Kolby Jackson’s grin was a mile wide on the Crimson Tide’s sideline near the end of the first half of Friday night’s 48-14 homecoming thumping of Northwood.
Jackson turned to a friend standing on the fence.
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“Two, two and two,” Jackson said pointing to friends and teammates Rodtravion Rogers and Tavarius Edwards.
“We all got two (touchdowns) tonight.”
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It was that kind of night for the Crimson Tide.
Northwood was unable to stop the plethora of weapons that head coach Spencer Heard has at his disposal and the defense was equally dominant, only allowing seven points after the starters had taken their place on the bench after a job well done.
Heard was expectedly pleased with his team’s effort in front of a capacity homecoming crowd.
“I thought we came out and were firing on all cylinders,” Heard said. “Special teams, defense and offense were clicking and to me the past two weeks have been the most complete games we’ve played all year. I’m proud of our progression throughout the year.”
The game started with a deep completion for Northwood down inside the Tide 30 yard line. That apparently woke up the Crimson defense, who stepped up and forced a turnover on downs to end the only Northwood threat of the night.
“I thought the whole defense played well,” Heard said. “It was definitely a team effort. up front we got pressure, linebackers did a great job playing the run and dropping into their zones and the secondary was great.
We knew they would try to throw the ball and Sneed made the big play early to intercept one and take it down to the two yard line, that got us going.”
The Tide got their first score when Kolby Jackson went in from two yards out following L’Jarius Sneeds long interception return. Then on the following kickoff Dillon Herrington made a great play to poke the ball loose from Northwood’s return man setting the Tide up at the 21 yard line. Three plays later, Rodtravion Rogers went in for a four yard touchdown to make it 14-0.
After yet another stop by the Crimson Tide defense, the offense was back at it. This time the big play came from Tavarius Edwards who made a great adjustment to reel in a screen pass from Antonio Rivette and took it 24 yards to the house down the home sideline.
“It was kind of behind him,” Heard said. “He had to make a great catch on that one.”
Northwood fumbled again on the ensuing kickoff. Two plays later Kolby Jackson ran through a couple of arm tackles on his way to a 39 yard score, his second of the night, to give Minden a 27-0 lead. Rodtravion Rogers would add another short touchdown run and Antonio Rivette made an all-state throw on a deep post to Tavarius Edwards to make the game 41-0 at halftime.
“We were clicking,” Heard said. “Antonio made one of the best throws he’s made all year. It was beautiful. As our run game progressed it opened up a lot of that stuff in the screen game and play action. It’s all tied in to the run game.”
Rivette finished the game four of six passing with 113 yards and two TD’s. Kolby Jackson ran for 108 and two scores, Rodtravion Rogers finished with 42 yards and two TD’s and senior Ladavion Combs totaled 30 yards and a touchdown to round out the rushing attack.
Tavarius Edwards finished with four catches for 113 yards and two TD’s.
The Crimson Tide now enters the playoffs as the number 12 seed and will play a home game against Peabody in the first round.
“Our guys love playing in front of the big crowd,” Heard said. “We hope to see the stands full like they were for homecoming.”