SEMMES, Ala. — Saraland beat a team from a higher classification by 19 points, watched its quarterback complete 17 of 20 passes, made a goal-line stand that changed the game and then spent the postgame talking about everything that went wrong.
That is roughly the standard at Saraland now. The No. 2-ranked Class 5A Spartans opened the season with a 33-14 win over Class 6A Mary G. Montgomery on Friday night at Grider Stadium, in a meeting of the two winningest programs in the Mobile area over the last three years. It came with the caveats that always seem to trail this program.
“We didn’t play as well as we can,” said quarterback Jamison Roberts, the Oklahoma commitment who threw for 231 yards. “It’s the first game and it kind of felt like a first game. We have lots to improve on. But we’re gonna go celebrate. We’ve been looking forward to this game for years now. This is definitely a good win, a quality one.”
How Saraland built the lead
The Spartans opened with a nearly flawless drive — 80 yards in nine plays, capped by sophomore Ayiden Pugh’s 2-yard touchdown run. A bad snap in the first quarter led to a Conner Tillman fumble recovered by Saraland edge rusher Keoni Snipes at the MGM 7, and Roberts scored on a 1-yard run three plays into the short field for a 13-0 lead.
Roberts then found Eddie Turner for a 14-yard touchdown — a ball that arrived with an audible thump in the end zone — to make it 19-0 in the second quarter. He would later add a 29-yard scoring run around left end in the fourth.
What Roberts did not get was the explosive play. The Vikings kept their safeties deep all night, daring him to work underneath.
“They tried to play it soft and not let anything get behind them,” Roberts said. “And then when we do get behind them, we’ve just got to hit it.” His longest completion was a 26-yard curl to Chris Cunningham.
Saraland coach Jeff Kelly, who is 15-1 in season openers and whose team has now been ranked in 54 consecutive polls, admitted the approach got to him.
“They’ve traditionally been a big blitz team, but they gave him a ton of respect and they dropped coverage and made him be patient,” Kelly said. “I am probably not as patient as I need to be. I want to be midseason form in the first game. It just wasn’t the case. They made me be patient calling plays because they kept their safeties back there a bunch. I had to put the call sheet down.”
The play that decided it
Down 19-0, Mary G. Montgomery started hitting back. Kam Smith carried the load on a 91-yard, 12-play drive in the second quarter that pushed Saraland’s defensive front off the ball.
“We were on the ropes there,” Kelly said.
The Vikings reached first-and-goal at the 1. Tillman, working from the pistol, had roughly five yards to cover before reaching the goal line. The ball came loose before he got there, and Saraland linebacker Ricky Strong recovered it.
MGM answered on the next series anyway, with Tillman leading a 79-yard drive that ended on a perfect 4-yard fade to Smith against tight coverage from defensive back Derrick Durgan, cutting the halftime margin to 19-7. But first-year MGM coach Alex Page knew what the turnover had cost.
“That was one of our keys to success — no turnovers,” Page said. “We turned one over and gave them a short field that led to a touchdown. And then we had a touchdown that we turned over on the goal line. You can’t do that and expect to beat really good teams. They’ve got good coaching, they’ve got good players, and any little mistakes, they take advantage of it.”
The giveaways were out of character. The Vikings had committed only 20 turnovers across the previous three seasons combined.
Halftime adjustment, then separation
Kelly told his team at the break that a stop and a score would settle the game. Saraland got both. Roberts moved the Spartans
to a touchdown in 1:57 out of halftime — Pugh’s 4-yard run for a 25-7 lead — and the momentum MGM had built disappeared.
“I thought the key of the game, I told them at halftime, it was 19-7 and they had the momentum after the score,” Kelly said. “If we could come out and get a stop and then go down and make it 26-7, I thought that would change the landscape of the game. And it did.”
Roberts’ fourth-quarter run pushed it to 33-7 before Tillman’s 11-yard scramble with 4:24 to play accounted for the final margin.
A sloppy 19th straight road win
Kelly called it a messy victory — the Spartans’ 19th consecutive road win at a campus site. Saraland was penalized 13 times for 107 yards and converted just 3 of 6 third downs, and MGM controlled the ball for 28:27.
“We’ve got to clean up some penalties and convert third downs and we’ll be fine,” Kelly said.
He found plenty to like, particularly along an offensive line that has been an offseason priority, and in Pugh, who ran for 88 yards on 16 carries in his first real opportunity.
“Every time he’s touched the ball in practice, good things have happened,” Kelly said. “We decided to give him a shot and he proved today that he could play.” He also singled out senior hybrid end and receiver Sye Byrd for his blocking.
A different season for the Vikings
The context around Mary G. Montgomery this fall is unlike any other program in the area. The Vikings are on restrictive probation from the Alabama High School Athletic Association, which includes a postseason ban this season and a one-year suspension for former head coach Zach Golson — the vacancy that elevated Page. MGM’s appeal of the postseason sanctions was recently denied, meaning its 10 regular-season games are the entire year. Players found to have been involved in the recruiting violations behind the probation are ineligible to play at MGM, costing the roster additional depth.
The team also lost 17 starters from last season. Friday’s start was delayed more than 30 minutes by lightning in the area, and the game did not end until close to 11 p.m.
“They were a little nervous,” Page said of his players before kickoff. “We’ve got a lot of inexperience. So this was a great opportunity to get out here and go against great competition. This is going to make us better.”
He was encouraged by what happened after the 19-0 hole.
“There was no quit,” Page said. “They had a lot of fight. At times, I saw really good things from the offense in the running game and even in the throwing game. You’ve just got to find ways to go punch it in. We’re really young and inexperienced in some areas. That kind of showed at times. We’re going to get back to work and we’re pouring everything we’ve got into it. I think our kids will rise to the challenge and they’re not going to hang their heads.”
Smith finished with 115 yards on 17 carries, and Tillman was 15 of 24 for 140 yards.
Up next
Saraland is off next week before hosting Gulf Shores on Friday, Sept. 4, chasing a 42nd consecutive win on its home field. Mary G. Montgomery travels to Vigor on Friday, Aug. 28.