Spartans streak over Parkland
To begin the year Mt. Tabor was beaten handily by the East Forsyth 42-13. Since then, the Spartans have run off eight victories in a row. Last Thursday was the latest of those victories as they had an easy 48-6 runaway victory against Parkland.
This game did not have the makings of a blowout early on, however. Parkland was playing well throughout the first quarter, only trailing by six points after the first frame.
The beginning of the second quarter is where everything started to go wrong for the Mustangs. Following an interception, Spartan quarterback Javon McCallister ran a quarterback keeper in for a score. On the next possession for the Mustangs they were picked off again leading to a touchdown pass from Jorden Zertuche to Rahkem Roberts to make the score 19-0.
Before the half was over, the Mustangs threw a total of three interceptions and even surrendered a safety. Before they could blink, the lead ballooned to 42-0 by halftime.
“We tried to come out and take the air out of the ball, but after the turnover, I told the guys they still have to believe,” said Parkland head coach Curtis Clark. “After they scored, our guys believed but they didn’t hang on to it and the other miscues hurt us.
“We got back to our old ways; when things don’t go our way, we get down on ourselves,” he continued. “This season was a stepping stone for us, myself and for the coaching staff. They laid the foundation so next year these guys know how the staff is and what we expect and we will build off of that.”
Spartan head coach Mike Lovelace, on the other hand, was quite pleased with what he saw from his offense in the first half, especially with being without their starting quarterback Tyress McIntyre.
“We have a number of athletes and we are very fortunate,” said Lovelace. “We tried to keep things simple and I thought that Javon McCallister came in and did a very nice job for us. Jordan Zertuche has been our backup quarterback, and we moved him to tight end this year, but he came in and he was efficient as well.”
“We are very fortunate and I thought we executed a great game plan once we got started,” Lovelace continued. “Some of the matchups we saw against our offense we felt we had some good opportunities out wide to take advantage of that.”
Even with a substantial deficit to overcome, the Mustangs continued to fight. They were able to get on the board in the third quarter when quarterback Ta’mari Miller connected with Jaylin Elliot for a touchdown.
“We told them not to give up, we told them to keep fighting and keep pushing because good things can happen,” Clark said. “We were down 42-0 and came down and scored on our second possession of the half so I’m proud that they kept fighting.”
The scoring was capped off in the fourth quarter when Zertuche found Roberts once again for a touchdown, his third of the night. The Spartan defense finished off the night by keeping the Mustangs off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
“I am proud of our team and our defense has been playing well all year and offensively we have just found a way to get it to different people but our recipe these last few weeks has been to line up and give it to these athletes,” Lovelace said. “I love this team, and we are not as talented overall as we have been in the past, but this team has really grown and they deserve to be where they are.”
Lovelace also touched on how his team has continued to develop following their opening week loss to East Forsyth. He says he is very proud they did not hang their heads but instead continued to work harder, and now they are reaping the benefits.
Mt. Tabor will face off against Dudley of Greensboro for a chance to win the newly formed Piedmont Triad 3A Conference. He knows Dudley has been a powerhouse program in Greensboro for years and says he is expecting a good game.
For Parkland, they finish off the JV season with a 5-5 record. According to Clark, the foundation has been built for the Mustangs going forward. He says he was very proud of the season and the effort his team gave all year long.
