This weekend, the Senators traveled to Tommy R. Ledbetter Stadium to play the Buckhorn High School Bucks. It was an exhilarating game, as the two teams dueling it out, trading blows all the way until the end. After the dust settled, however, it was Sparkman who prevailed.

The first quarter saw the least action. Both teams punted the ball on their initial drives. It wasn’t until 1:35 to go before the first points were tallied. After a long throw put Buckhorn inside the Sparkman 20 yard line, Will Ingnont ran into the endzone put the home team up by 7.

The second quarter began with a pass to Chase Clinard to put the Senators at first and goal. A couple plays later, the visitors evened up the score with a well-executed fade to the corner for a TD. The very next play from scrimmage was a Buckhorn fumble and a Sparkman recovery on the 19 yard line. Less than a minute later Devin Kimbrough lobbed it up to Parker Swords in the endzone and scored to put the Senators ahead 14-7.

As the half ticked to a close, there was some confusion about the clock. Buckhorn had run a play from inside the one yard line with five seconds to go. The time seemed to have expired, but the officials announced that Buckhorn had called a time out before the scoreboard hit zero. On the last play of before halftime, Will Ingnont again dashed towards the pylon for a touchdown. The PAT, however, was blocked by Sparkman to preserve the lead at 14-13.

The third quarter was dominated by Buckhorn. At 10:10, Dallin Woodley rushed his way to the endzone to put the Bucks up by five. They failed to convert the two-point try, so the scoreline remained 19-14. In the ensuing possession, Sparkman fumbled right inside Buckhorn territory. After a few clutch stops by the boys in black, Buckhorn settled for a field goal to extend their lead to 22-14.

The fourth quarter was crunch time for Sparkman. In a do-or-die fourth down and goal, junior Devin Kimbrough scrambled five yards to bring the Senators within two. In the crucial two-point conversion, Kimbrough found a wide open Nathan Gunn in the endzone to bring the Senators level. With less than half a quarter left to play, Sparkman was pinned back inside their own 20 after a Buckhorn pooch kick. The ball was handed off to Hunter Gibson, who had been the silent workhorse for Sparkman up to that point. He juked a few defenders, brushed off a couple more, and ran the distance along the sideline to give Sparkman the lead one last time. The Senator victory was official declared when they recovered a fumble with 1:33 left in the game.
From there, the home crowd began filing out of their seats, but the Sparkman faithful stayed right where they were to celebrate this emotional win with the players, who were gleaming with pride at their performance. This was a very important win for Sparkman, because it improves their record to 2-0 and gives them confidence entering homecoming week.