It was a tale of two halves Friday night between Collins and North Forrest.
Both having won five in a row leading into the contest, the Tigers and Eagles played back and forth in the first half. Collins eventually took a 14-12 lead into halftime and used the period most to their advantage, according to Tiger head coach Eric Booth.
“Figured out they were running to our weak side, so we started sliding that way. At halftime, we had to do an adjustment,” Booth said. “We came out first play after halftime and ran a jet motion to see how they would adapt to it.”
On that opening play, running back Antonio Spencer broke loose for a 52-yard touchdown run. Spencer and company did not look back from there, as they pulled away from North Forrest in picking up their sixth straight win, 35-20.
“It feels great,” Booth said. “I told the kids today that whoever wins tonight will play for the district championship. I know we will play for the district championship, but we will play hard the rest of the year.”
Filling in for an injured Akeem McNair, the aforementioned Spencer finished with two touchdowns, both in that critical second half, and some kudos from his head coach.
“I’ve been staying on Spencer all year long about staying on track, because he’s the type of running back that likes to cut everything back against the grain,” Booth explained. “I told him, ‘Once you stay on track, it will come to you’.”
Markel McLaurin scored two touchdowns, too, for the Tigers, including a 99-yard pick-six in the third quarter. Tavarian McCullum added one on a kickoff return in the first half.
North Forrest (5-3) was led by quarterback Daylyn Croom, who tossed three touchdowns to three different receivers in Jalen Grant, Leon Jones and Rhyen Brisco. In the end, costly penalties and turnovers, plus some cramping, cost the Eagles big-time in the second half.
“You can’t do that against a team that good,” North Forrest head coach Anthony Dillon said. “We were already down in numbers, and fatigue kicked in a little bit. We tried to keep the guys up and find ways to get them a breather. But unfortunately, it didn’t play out our way. Just have to get back to the drawing board to correct those things and continue to work hard to get ready for East Marion.”
Collins (6-2) will look to keep it rolling at Richton (2-6).
