Story By John Mann
ALBERTVILLE - The Asbury High School football team played host to the Ider Hornets Friday night for a jamboree matchup to ring in the program’s tenth season, but even with a strong opening drive the Rams fell on a final score of 42-6.
“We’ve got to get in shape,” Rams head coach Matt Harris said. “With all of these younger guys we’ve got to get the early season jitters out of the way, they’re starry eyed and can just go blank sometimes. We want to overcome all of that so that these guys can stick to the rules and do what they are supposed to do.”
The Hornets were on offense to get things started but in no time at all found themselves on fourth down, forced to turn the ball over with only six yards gained on the drive. Senior Kaiden Stanfield got a stop for a loss on second down, while senior Josiah Webber got the turnover with a stop on fourth down.
“We came out on the first series and had a solid fourth down stop,” Harris said. “We had some positive things come out on both sides of the ball, things I know that we can work on and improve going forward.”
The Rams would be forced to punt on their opening drive though, leaving the Hornets open to grab the first touchdown of the night after pushing their way down to the inside two, making it 7-0 with just over five minutes in the first quarter.
Ram’s senior quarterback Blake Hillis was able to grab a first down on a completed pass to Stanfield, but things took a turn when his next attempt from the inside thirty-seven was intercepted. Back on offense the Hornets grabbed another touchdown then quickly going back on offense after another interception.
Coming into the second quarter the Hornets grabbed another touchdown on a pass from midfield, and then another on a long run from the outside thirty-five. With nine minutes left it was 28-0, but the Rams defense was able to slow the Hornets down and burn out the rest of the half. Senior Aiden Covington had four stops on the drive but the Hornets managed to get off one last pass as time expired to get the touchdown and end the half leading 35-0.
Down on the inside nine early in the third quarter Covington was able to stop another Hornet touchdown with a stop on fourth down, finally giving the Rams an opening on their next offensive drive. Freshman quarterback Levi Jacobi ran back-to-back keepers for a pair of first downs, then completed a pass to seventh grader Logan Miller. On third down sophomore Gabriel Metellus broke loose on a run, putting in the touchdown to get the Rams on the board and make it 35-6 after a failed two-point attempt.
The Hornets were on offense to start the fourth quarter, with the Rams bringing in their junior high players for some game time. The Hornets were able to grab one last touchdown for the night to make it 42-6. The Rams were able to grab two first downs on their final drive but ultimately turned the ball over letting the Hornets take a knee and run out the clock.
Despite the loss the Rams will have a chance to get things on track this week as they open their regular season with the Gaston Bulldogs under first year head coach Randy Dupree.
“We’ll be hosting Gaston first,” Harris said. “Coach Dupree has them going in the right direction so we’ll just have to see what they’ve got for us, I wish them the best all year long except for this Friday night.”
The Rams will face Gaston at home on Friday night. Kick off is set for 7 pm.
