Jenny Elder
BEREA — Berea Community High School honored four seniors Friday and most of them mentioned the win a week ago over Powell County as their most memorable moment.
However, Shane Sparks knew his final game would be his.
The defensive lineman was right as the Pirates (4-6) rolled past Allen Central (4-6) in Berea, 34-6.
“I just had a feeling,” Sparks said. “This was the end of the year, everybody was hyped about the game. You just get that feeling in your gut.”
With a win in the season finale, the Pirates finish the year on a two-game winning streak and with four victories overall — the most since 2001, when they finished with a 5-6 record. Putting things in perspective for Sparks the four wins gives him one more win than his other three seasons combined.
“I’m glad we ended the year on a two-game win streak and its against two good programs. Powell County I think has won four games and Allen Central’s won four games,” first-year Berea coach Kenan McWhorter said. “So that is putting us definitely in a position where we are realizing not only can we compete, we can win.”
The Pirates did not compete in a district this season, making them ineligible for postseason play.
Most of the highlight plays were on the offensive side with 34 and 41-yard TD passes from senior Josh Campbell and a 72-yard rushing TD by Rashad Slaughter.
But, the defense proved to be a steady force, shutting down the Rebels — who had put up 171 points in the past four games — for more than 45 minutes. Allen Central had 57 offensive plays — 19 at halftime — and only once got inside the Pirates’ 10-yard line.
A personal foul called on Josh Campbell put the Rebels at the four-yard line for first and goal. Sparks broke through and stopped the run for a five-yard loss on first down. On third down he sacked the quarterback for an 11-yard loss.
Allen Central tried on fourth down, but could only advance the ball to the 17-yard line and a turnover on downs.
“We did everything we could,” Sparks said. “We came out here and played as a team. We played as a family. I think that is what every team should do. You have got to have something more than what is on the football field.”
And the win was more memorable than the senior imagined.
“It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my whole football career,” Sparks said. “It was even more of an honor to take it with my people, my seniors, that I played with, my team and my coaches.”
Part of that senior crew was Campbell. The signal caller had three TD passes on 10-of-18 passing for 170 yards.
It was his 34-yard strike to Stephen Sandefur to end the first half that all but put the game away.
Allen Central, on its own 31-yard line, went three and out punting the ball away with 26.4 remaining.
On the second play, Campbell hit Joseph Parker for an 11-yard gain and he got out-of-bounds to stop the clock. Two plays later Campbell hit Sandefur, who was wide open on the left side of the field.
Steven Zoldak added the extra point as Berea went into the locker room up, 21-0.
“I knew Stephen was going to catch it,” Campbell said of his read. “They had been playing everybody else and nobody took him serious. I just knew we were going to get the touchdown and knew I was going to throw to him before the play was called.”
Slaughter broke the second half open with his 72-yard burst for a 28-0 lead just before the fourth quarter. The running back finished with 173 yards on 11 carries.
Berea’s first two scores were called back on penalties, but it kept its composure and put those points back on the board. A 10-yard pass to Brandon Crouch was wiped off, but just more than a minute later Jeremy Hamilton hauled in a 17-yard strike for the first score.
Cody Duff punched in the second one on a 13-yard run after a four-yard score by Slaughter was taken away.
Campbell hit Jordan Clontz 15 seconds into the final quarter and the receiver broke multiple tackles for a 41-yard TD that finished the scoring.
