HARPERSVILLE — Springwood School dropped its contest against Coosa Valley 32-19 last Friday night.

“We didn’t play very well,” Springwood head football coach John Gartman said. “We lost a game I feel we should’ve won. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and see if we can get just a little bit better.”

Wildcats sophomore running back O.J. Tolbert returned to the gridiron in the matchup after spending a majority of the second half in the team’s previous game against Evangel Christian Academy on the sideline on crutches. Tolbert led all Springwood rushers with 108 yards in the matchup.

Junior tight end Coleman Hull led Springwood receivers, hauling in 120 receiving yards.

“He had a few good catches for us,” Gartman said. “We needed to play better offensively and defensively but he was one of the few bright spots.”

The Wildcats only have two games remaining in the regular season, with a chance to finish in a three-way tie for the fourth and final region spot to make the playoffs. This Friday, 3-5 Springwood travels to 4-3 Lakeside before closing the year at home against 0-9 Lee-Scott Academy.

The Wildcats are only focusing on the tall task of winning out one week at a time.

“We’ve got to take care of business this Friday before we even think about that,” Gartman said.

This was a season of transition for Springwood. Despite moving down from AISA Class 3A to 2A, the program didn’t hire Gartman as the new coach until a month before the first game of the regular season. Gartman initially brought his Wing-T offense to the school but throughout the course of the year, he learned that junior quarterback Jordan Plank was more comfortable in a spread offense set.

Gartman is still figuring out the team personnel, including some of the coaching staff that joined the team after he was hired, he previously said.