Manny Sanders scores twice to lead James Clemens 35-14 win over Grissom

Manny Sanders scored two touchdowns in leading James Clemens to a 35-14 win over Grissom in a key Class 7A, Region 4 game at Madison City Schools Stadium. The host Jets (6-2, 4-1) set up a showdown next week against Sparkman in the logjam atop the region. Sanders scored on a 22-yard pass from Gio Lopez and his 39-yard run on a reverse. His touchdowns put James Clemens up 13-0 at halftime. The Jets added Connor Cantrell’s 46-yard pass to Tyrik Walker, Dante Snodgrass' 16-yard run and Aaron Boone’s 10-yard run. Grissom (3-4, 2-3) had Jakob Foss' 5-yard run and his 11-yard pass to Elijah Johnson. Star of the game: Sanders had two catches for 44 yards and one carry for 39. Play of the game: On the reverse, Sanders took a handoff from Lopez and raced around end 39 yards untouched to the end zone. This put James Clemens up 13-0 at 4:43 in the second quarter. Key sequence: The Jets took the opening kickoff and marched 71 yards in nine plays, capped by Lopez’s 22-yard pass to Sanders. Aaron Rowe kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead at 7:17 in the first quarter. Stat sheet: James Clemens – Lopez had nine carries for 93 yards and completed 2-of-3 passes for 26 yards. Dante Snodgrass had 14 carries for 81 yards. Ephraim Rolingson and Keenan Hill each intercepted a pass. Grissom – Mark Howard had 11 carries for 54 yards for the Tigers. By the numbers: 486, James Clemens total yards with 321 rushing. 224, Grissom total yards with 91 on the ground. 2, Turnovers apiece for each team as James Clemens lost two fumbles. 7, James Clemens wins in seven games against the Tigers all time. Coachspeak: “There were some good things. We were on a short week. We only had two days of practice. Thought Grissom played really hard. Two turnovers the first half were pretty costly. We were going in to score on both of them. I thought that changed the complexion of the game. Thought we played hard in the second half. Proud of our guys. Proud of the win.” – James Clemens coach Wade Waldrop. “Just too many mistakes. You have those type of mistakes against a good team, that’s what happens.” – Grissom coach Chip English. They said it: “I think I played pretty well. But I still had dropped passes so we have to get better on that.” – Sanders. “We played solid. We’ve got some things to clean up though before we play Sparkman.” – Lopez. “Just hard work this week on a short week. Just getting it done. I feel great after the ACL surgery (last year on the left leg). Just feels great.” – Snodgrass. What’s next? On Oct. 16 in Region 4, Grissom will host Bob Jones while James Clemens hosts Sparkman.

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James Clemens High School Athletics

MANNY SANDERS SCORES TWICE TO LEAD JAMES CLEMENS 35-14 WIN OVER GRISSOM

SKIP VAUGHN

AL.com | 10/9/2020

PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Gathany