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player ready...Keith Saunders probably slept much better Friday night.
The Stillman Valley junior admitted to nerves before the Class 3A title game, but after two touchdowns runs, nine tackles, a sack and an interception in the final 61/2 minutes of a 21-7 victory over Wilmington, Saunders was feeling just fine.
“I was really nervous,” said Saunders, who scored on runs of 2 and 25 yards. “[Thursday night] I couldn’t sleep at all.”
Both offenses struggled early with just one first down in the first five possessions. But Stillman Valley’s Kyle Wills broke through for a 34-yard TD run and a 7-0 lead with 1 minute 38 seconds left in the first quarter.
“The offensive line did a great job,” said Wills as the Cardinals (13-1) claimed their third title in five years?they won Class 2A in 1999 and 2000. “They were on their blocks on every play and opened up seams for the backs.”
Wilmington (13-1) tied it 7-7 on Tanner Roark’s 1-yard keeper early in the second quarter, but after the half’s ninth punt, Stillman Valley took a 14-7 lead on Saunders’ first score, a 25-yard run with four seconds to go.
In the fourth quarter, Saunders thwarted two Wilmington drives, sacking Roark for a 19-yard loss on fourth-and-9 from the Stillman 20-yard line and intercepting Roark at the Wilmington 27 with 1:31 to go.
Saunders’ second TD made it 21-7 with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter. The eight-play, 30-yard drive was set up on the first of back-to-back bad snaps on Wilmington punt attempts.