PREP FOOTBALL: Holly Pond handles Cold Springs on the road 31-0

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Holly Pond defeated Cold Springs 31-0 on the road Friday night to improve to 2-0 on the season. (Howard Cole/The Cullman Tribune)

BREMEN, Ala. — Tonight was Senior Night for the Cold Springs Eagles as they hosted the Holly Pond Broncos in their home opener. The Eagles looked to pick up their first win of the season, but unfortunately for them and the Cold Springs fans, it wasn’t meant to be as Holly Pond had a solid game on the ground and their stout defense helped them pick up a 31-0 win over the Eagles.

Cold Springs started out its opening series by running the ball as Josh Winfrey picked up a first down on their third play of the game, but Holly Pond’s defense stiffened and forced the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs. Holly Pond got the ball in excellent field position at the 44-yard line, but they couldn’t do anything with it as Cold Springs’ Tyler Lively sacked Austin Marsh on third down and forced the Broncos to punt. That ended up being the theme for the rest of the quarter as there was no score after one.

Both teams punted to start out the second quarter, and Holly Pond scored on just the second play of its next series as Andy Light found a huge hole up the middle and scored on a 53-yard run to give the Broncos an 8-0 lead with 8:47 remaining in the first half. The Eagles finally got something going on its next series as a Tucker Philbeck pass to Winfrey helped them get past midfield and later on, a Bronco face mask penalty put Cold Springs at the 27-yard line. Victor Laurentius helped the Eagles get to the nine-yard line, but they fumbled on the next play and Holly Pond recovered the ball at the one. Later on, the Eagles’ Seth Williams recovered a Bronco fumble, but Philbeck got sacked to end the first half and the Broncos took an 8-0 lead into the locker room.

Holly Pond started out the second half strong offensively as Landon Perkins found Nik Goodwin for a 31-yard gain, then Perkins picked up 20 more yards on the ground as that put the Broncos at the 12-yard line. But the Eagles’ defense settled down after that as they forced a turnover on downs. Holly Pond got the ball after yet another Cold Springs punt and the Broncos found the end zone on its third play of the series as Perkins scored on a 28-yard run to increase the Bronco lead to 16-0 with 6:52 remaining in the third quarter. Holly Pond’s Kadin Suryono recovered an Eagle fumble at the 47-yard line, and they got off to a very rough start offensively as two penalties and a sack had them backed up at the 26-yard line. But Perkins worked up some of his magic as he got pressured, but found some room on the left side, avoiding a few tacklers, before finding the end zone on a miraculous 74-yard touchdown run to make it 24-0.

Cold Springs forced a fumble just before the third quarter ended as Hank Harrison got down all the way to the 15-yard line. But the tough Holly Pond defense didn’t let Cold Springs do anything as Anthony Knopp sacked Harrison for a huge loss on third down and forced the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs on the next play. Austin Marsh added the final touchdown of the game for Holly Pond as he scored on a 68-yard run to put the final score at 31-0. This is the Broncos’ fifth straight win at Cold Springs.

Perkins finished the night with 133 rushing yards on just seven carries and two touchdowns. Marsh ended up with 66 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Light added 65 more on the ground and a touchdown. Damien Raymond and Kadin Suryono recovered fumbles for Holly Pond (2-0) and their defense held Cold Springs to 146 total yards offensively. This is the Broncos’ first 2-0 start since 2018.

Winfrey led the way for Cold Springs (0-2) with 99 yards rushing on 32 carries, while Williams and Harrison recovered fumbles for the Eagles.

Both teams will start region play next week, as Holly Pond will host Oakman while Cold Springs will travel to Sulligent.

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