SAND ROCK – The Sand Rock Wildcats wanted to avoid the storms forecast for Northeast Alabama on Friday, so they rescheduled their game with Section on Thursday night.

While the Wildcats avoided the rain, there was still plenty of thunder and lightning on the field in Sand Rock’s 53-13 taming of the Lions in Class 2A, Region 6 play.

The win improved the Wildcats’ mark to 5-2 on the season and more importantly 3-2 in the region. They have a showdown at Class 2A, No. 7 Fyffe next Friday.

“We’ve got to get some ‘Ws’ because we’re in a bind playoff wise,” Sand Rock coach Russell Jacoway said. “When we lost to Geraldine, that put us in a big bind, but we’ve got a pretty good football team.

“We’ve fought the rain. We’ve fought the flu. We’ve fought viruses. It’s been the oddest year I’ve been through in a long time, but our kids have been very resilient through all of it. I have no complaints with our effort all year long.”

The game at Fyffe has added significance, as Jacoway will be going for his 200th career win. Jacoway is now 199-105 in his years at Sand Rock.

“It’s not 200 for me,” Jacoway is quick to point out. “Whenever it happens, it means that Sand Rock High School has won 200 games since 1984. That’s something for the players, the coaches and everybody who have gone through here to be proud of. The last time I looked, I haven’t walked out there on a Friday (or Thursday) night by myself.”

The Wildcats earned Jacoway’s 199th win by scoring on their first seven possessions in a variety of fashions.

They took their opening drive 62 yards in 10 plays, capped off by a Chad Thompson 1-yard touchdown run with 8:27 to go in the first quarter. Matt Cole added the point after for a 7-0 Wildcat lead.

Thompson finished with 44 yards on five carries and two scores.

Section (0-7, 0-5), which has only five seniors on its roster this season, fell behind even further after a Curtis Larcom pass was snagged by Sand Rock’s Justin Kyser. Kyser made a 14-yard return to the Lion 24, which led to Cole’s 33-yard field goal to make it a 10-0 game.

After a Lion punt, Sand Rock quarterback Drew Norris connected with Kyser on a 36-yard touchdown pass. Norris threw to Austin Carver for the 2-point conversion, giving the Wildcats an 18-0 lead with 1:46 to go in the first quarter.

Norris completed 4 of 6 passes for 108 yards and a score.

Another Lion punt resulted in another Wildcat touchdown. This one came on Kyser’s 21-yard scoring run, helping to give Sand Rock a 25-0 advantage with 10:40 left in the second quarter.

Kyser led the Wildcat rushing attack with 79 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown on the ground and another through the air.

Sand Rock tacked on three more touchdowns before halftime. One of them came on Brannon Burt’s 5-yard pass to Norris to make it 32-0. Thompson added a 3-yard scamper with two minutes to go before the break to increase the Wildcat lead to 39-0. A Lion fumble led to Tyler Garmony’s 3-yard touchdown run to give Sand Rock a 46-0 lead at the half.

Section picked up its initial first down of the game with 9:29 to go in the third and gained several more on a 14 play, 69-yard drive which resulted in Larcom’s 2-yard scoring run. Royer Garcia added the extra point to make it 46-7 Wildcats with 2:35 to go in the third.

The Lions scored on an 11 play, 80-yard drive with 7:09 to go in the game. Sophomore Zane Wheeler capped off the drive with a 4-yard run. The extra point was no good, keeping the score at 46-13 Sand Rock.

Wheeler had 35 yards on 11 attempts with a touchdown. Freshman Aaron Chapman led the Lion rushers with 44 yards on 11 carries. Larcom, a junior, finished with 21 yards on 11 totes with a score.

“It’s hard sometimes to realize you are going through growing pains when you’re getting beat as bad as we’re getting beat,” Section coach Jeff Monroe said. “I know everybody says you’ve only got five seniors, but sooner or later you can’t keep using that as a crutch. You’ve got to grow up and get past that.

“The biggest challenge I have is to keep the younger kids still playing. It’s hard to learn when you’re taking beatings like that.”

Eric Padgett scored the Wildcats’ final touchdown on a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:31 to go in the game.