Springtown scored early and often, routing Fort Worth Amon Carter-Riverside 58-0 on Oct. 3 at Clark Stadium.
It was the second game of the Porcupines district schedule and they’ve showed early dominance. In both games, they outscored their opponents by a total of 126-0.
The win over the Eagles seemed like a minor speed bump on the road that is a Texas high school football schedule.
“We stayed healthy and our kids had a wonderful week,” said head coach Brian Hulett on what his team can take away from back-to-back blowout wins. “We’ve gotten better in practice and we’ve done what we’re supposed to on the field.”
He emphasized the importance of staying focused despite what the scoreboard says.
“You can play these games and kind of wander around and not do your job, but we didn’t,” said Hulett. “We’re on the right track.”
Springtown, No. 4 in the Star-Telegram’s Class 4A rankings , forced Riverside to punt on its first drive, which Chase Thompson returned 76 yards for a touchdown. After that, the Porcupines let sophomore Kaine Hill take the reigns. He threw for 220 yards (188 in the first half) and six touchdowns.
“Those guys practice hard, so I want them to have an opportunity, so in a game like this, we move the ball around to a lot of people,” said Hulett. “Last week, I think we had nine touchdowns by nine different guys, so that builds depth and keeps kids excited and wanting to be here.”
Hill threw six touchdowns to six different receivers against the Eagles. His first went to junior Riley Jackson, who finished with one reception for 50 yards. Next was senior Thompson, who finished with one reception for 19 yards along with the punt return touchdown to start the game.
“Chase [Thompson] Is such a good player and he’s all over the field,” said Hulett.
Last year, Thompson was named the Utility Player of the Year for the district . Tonight, he recorded a special teams touchdown, a receiving touchdown and entered the game as the leading tackler.
At the end of the first quarter, Hill connected with junior Karson Ferguson for his only reception, a 42-yard receiving touchdown. Junior Caden Rodgers got in on the action with his only reception, a 47-yard receiving touchdown.
The shortest of Hill’s passing touchdowns was to sophomore Hayden Murrell for four yards. He ended the game with two receptions for 19 yards.
Hill’s final passing touchdown was just one minute into the second half when he connected with senior Braydon Butler. The final Porcupine touchdown was scored via the legs of junior Layton Murrell, who took over quarterback duties.
Springtown’s offense was on point, but not allowing opponents to reach the end zone, or even kick a field goal, in back-to-back district games shows how complete the Porcupines are playing on both sides of the ball.
Riverside didn’t complete a play for positive yardage until its third drive, when freshman running back Temi Adesoji ran for one yard. He finished the first half with 13 carries for -3 yards rushing. The Porcupines forced four fumbles in the first half, but only recovered one.
They only allowed the Eagles to complete one passing play in the first half—for a loss of a yard.
In the second half, the Porcupines defense added to its impressive performance with a safety after it pinned Riverside against its own end zone. A bad snap from the Eagles sent the ball out of the back of the end zone.
Adesoji ended the game with 12 yards rushing. Riverside ended the game with -39 yards of total offense.
It’s hard to give a whole roster playing time, but Hulett and the Porcupines are good enough to give most of their players a shot to make a play on the field. Hulett said that’s what makes it fun for the athletes.
“We’re always telling them they’re kids,” he said. “We want kids to have opportunities in high school athletics—to get to play and make the most of it. So, we use our kids the best we can and I think it’s good for them.”
That mentality of allowing players to prove their hard work in games has become a foundation for the Springtown football culture and it has led to leadership and success on the field.
“We lost a lot of seniors and we struggled with it early,” said Hulett. “The last two weeks, it has turned around for us. We’re handling business in practice and it’s starting to show.”
The Porcupines lost seniors last year, but the young players on the roster give Hulett confidence that Springtown will be a force to be reckoned with for the near future.
“That’s the part we’ve had to work our way through, but we knew if we could click we would get better, but we still have to continue to get better,” said Hulett.
Hulett and his team aren’t focused on the playoffs yet, they just need to focus on district games one at a time, but the Springtown head coach is confident in the program from top to bottom.
“My son graduated last year, so I’ve been around a lot of these kids for 11 years,” he said. “Not just these seniors but even our younger kids—we know them. Our kids like our coaches, our kids like each other, our coaches like each other and it’s just a good, fun environment.”
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