Benjamin Russell blew a huge lead against Spanish Fort and lost 31-27.
Their quarterback Tyre Gray looked unstoppable for 18 minutes, but then things changed. BR had an outstanding gameplan from the jump. Opened up with four wide and threw long to loosen things up. From there, Gray and the BR running backs ran the read option and gashed the fuck out of the Spanish Fort defense. I saw some read, plays out of the wishbone, a little pistol, some four wide sets, some bunch sets. It kept SF off balance.
Russell went up by 7 and then 14 before Spanish Fort got on the board with a FG. The visiting Wildcats followed with another TD to lead 21-3. After Fort cut it to 21-10, BR chewed yards up again and took a 27-10 lead after a missed PAT. The Cats got the ball back late in the first with a chance to bury Spanish Fort. After getting inside the 10, though, they blew it. Couple of boneheaded play calls and a missed field goal gave Spanish Fort hope. When they scored on the opening drive of the second half to close back to 27-17 you could see momentum change.
Biggest momentum change? After SF closed to 27-17, BR drive fizzled. On third down Gray dropped back, had to scramble and nearly had his head taken off by an obvious facemask. Spun him around and pulled his head nearly to the ground. Three flags came flying. He escaped the grab and came up about two yards short of the first down marker. Head ref comes over and waves off the flag. No foul. Punt, Fort drives for a quick score and took control.
Russell ended up missing two field goals and a PAT. Hitting any of the three would have made a difference.
My original intent, up until halftime was to ask if anybody had heard of Gray or if he was being recruited. He played like Cam for most of the half. But then he played like Kiehl Frazier in the second. Part of that was coaching. He shredded SF in the first half but only carried the ball two or three times in the second.
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