They played some defense in Saraland on Thursday afternoon and not the kind that merely offers just enough resistance to win games.

It was a dominant effort. Helmets got knocked off. Quarterbacks scrambled for the nearest shelter. Running backs were met squarely in the gap on fourth-and-1 and driven back where they came from. An interception led to a touchdown.

And that was just in the first half.

The defending Class 6A state champion Spartans beat 7A Enterprise 35-7 in a spring game that showed Saraland’s prolific offense featuring Ryan Williams, K.J. Lacey, Santae McWilliams and C.D. Gill likely won’t be the only thing fans and opponents will be talking about this year.

“You want to be the defense nobody wants to play,” Spartans coach Jeff Kelly said. “We scrimmaged against those suckers for eight days this spring and I know the guys we have offensively and I know the struggles we had against our defense.”

While Saraland won the state championship last season, the defense was often overlooked as the offense led Class 6A in scoring at 43 points per game.

Inside linebacker Chris Thompson, one of 10 returning starters defensively, knew that had to change and was willing to lead the way by moving to defensive end.

“Last year, we gave up a ton of yards, mostly running the football,” he said. “After today, it gets me kind of excited to see what we could have.”

On Thursday, the Spartans’ starters allowed Enterprise just 43 yards and five first downs, including 37 yards on the ground. The starting defense shut out the Wildcats’ starting offense 21-0 in one half.

It appears the players have accepted defensive coordinator Brett West’s challenge to act, not react.

“I told them at the end of last year our offense is high-powered and statistically it was one of the worst defenses we had,” West said. “Part of that is our offense scored a lot of points, not that we’re complaining. I challenged them and said we need to be a dominant defense. Our goal is to be the best in the state in 6A. I think today, the effort was on another level.”

The linebackers were particularly impressive Thursday. Isaih Bowie intercepted a screen pass which led to a touchdown. Cam York met running back Keion Dunlap in the hole on fourth-and-1 for no gain.

Jamison Curtis and Cam Laffitte made bone-rattling hits.

West, Enterprise coach Ben Blackmon, Kelly and just about everyone else who was polled noticed the improved speed of Saraland’s defense.

“Our speed stuck out today, just across the board from the D-line to the back end, and it’s even better when you’re physical on top of that,” West said.

Moving Thompson — the team’s No. 2 tackler last year — to defensive end may be the most beneficial change.

“After the championship game, I had the idea to do it,” he said. “We were going to do it only on certain packages, but I said I would do it all the time. You take somebody with the IQ of a linebacker and put him that close to the ball, it gives you more speed on the back end and more speed on the defensive line and you get more people to the quarterback faster.”

West said Thompson’s move has made the defense better.

“Chris putting his hand on the ground is probably the most important thing the fans can’t see,” West said. “The inside linebacker has got to know what everybody is doing and Chris is a very intelligent player. Having him closer to the ball, with his speed, really stood out today. It will make us a lot better defense.”

Laffitte was also moved to outside linebacker and Delvon Gulley moved to cornerback.

“We had a successful year, obviously, but then we wanted to go back and blow it up and start from square one,” Kelly said. “The guys are doing an amazing job embracing the moves.”