The Spartan football team is off to a great start this year. The team is 5-0, their best start in four years. Their signature win, though, came last weekend against Commerce High School. Before the game, junior Buck Talley, the team’s starting center, noted that as the team headed into their first region game, “Every snap matters more and more as we approach the playoffs… We know we can go undefeated, we just have to get out there and do our job.”
In the first quarter, Athens Academy quickly went up 7-0, behind an interception by sophomore Keyon Standifer on Commerce’s first drive that turned into a rushing touchdown scored by senior Hampton Johnson. Senior KJ Whitehead recovered a fumble in the second quarter, and the Spartans quickly drove the ball back down the field, capping off the drive with a five-yard rushing score to go up 14-0.
Commerce quickly responded with a touchdown of their own, cutting the Spartans lead to seven, but with two minutes left in the half, Johnson threw a 44-yard touchdown to fellow senior Brian McClendon, to put the Spartans back up 21-7 going into halftime.
In the 3rd quarter, the Tigers recouped, holding the Spartans twice on the 1-yard line, and scoring two touchdowns to tie the game at 21. Athens Academy again drove the ball down to the goal line, but an interception turned the ball back over to Commerce. Almost immediately the Tigers scored a 79 yard touchdown run, and went up 28-21 after three unanswered touchdowns.
With 1:13 to go, the Spartans had a do or die 4th and 5, and Johnson scrambled for a first down to keep the team’s hopes alive. A few plays later, McClendon ran through a total of 7 Commerce players to score, putting the Spartans down by 1. With a bold move, the Spartans chose to go for two, and it paid off after Keyon Standifer ran the ball into the endzone to win the game 29-28.
The Spartans still have five region games to go, but this is a great start to region play, and a good omen for things to come.
