Speake pulls away from Vina in second half

By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
The Speake Bobcats scored two touchdowns early in the third quarter to break open a close game on Friday en route to defeating the Vina Red Devils 33-12 at Franklin-Hester Stadium.
"Speake has a very good football team," Vina coach Bill Smith said. "They probably should be undefeated, if you ask me. They're big and physical, and they just like to pound it at you.
"They had a ninth-grader on the line who was as good as any ninth-grader I've seen in a long time."
Vina (2-4, 0-4 Class 1A, Region 8) trailed just 14-12 at the half, but the visiting Bobcats scored twice just after halftime to take control.
A 45-yard run by Speake (5-1, 4-1) set up a short touchdown for the first score, and the Bobcats then recovered aVina fumble to set up another touchdown.
"It was a 6-6 game after the first quarter, and that was legit," Smith said. "We were really playing them tight. I thought our kids played as hard as they have all year. It was still a close game at halftime, but we made a couple of mistakes early in the third quarter that really cost us.
"If you take those plays away, it's still a close game. But you can't take them away."
Vina junior tailback Nash Creekmore scored on a 1-yard run early in the game, but Speake also scored in the first quarter and the game was tied 6-6.
The Bobcats took a 14-6 lead in the second quarter, but Creekmore pulled the Red Devils closer when he took a screen pass from freshman quarterback Brent Townsend and went 35 yards for a touchdown with nine seconds left in the first half.
The two-point try failed, and Vina trailed 14-12.
After Speake's two quick touchdowns to open the second half, Vina had a chance to get back in the game. Senior defensive lineman Anthony Hester recovered a Bobcat fumble and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown, but the score was wiped out by a block-in-the-back penalty.
Speake scored again late in the fourth quarter to provide the final margin.
Creekmore finished with 102 rushing yards and also made 11 tackles on defense.
Patrick Cochran had 10 tackles for Vina, and Derek Reid, Tony Jennings and Hester each added eight stops.
Vina will travel to face Hazlewood on Friday.