ADDISON, Ala. – Addison hosted the 4A East Lawrence Eagles at hot and muggy A.G. Hicks Stadium and as in all Spring Games the rules are a little different. The B-Teams played the first 12-minute quarter and the varsity teams finished out the final three. There were no kicks except extra points. Addison’s B-Team came away with a 14-0 win and the Varsity took the final three quarters 25-7 in a tale of two halves.
The B-Team dominated their quarter in every conceivable way. Addison ran 15 plays for 97 yards and put two scores on the board. Addison had a 1-yard TD run and a 27-yard touchdown pass. Both of Addison’s extra points were good. Addison’s defense was as good as it gets as they allowed the Junior Eagles -19 yards on 13 plays. That’s right, the Young Eagles only had positive yardage on seven of their 13 plays. The future appears bright for the young Bulldogs.
East Lawrence was dominant against the Dawgs as they did literally anything and everything that they wanted too in the second quarter. The Eagles first possession ended with an Eagle TD on a 1-yard run. Addison was forced to punt after three plays and the Eagles took over and started driving again. After gaining 39 yards on four plays, the Eagle back fumbled the ball, and it went right into the hands of a waiting Bulldog. 70-yards later, Addison was on the board with the scoop and score. The extra point was no good and that put the Dawgs down 7-6. Penalties killed the next promising Eagle drive and the half ended. The hometown Bulldogs were lucky to be down only one point, as they went without a first down in the quarter.
Coach David Smothers and the rest of the coaching staff deserve credit for a total transformation of their squad at halftime. This was a totally different team that came out in the second half. The offensive line that couldn’t block air in the first half, dominated the much larger Eagles. The Running Backs who couldn’t gain an inch in the first half, juked, jived and just plain ran over Eagle defenders. Not to be outdone, the defense turned into the ‘85 Bears and didn’t allow the Eagles any breathing room as they held them to a single first down the final two quarters.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with an old school 13 play, 70-yard TD drive. This put the Dawgs up 12-7 after the 1-yard TD run and missed two-point conversion attempt.
Addison recovered an Eagle fumble at the Eagle 20-yard line and then they punched it in six plays later on another 1-yard run. The extra point was good, and Addison led 19-7.
After forcing another Eagle “punt,” Addison scored their final TD on a 2-yard run. The point after was no good and that brought the final score to 25-7.
Addison ran 44 plays for 177 total yards. Doesn’t sound like much until you factor in that they had nine plays for (-10 yards) in the first half.
East Lawrence had 27 plays for 188 total yards, but that included a 53-yard run and a 52-yard run.
Coach Smothers said after the game,
“We were very sloppy, very sloppy in the first half. We tightened things up at the half and made a few adjustments to our blocking scheme. Very proud of our kids on how resilient they were about not getting down on themselves about how we played in the first half. We have a lot of things to clean up, but I am sure the kids will work hard over the summer and come out ready to play ball this fall.”
On the QB situation,
“I feel really good. We have a great situation with three kids that can play there. Two of them didn’t even play with us last year. Feel really comfortable with all three and I am sure that one of them will step up and take control by the end of fall camp.”
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