Sprayberry head coach Brett Vavra has a lot to like about his football team heading to region play.
His Yellow Jackets improved to 3-0 for the second consecutive season with a dominant 38-3 victory at Kennesaw Mountain on Friday in the final non-region tune-up before beginning play in 6-5A next week. Sprayberry will travel to Pope, which fell to 1-2 Friday with a 65-42 loss to Cherokee.
“We’ve got some good players that make a lot of good plays for us,” Vavra said. “I’m just proud of them. We played a lot cleaner tonight. Obviously we still made some mistakes that we’ve got to clean up. Being 3-0 going into region is important, but now is when it really counts.”
Jaden Duckett was 11-of-16 passing for 219 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 62 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries to lead the Yellow Jackets, who have outscored their first three opponents 97-20.
“It makes our jobs a whole lot easier when you’ve got a guy like that who can make things happen,” Vavra said. “He’s a special player. He’s great on his feet, and he’s a gamer. When the lights come on, he’s got something special about him.”
Ian Hulbert ran for 100 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and his 21-yard touchdown catch with 28 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Yellow Jackets some breathing room after Kennesaw Mountain cut the lead to 14-3 on a 35-yard field goal by Joey Barrett about three minutes earlier.
Sprayberry finished with 419 yards - 200 rushing and 219 passing.
Although they were leading comfortably at halftime, the Yellow Jackets put the game away by scoring 10 points in a span of 13 seconds midway through the third quarter.
Sprayberry opened the second half by driving from its 20 to the Kennesaw Mountain 3-yard line before settling for a 20-yard field goal by Liam Dingle. Hulbert was the workhorse on the drive, carrying six times for 55 yards.
The Yellow Jackets then recovered the ensuing pooch kickoff at the Kennesaw Mountain 39 and needed just one play to cash in when Duckett connected with Jorden Edmonds for a 31-3 lead. Duckett’s 16-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter completed the scoring.
Senior running back Jeremiah Tatum provided the bulk of the offense for Kennesaw Mountain. Tatum ran for 143 yards on 13 carries and had two receptions for 10 yards, accounting for all but 14 of the Mustangs’ 167 total yards. His 40-yard run midway through the second quarter set up Kennesaw Mountain’s field goal.
“Our defense is very experienced at the second and third level primarily, but pretty young up front,” Vavra said. “We thought we did a pretty good job in the run game. Other than a couple of times when they popped one on us, I was really proud of our defense.”
The Mustangs, who opened their season with a 35-21 loss to Harrison two weeks ago, have one more non-region game (next week at Johns Creek) before beginning play in Region 5-5A at New Manchester on Sept. 13.
Sprayberry - 7-14-10-7 - 38
Kennesaw Mountain - 0-3-0-0 - 3
First quarter
S - Ian Hulbert 11 run (Liam Dingle kick), 4:48
Second quarter
S - Rayshawn Simpkins 9 pass from Jaden Duckett (Dingle kick), 7:28
K - Joey Barrett 35 field goal, 3:45
S - Hulbert 21 pass from Duckett (Dingle kick), 0:28
Third quarter
S - Dingle 28 field goal, 5:54
S - Jordan Edmonds 39 pass from Duckett (Dingle kick), 5:41
Fourth quarter
S - Duckett 16 run (Dingle kick), 11:17
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