James Clemens blocked an extra point with six seconds left in the game to hold on to beat Class 7A No. 9-ranked Sparkman 31-30 on Friday at Madison City Schools Stadium.

Sparkman quarterback Josh Ward scored on a 4-yard run to get the previously undefeated Senators to within an extra point of sending the game to overtime, but after a false start penalty moved the ball back 5 yards, a low snap was mishandled allowing the Jets to crash in and block the kick to preserve the win.

Sparkman (5-1, 3-1) jumped to a 10-0 lead early on a 9-yard Ward-to-Amaree Jabbar pass and a 27-yard Christian Burrus field goal following a James Clemens fumble.

James Clemens (5-2, 4-0) cut the Senators lead to 10-7 on a trick play when Devon Cooper caught a backward pass and found Cameron Berry wide open for 38 yards and a touchdown.

Sparkman increased its lead to 17-7 with Ward’s quick pass to Jabbar, who slipped a Jets defender and raced 51 yards to the end zone.

James Clemens would outscore Sparkman 17-0 in the final 8 minutes of the half with a 28-yard field goal from Anthony Ortiz and two touchdown passes from Ty Marsh to Ty Doughty from 26 yards and 39 yards to take a 24-17 lead into the half.

The Jets took the second half kickoff 70 yards in nine plays, finished off by Berry’s 3-yard run to give James Clemens a 31-17 lead.

Sparkman narrowed the advantage to 31-24 on a 15-yard pass from Ward to Jonathon Rozier late in the third quarter.

James Clemens had a chance to put the game away before failing on a fourth-and-6 at the Sparkman 29-yard-line with 3:12 remaining. The Senators moved the ball 69 yards in 12 plays capped by Ward’s 4-yard run with only 6.5 seconds left before James Clemens blocked the extra point to preserve the win.

Star of the game: Doughty and Marsh were standouts for the winners with the two connecting on a pair of touchdowns. Doughty caught 5 passes for 100 yards and Marsh completed 12-of-14 throws for 181 yards. The QB also gained 38 yards on the ground on 7 carries.

Play of the game: The game was tied 17-17 with only 14 seconds left in the first half when Doughty caught a screen pass from Marsh and was able to make tacklers miss, cutting across the field, outrunning the Senator defenders for a touchdown with only 2.3 second left in the half to take a 24-17 lead into the locker room.

Stat sheet: James Clemens – 382 total yards, 219 passing and 163 rushing. Berry gained 78 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown and also caught a touchdown pass. Logan Eggart caught 3 passes for 47 yards. Sparkman – 333 total yards. Ward was 28-for-38 for 255 yards and three touchdowns and also had a rushing touchdown. Jabbar caught 12 passes for 108 and two touchdowns. Rozier caught 11 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. Jayden Thomas gained 59 yards on five carries.

By the numbers: 2 – Both teams only punted the ball twice. 15 – Sparkman ran 15 more plays than James Clemens, 66-51.

Coachspeak: “The schedule we played was not scheduled to win games. I mean we want to win them all, but it was to make us better and to challenge us. Look, they had not played a fourth-quarter game in like four weeks and I just thought we could wear them down and run the football and that’s what we did. – James Clemens head coach Chad McGehee

They said it: “We just knew that if we came out and were more physical, I mean I know we got down early, buy physicality always wins you close games and I just think our fight is great and we just play as a team.” – Marsh

“We knew they were going to come out hard, but all glory to God and we just trusted the whole time that we were going to win this game.” – Doughty

What’s Next: James Clemens will be at Austin and Sparkman will be at Bob Jones.