By Britney Bailey, For The Tribune
IRONDALE — The Shades Valley Mounties and Springville Tigers held their Spring scrimmage Thursday night at Frank Nix Stadium. The Mounties prevailed in the first half, which consisted of two 12 minute quarters, 14-7.
Shades Valley and Springville clashed Friday, May 20, 2022 in a spring scrimmage that saw the Mounties win both halves of the contest. (Photo by Bobby Mathews)
Springville’s first possession came to a screeching halt at the hands of Malique Steele and Kordell Steele on defense. Shades Valley put points on the board after a Springville fumble led to a 36-yard run from Micah Thomas to put up 6 for the Mounties. After a successful extra point attempt, the Mounties took the lead 7-0 with just under 6 minutes to go in the first quarter.
The game showed Shades Valley head coach Rueben Nelson that his team needs to improve, Nelson said afterward.
“We need to get better,” he said. “We’re young, Springville is young… I appreciate the way the kids and the coaches played tonight. I’m proud of them. We need to keep getting better at Shades Valley. We play a tough schedule in a tough region, these kids needed to come out and get a win and they did that.”
The Tigers answered right off the bat in the second with a 26-yarder from quarterback Asa Morrison to wide receiver Brady Caldwell to tie it up 7-7. Spring Valley answered with a stack of runs from Elijah Allen to put the Mounties in scoring position.
The Mounties’ Christian Thomas dove into the end zone to snag a pass from quarterback Steve Brown to tack on 6.
For Springville, this game was a chance to put new players in a position to see live-game action.
“I thought for the most part our kids played hard. We gave up a big play or two and that’s okay,” Tigers head coach Jon Clements said. “You lose 9 starters on defense and it’s going to be some learning curves and that’s okay.”
After the extra point, the Mounties led 14-7. The Mounties defense would shut down the Tiger offense for the remainder of the game, including a pick 6 that would unfortunately be called back on a penalty against the Mounties.
The second half of the game was a 30 minute runoff, and the Mounties would score that win as well 14-0.
