Springtown outduels Mineral Wells in district showdown

Oct. 14—MINERAL WELLS — Every time Mineral Wells threw a punch in this district battle, the visiting Springtown Porcupines seemed to always have an answer. Mineral Wells welcomed the Porcupines to Ram Stadium for a district clash Friday night as each team was in search of a key win in league play.

The game was hard fought on both sides but, in the end, Springtown fended off each Ram rally attempt and walked away with a 48-28 win.

Despite the loss, Mineral Wells overcame an early 21-0 deficit and pulled to within two scores on three separate occasions and threatened to make it a one-possession game multiple times as well.

"Springtown is a good football team, and our kids fought hard," Rams head coach Cody Worrell said. "I've been so proud of them since the Graham game, and our kids never gave up in this game or in last week's game — where we had chances to win. They did the same thing tonight. Every time Springtown went down and scored, we responded. We got some good stops on defense — I think three interceptions — and our kids just rose to the occasion. I'm super proud of the way they fought."

The teams battled through a scoreless first quarter and into a high-octane second quarter. The Rams had a chance to take a 3-0 lead with two minutes left in the opening quarter, but the kick was wide and Springtown found its stride. Porcupines senior Drake Doggett got the visitors on the board first with a one-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead with 10:26 to go before halftime.

"I think with us coming off a bye week, these guys (Mineral Wells) played a really intense game last week, so they have a little bit better rhythm in the district than us, so we didn't start out great," Springtown head coach Brian Hulett said. "The second thing is, they (Mineral Wells) did a good job. They did some things on defense that we hadn't seen or expected, so we had to adjust and settle down and, from there, we started playing."

After the Springtown defense partially blocked a Mineral Wells punt, the Porcupines were set up in the red zone for their ensuing offensive possession. From there, senior quarterback Hudson Hulett tossed a touchdown to Brandon Butler from 13 yards out to double the lead at 14-0 with 7:56 left in the second quarter. Then, Springtown's defense forced a Mineral Wells three-and-out that paved the way for another scoring drive. This time, senior running back Nathan Johnson found paydirt on a three-yard scamper to increase the advantage to 21-0 with 4:13 left in the quarter.

After three touchdowns from the road team, the Rams decided it was their turn to get in on the offensive action.

Rams senior running back Jovan Ramirez ignited the offense with a 59-yard run that put the home team on Springtown's 10 yard line. A few plays later, junior quarterback Owen Gadd hit 6-foot-6 junior wideout Preztynn Harrison in the shallow corner of the end zone for an 11-yard strike that cut the deficit to 21-7 with 2:56 left before the half.

Springtown managed another scoring drive on its next possession, but Gadd marched the Rams down the field and found Ramirez wide open over the middle for another score to make it a 28-14 ballgame with 45 seconds left. Rams defensive back Preston Mendez picked off a Hulett pass on the next series that gave Mineral Wells an opportunity to kick a 37-yard field goal, but the kick just missed wide left, which brought the entertaining quarter to an end as Springtown entered the locker room with a 28-14 lead.

Both teams took a while to get going in the third quarter, and Mineral Wells went for it on fourth-and-two from their own 17 yard line. The crucial play — a run for Ramirez — went for no gain and the Rams turned the ball over to Springtown on downs with 2:51 remaining in the third, and Johnson found the end zone with his legs on the very next play. The extra point was no good as Springtown held a 34-14 lead with 2:46 to go in the quarter.

Mineral Wells pulled to within 13 points on the first play of the fourth quarter after Gadd connected with Trayvon Burkins for a five-yard touchdown with 11:55 left in regulation. Each time Springtown scored, Gadd led his troops and dug deep with a response through his playmaking the entire night.

"Owen is our guy. There were a lot of worries early on in the year about this and that, but I told people that the least of my worries is Owen Gadd," Worrell said. "He's just a baller — a gamer. He wants the ball in his hands, he wants to make the read and he's not afraid to go with the right read. He makes plays and, if it wasn't there, he made plays with his feet and completed some passes down the field. He bit his tongue bad in the first half — I mean really bad. He had to come out of the game, but he's a tough kid. His dad is a cutting horse trainer, so usually sons of cutting horse trainers are pretty tough. I'm tickled to death with the way Owen has been playing, and he's come a long way since the beginning of the season. He's got the ability to throw it, but his calmness and the way he studies the game — he's A-plus on all of that."

Springtown engineered another strong drive all the way down to the Ram 5 yard line with just over one minute off the game clock, but Hulett's pass to the end zone was tipped and intercepted by Kayden Montalvo of Mineral Wells with 10:23 left. Despite that, Springtown forced Mineral Wells to go three-and-out, and Doggett continued his productive night with another rushing touchdown, this time from 15 yards out, to push the lead to 41-21 with 6:27 left. Each team scored once more to put the final score at 48-28.

The Porcupines look to continue establishing its rhythm in the district, and elevating the levels of focus will be key moving forward.

"We didn't play really well and had some kids go down with injuries, we did respond. You'd like to see your guys go out and finish, but the other team is playing hard and playing good," Hulett said. "We just need to flat out play better. We had a good week of practice, but with kids, you get that second week and the vision can get further away from you — it can be hard to maintain that level of focus. We just have to be ready to play next week."

The Rams will have two weeks to prepare for their next opponent, and special teams will be a point of emphasis.

"We're going to work to get better, and I told them what our bye week is going to look like," Worrell said. "After giving them a couple days off, we are going to get back to work. One thing I told them after the game is that we've got to clean up our special teams, so I've got to come up with ways we can get better there, because we started drives inside the 10 twice after receiving kickoffs. That's on me, 100 percent, because it is starting to cost us right now. It's not just special teams, but that is going to be a big focal point in our bye week."

The Porcupines (5-2, 1-0) will take the field again at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Decatur. Meanwhile, the Rams (3-5, 0-2) will have their bye week this week and will be back on the gridiron at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, on the road against the same Decatur Eagles squad.