Jaquis Parks
Taylorsville: “Coach, how do we tackle that guy.?” It’s a legitimate question that a St Stephens player might have asked Friday night as Alexander Central running back Jaquis Parks rumbled for 354 yards and 6 touchdowns. The 354 yards on the ground by Parks fals just short of the school record held by Bryson Godfrey’s 364 yards vrs Ashe County in 2016.
The junior scored on plays from 46,6,2,1,17 and 55 yards. The last one came with 6:06 remaining. Parks has a rare combination of size and speed and perhaps more than anything an ability to run through tackles and accelerate all over again.
St Stephens trailed 20-14 but looked to be about to take a third quarter lead after getting a goal to go inside the Cougar 10-yard-line. A Maddox Zablan pass bounced off the hands of his intended receiver and into the hands of Cougar linebacker Sammy Palmer. At that point the Indians were fed a steady diet of Jaquis Parks. A 87-yard drive capped by Parks from 2 yards started what turned out to be a rout.
St Stephens running back Izzy Payne ran for 114 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
Cougar senior linebacker Weston Palmer led the Cougar defense with 17 tackles as the Cougars improve to 5-1 and 1-0 in Northwestern Conference Play. With the loss, St Stephens drops to 1-5 and 0-1.
AC will host McDowell on Friday, October 9th while the Indians travel to Freedom.