Weaver whacks Saks
- Updated: October 29, 2016
Bearcats use two big special teams takeaways in fourth quarter to regain the edge needed to take down Saks
Weaver’s Chris Lemon (10) is in hot pursuit of Saks’ Rodney Reddick (5). Lemon later blocked a punt that Paul Hubbard scooped up for a touchdown to give the Bearcats the lead. (All photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
By Jason Katz
For East Alabama Sports Today
WEAVER – Saks and Weaver had a lot in common coming into their final regular-season game of the season.
Both will play in the postseason and both will have daunting first-round opponents awaiting them on the road. And, yes, both were looking at Friday night’s matchup as something as a tune-up game for the road ahead. Easy; get in and get out.
It was anything but easy for either side, but the Bearcats managed to pull out a victory 34-21 thanks to some key special teams plays down the stretch that created excitement neither team was expecting.
Weaver opened a 21-7 halftime lead, Saks came back to tie it in the third quarter and then the Bearcats scored two touchdowns less than three minutes apart in the fourth quarter to win.
“We came out a little shaky in the third quarter and allowed Saks to get back in the game,” Weaver coach Daryl Hamby said. “But after we regrouped, we had the big scoop and score and then the strip on the following kickoff that allowed us to get the advantage late in the game.”
Laderrick Bell and Rodney Reddick sliced through the Weaver defense for Saks touchdowns that tied the game at 21 going into the fourth quarter. Bell and Reddick played the biggest roles in helping the Wildcats run up 336 yards of offense in the game.
The third-quarter outburst set the stage for what would become the defining moment of the game. With 9:13 left in the fourth quarter the Bearcats needed something to go their way, and it took a pair of senior to do the trick.
With Saks setting up for a punt on their own 10, Weaver defensive end Chris Lemon powered his way through the protection and blocked the punt. It sent the ball spiraling into the end zone where Paul Hubbard landed on it to give Weaver a seven-point lead.
“I just knew I had to get on that ball when I saw it,” Hubbard said. “I really can’t take any credit for it. Chris Lemon was the guy who got up there and blocked it, but that was a huge momentum swing for us, and I think that did a lot in the end and helped us get the victory.”
But the Bearcats weren’t finished. They managed to strip the ball from Saks’ Johnathan Cobb as he crossed the 30 with the ensuing kickoff. That led to an 8-yard Tyrik Hall touchdown that virtually sealed the deal for Weaver.
“We played so well the first half and let it slip in the third,” Hubbard said. “We knew we were going to have to step up and get control of the game and with those two big plays in the fourth it allowed us to get up and get back in the game.”
And just like that, a game that many wanted just to hurry up and get over turned into something much more than a minor footnote tagged onto the end of a season.
Weaver (7-3) finished the evening with 322 total yards, with the majority of it coming from the outstanding play of Hall, who stepped up in for injured Giovanni Mosley. Maurice Goodman caught two second-quarter touchdown passes — one from Hubbard and one from Dalton Hamby – to give the Bearcats their 21-7 halftime lead.
“We had some guys down this week and had to modify some things, so we needed some guys to step up for this game, and they did,” Daryl Hamby said. “We played as a team tonight, and I am very proud of the effort we showed. I think that we can take this positive momentum into the (playoff) game next week. I didn’t plan it this way, but I think this game really helped us in preparation for next week.”
The Bearcats will face Fultondale in the first round of the playoffs. Saks (6-4) will face Cordova in its playoff opener.
Weaver 34, Saks 21
Saks 0 7 14 0 — 21
Weaver 7 14 0 14 — 35
W – Dalton Hamby 9 pass from Paul Hubbard (Riley Benavides kick), 8:27 1Q
S – Rodney Reddick 13 run (PAT good), 6:32 2Q
W – Maurice Goodman 30 pass from Dalton Hamby (Riley Benavides kick), 5:25 2Q
W – Maurice Goodman 55 pass from Paul Hubbard (Riley Benavides kick), 1:58 2Q
S – Laderrick Bell 3 run (PAT good), 5:38 3Q
S – Rodney Reddick 25 run (PAT good), 2:16 3Q
W – Paul Hubbard fumble recovery (Riley Benavides kick), 9:13 4Q
W – Tyrik Hall 8 run (Riley Benavides kick), 6:31 4Q
Tyrik Hall scored an insurance touchdown for Weaver after the Bearcats took the lead on the return of a blocked punt.
Rodney Reddick glides into the end zone to score Saks’ first touchdown of the game.
Maurice Goodman scored two touchdowns in the second quarter that gave Weaver a 21-7 halftime lead.
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