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After taking a pounding in their week three loss, the Springwood Wildcats rebounded nicely, dominating region opponent Banks Academy 40-14 on the road.

“We played a little better,” Springwood head coach John Gartman said. “Banks was better than I thought they’d be going into the season, with them not being in the AISA. We played pretty well for the most part, but we’ve still got some things that we need to clean up a little bit. I’m glad that we got the win and the fact that we made some progress as a team.”

The Wildcats dominated in the first half, outsourcing the Jets 40-6 in the first two quarters. Like normal, the Wildcats running game was the spearhead, running for more than 230 yards in the half.

Senior tailbacks OJ Tolbert and Kannon Key were the dynamic duo that led the Wildcats. Tolbert finished with 129 yards in the first half, while Key finished with 80 yards on the ground.

“He [Tolbert] did well,” Gartman said. “I thought all of our backs did well. OJ ran the ball well. Kannon Key had some good runs. Will Craft also did. We had a couple of guys, Jon-Jon Johnson and Cameron Sides that ran the ball well late in the game.”

Tolbert scored both touchdowns in the first quarter for the Wildcats, scoring from three and four yards out.

The bulk of the Wildcats offense was in the second quarter.

Junior quarterback Cooper Champion scored from one yard out for the first of four touchdowns in the quarter for the Wildcats. Tolbert scored twice in the quarter, running in touchdowns from 11 yards and nine yards out.

Senior tight end Jay Davidson caught the only completed Wildcat pass, scoring from 24-yards out.

Tolbert led the Wildcats with 154 yards. Key finished with 86 yards on 10 carries. Cameron Sides and Johnathan “Jon-Jon” Johnson added 29 yards.

The Wildcats are now 1-1 in their region and travel to Glenwood for their next contest.