THE 5-TD MAN | Sabine’s Sparks gets five of ’em, as Cardinals win wild-west 50-48 shootout at Spring Hill

By JEREMY NEWLIN

Special to ETBlitz.com

LONGVIEW – This just in: that Colt Sparks guy for Sabine – he’s pretty good.

In fact, he’s five touchdowns and almost 300 yards rushing good.

In fact, he’s good enough that he scored the go-ahead – and eventual game-winning – touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a 71-yard run, his fifth and final TD of the night, to help the Sabine High School Cardinals get out of Spring Hill with a 50-48 win over the Panthers in the 2024 season opener for both teams.

Sabine will host Harmony next Friday; Spring Hill will host Center, also on Friday.

The Cardinals and Panthers had a shootout, and it began on the opening drive.

Sabine scored in three plays: Sparks, on a third and 10 from his own 37-yard-line, got free. The senior quarterback, who’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, a Texas Tech verbal commit as a tight end, broke free from the line of scrimmage tackle attempts and was gone, flat-out gone, for a 63-yard rushing touchdown.

Chris Williams added the two-point conversion and the Cardinals were up 8-0.

The Panthers scored on their first drive of the game, and the season, as well, but a more methodical nine-play, 72-yard drive. Trevor Allen had the bulk of the carries on the drive, and fittingly, took the final 19 for the score. Brady Meyer’s extra point was good, but the Panthers still trailed by one, 8-7.

A fumble after the change of possession created another change of possession, an early break for Spring Hill. Allen, the Panthers’ quarterback, picked up 11 yards on first down and then Coleman Stout finished the two-play drive, another 19-yard touchdown. A Meyer extra point later, and the Panthers were up by the somewhat-uneasy score of 14-8.

A second Sabine fumble, on the next drive, led to Spring Hill getting the ball on its own 31. They would put together a nice 12-play march, all the way into a third-and-goal, when Sabine’s Zane Shearer sacked Allen for a loss, the final play of the first quarter.

Spring Hill trotted out their field goal unit to begin quarter two, and the kick missed, wide right. But a Sabine penalty gave Spring Hill a new set of downs, a first down at the 4. Stout would get in, a 4-yard touchdown, and a 21-8 lead.

But this game was really just beginning, as it turned out.

Sparks and his receivers are very comfortable with each other, and he found Hudson McNatt on a third-down play that McNatt turned into a 40-yard gain. The drive stalled, but Sabine inched closer after Jovany Jaimes hit a 32-yard field goal (21-11 Spring Hill).

The teams traded scores. Spring Hill scored on an eight-play drive, Allen taking the final 21 yards in for the score (28-11), and then Sparks went 50 yards on the next Sabine drive to get his Cardinals back within 10 (28-18).

The Panthers got one more score in the first half, a second 21-yard rushing TD by Allen, and then – believe it or not – Sparks and Sabine’s offense executed a perfect two-minute drill, got downfield and scored, a Sparks run with two seconds left, to send the game to the half with Spring Hill in front, 35-25.

Coach Cody Gilbert tried to catch Spring Hill off guard with an onside kick to begin the third quarter. It might’ve caught the Panthers off guard, but the attempt would fail, and it was offense, offense, offense again: a 23 yard run by Allen, who would wind up with four rushing TDs on the night himself, to get Spring Hill back up by 17 points (42-25).

Sabine added another touchdown – a 32-yard run by Sparks less than a minute after the Spring Hill Score. This one was wild, folks, just not a lot of defensive stops at all, as you can tell – but on the next Spring Hill possession, though, disaster struck: a fumbled pitch on the drive’s second play, at the Panthers’ own 36, and it was Sabine’s Tyler Beebe that fell on the loose ball.

Cason Patterson and the Cardinals’ offense wasted no time. On the drive’s first play, Patterson scored, a 36-yard run, and the Cardinals were within three (42-39).

A second onside kick attempt failed, and this time, Allen went to the air. The results weren’t good for Sabine, a 46-yard pass to Stout that he took the distance, and a 48-39 lead (Sabine blocked the extra point).

More black clouds for Sabine: in the third quarter, with 87 total points on the board, the Panthers forced the first punt of the night for either team.

And then Sabine’s defense stood up, too, and dropped the Panthers for another loss, and another fumble – this one headed for the end zone, and a Panthers’ offensive player kicked the ball out of the end zone, giving Sabine a safety (48-41). After the kick back to Sabine, the Cardinals ended the third quarter in Spring Hill territory.

The drive would stall, Sabine would add a 33-yard field goal from Jaimes, but he had suffered an injury at some point during the game – this would come into play later in the game.

Sabine trailed, 48-44, with time tick-tick-ticking away. The defense got the ball back for the Cardinals’ offense, forcing Spring Hill to punt.

On what would be his final drive – like a painter – Sparks completed his masterpiece, breaking free for the 71-yard touchdown that felt like, mic drop, even though there were still eight minutes left in the game.

Jaimes was injured, remember, so Sabine had to go for the two-point conversion. It failed, and Sabine fans had to be nervous – the Panthers still had time for a final drive.

On this night, though, not happening. Spring Hill’s offense sputtered, with help from Sabine’s defense, and a fourth-down conversion attempt FAILED. That would give the ball back to Sparks, and there was no last-ditch Spring Hill drive after that, only a Sabine possession that ran out the clock – and likely a big sigh of relief from Sabine fans.

On the night, Sparks had 285 yards rushing and the five touchdowns. He had 68 yards passing.  Patterson ended with 81 yards on the ground and a score. McNatt led the team with 36 yards receiving and Bryce Pobuda had 33.

The Panthers were led by Allen, who had 182 yards on the ground, the four scores, and 79 passing yards, including the 46-yard TD to Stout. Stout finished with 109 yards and two rushing touchdowns, and the 46-yard catch for the score.