completing only 9 of 28 passes and one interception.
Turnovers by the Rockets played a huge part in their loss on Friday night against the Pelham Panthers.
Gardendale scored only once during the game, in the third quarter with a seven-yard run by Trey Hilliard. Adam Anderson clinched the point after.
Although Gardendale racked up 18 first downs and 236 rushing yards on the night, this would not help the final score of 21-7.
Hilliard finished the night with a total of 187 rushing yards on 26 carries to add to his previous 517 yards on the season.
Hilliard has had 139 rushes on the year with a total of 704 yards, bringing his average to 5.1 yards per carry.
The Rockets gave up two turnovers by interceptions and had two fumbles in the game.
Justin Houchins added 12 tackles to his previous total of 58 on the year and added one more sack to his total. Tyrone Bowie is still the leading tackler for the Gardendale Rockets with a total of 110 tackles in seven games with two sacks.
Earl Young closes up the Gardendale leading tacklers with 51 on the year and three sacks.
Rocket quarterback Conner McCain goes into this game with 78 completions on 130 attempted passes for 829 yards and four touchdowns with only two interceptions. Dallas Tidwell follows with 13 completions for 20 attempts and 155 total passing yards and one touchdown.