Jags struggle in loss to Thompson

HOOVER – Thompson High School proved too much for Spain Park on Friday night and dialed up a 55-14 win in Class 7A, Region 3 play.

The Warriors’ potent offense struck twice in the first quarter, once off an 18-yard run by AJ Green and another off a 48-yard pass from freshman Trent Seaborn to senior Deuce Oliver. Seaborn would toss another touchdown pass right before halftime to Kolby Hearn.

Sandwiched between Seaborn’s passing scores were two non-offensive touchdowns for Thompson. Kaleb Harris intercepted a Spain Park pass and scored from 10 yards out. Less than two minutes later, Oliver returned a punt from midfield and stretched Thompson’s lead to 28-0 with 11 minutes left until halftime. The Warriors would go into halftime with a 34-0 lead.

“I thought the moment was too big for some of our guys,” Spain Park head coach Tim Vakakes said. “We’re down a lot of guys, including some tailbacks. Until our kids believe they can beat the top teams in our region, we’re not going to do it.”

Derick and Dakarai Shanks, who led the Jaguars’ rushing attack the first three games of the season, went down with injuries against Hoover and did not play against Thompson.

The Jaguars started their scoring midway through the third quarter with a 54-yard rainbow from Brock Bradley to Jonathan Bibbs. Bradley would throw for another score less than a minute later after Thompson fumbled on a kickoff return. Andrew Thornton caught a 24-yard touchdown.

Bradley finished 13-of-26 passing with 171 yards and two touchdowns. Bibbs was responsible for more than half of Bradley’s passing yardage, totaling 88 yards with a long of 54.

C.J. Cowley ran tough against a swarming Warriors front seven, finishing with 42 yards on 13 carries. Jaylon Hatcher did much of his rushing work in the second half and had 51 yards on seven carries.

“Our kids played hard; I’m proud of them” Vakakes said. “I thought we weren’t ready early, it kind of got out of hand, and we didn’t really fight back. That comes down to me having to get them ready and I’ll do a better job next week.”

Senior quarterback Zach Sims spelled Seaborn toward the end of the second quarter and ended up with a pair of scoring passes of his own in the third quarter. Colben Landrew caught a 19-yard score and Dalton Willis nabbed a 10-yard pass.

“We’re still a young program learning how to compete in this region,” Vakakes said of the Jaguars’ tough three-game swing against Hoover, Thompson and Vestavia Hills. “We’ve got guys who didn’t expect to swing with the big boys, and our kids need to expect to swing with them. We got to be ready from the first snap to swing with the big guys. We’re going to keep loving on these guys and never give up on them and get back in the weight room on Sunday.”

Spain Park travels to Vestavia Hills next week to take on a team fresh off its first win versus Hoover since 2015. Thompson welcomes the Chelsea Hornets in region action.

Check out all of our high school football photos from this week.