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Friday night, The Northridge Jaguars (1-0, 0-0) rolled over Sipsey Valley (0-1, 0-0) 45-6. In the inaugural “Marchant Bowl," which featured Bears’ head coach Scott Marchant facing off against his brother, who is the Northridge passing coordinator, had both teams gaining over 200 total offensive yards.

From the beginning, both teams came out with a running attack in mind. Though nine different players had carries tonight, sophomore running back PJ Hall led the pack with five carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Also scoring for the Jaguars was sophomore quarterback Kollyn Shellnut, junior running back LiEric Street, and junior receiver Christopher Jack. In total, Northridge had 27 carries for 203 yards.

In addition to offense, Northridge’s defense and special teams had a big game. A field goal by Nick Nodine and a third-quarter pick-six by linebacker Evan Deny assisted the Jaguars to a victory.

On the other side of the ball, Sipsey Valley struggled offensively. Besides a first-quarter 40-yard touchdown run by Ben Allen, the Bears did not score.

Regardless, between the two quarterbacks- senior Hunter Yeatman and junior Ryan Barger, the Bears accounted for 118 yards. The two combined went 17-for-28 with two interceptions.

Courtesy of Bryant Horn
Courtesy of Bryant Horn
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After the game, Northridge head coach Mike Vickery said that the team’s rushing attack was on par with what the team wanted. “I think we’re pretty good up front- offensive line-wise. We have four really physical backs that we are going to lean on.” He continued, “We wanted to come out early and establish the run.”

When asked about the team’s upcoming game against Central High School, Vickery said, “When you have a cross-town matchup, we do a phenomenal job of promoting these games… we just really want to go and promote high school football in Tuscaloosa.”

As for the team’s preparation among a season filled with COVID-19, Vickery said that he tried to just keep the team focused. “We have some things in place that we do daily, and we try to stress the importance of those things. Honestly, they are things we should be doing anyway- cleanliness and making sure everything is sanitized.”

The Northridge Jaguars will be hosting Central High School next week, and the Sipsey Valley Bears will look for their first win against Hale County at home.

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