The Sprayberry football team hasn’t won a region championship since 2008, but it is within reach of one now after defeating River Ridge 30-27 in a Region 6-5A game Friday night at Jim Frazier Stadium in Marietta.
The Yellow Jackets’ victory, against a River Ridge team that came in as the only remaining unbeaten team in region play, created what is essentially a three-way tie among those two teams and Sequoyah, all of which have one region loss. However, Sprayberry holds the tiebreaker after beating both teams and will win the region title if it beats Lassiter and Woodstock in its final two regular-season games.
Sprayberry quarterback Jaden Duckett was 13-of-18 passing for 317 yards and a touchdown and ran for 89 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Wide receiver Mark Manfred had 223 yards and a touchdown on seven catches.
Sprayberry dominated the game statistically, outgaining the Knights 485-269 and running 65 plays to River Ridge’s 32, but the Yellow Jackets were never able to shake free. The victory wasn’t secure until Sprayberry recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock after River Ridge had pulled within three points on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Spector to Mateo Jimenez with 1:23 left.
“It was a hard-fought win,” Sprayberry coach Brett Vavra said. “It was every bit of a game as we thought it would be. We knew it was going to be a dog fight for four quarters.”
Sprayberry (7-1, 4-1) never trailed after scoring on its first offensive play of the game, an 80-yard touchdown pass from Duckett to Manfred for a 7-3 lead with 9:05 remaining in the first quarter.
The lead was 14-3 after Duckett capped off the Yellow Jackets’ next drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, but River Ridge (5-2, 3-1) stayed close and eventually tied the game at 20-20 on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Spector to Camden Cox midway through the third quarter.
After Sprayberry reclaimed the lead at 23-20 on Liam Dingle’s third field goal of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter, River Ridge drove from its 39 and had a first down on the Sprayberry 17. An incomplete pass and a run for no gain set up third-and-10, when Sprayberry’s Adoniz Vickerstaff came up with the biggest defensive play of the game. Vickerstaff sacked Spector for an 11-yard loss and forced a 45-yard field goal attempt, which was no good.
River Ridge had to settle for field-goal attempts three times when it got inside the Sprayberry 20, coming away with just six points.
Spector was 11-of-19 passing for 264 yards and two touchdowns, but the Knights were held to 5 yards rushing on 13 carries.
“For our defense to step up the way they did and get stops and force field goals on short fields against that offense is really impressive,” Vavra said. “They played lights out. They gave up a few plays, but that’s what happens when you’re playing a good football team like that. They’ve got good players and a really good quarterback. It was a big-time effort from our kids.”
River Ridge - 10-3-7-7 - 27
Sprayberry - 14-6-0-10 - 30
First quarter
R - Gracen VanGilder 35 field goal, 9:05
S - Mark Manfred 80 pass from Jaden Duckett (Liam Dingle kick), 9:05
S - Duckett 1 run (Dingle kick), 2:42
R - Ethan Spector 1 run (VanGilder kick), 0:15
Second quarter
S - Dingle 25 field goal, 5:32
R - VanGilder 26 field goal, 3:13
S - Dingle 33 field goal, 0:03
Third quarter
R - Camden Cox 21 pass from Spector (VanGilder kick), 4:13
Fourth quarter
S - Dingle 20 field goal, 11:56
S - Rayshawn Simpkins 9 run (Dingle kick), 2:03
R - Mateo Jimenez 59 pass from Spector (VanGilder kick), 1:23
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