HUNTSVILLE — Alma quarterback Gage Jensen led the Airedales to a 5A-West Conference road victory, but left Huntsville’s Eagle Stadium in an ambulance Friday.
Jensen completed 10 of 19 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown for Alma (5-2, 3-1 5A-West), and he rushed for 92 yards on 16 carries before sustaining an injury late in the third quarter of Alma’s 28-7 victory over Huntsville (3-4, 1-3).
Gamebreaker
WHY THE AIREDALES WON
Quarterback Gage Jensen had 92 yards rushing and 102 yards passing and a touchdown before suffering an injury in the third quarter.
WHY THE EAGLES LOST
Huntsville was unable to score an offensive touchdown, with its only score coming on an interception return.
The game was delayed for 20 minutes with 1 minute, 21 seconds left in the third quarter while trainers and emergency medical technicians attended to Jensen. He was pushed into the chain-link fence beyond the right sideline on a fourth-down quarterback run near the Huntsville 5-yard line.
He was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with concussion symptoms.
“Gage Jensen is an awfully fine young man and an extremely gifted athlete,” Huntsville coach Tom Tice said. “I hope he’s OK.”
Alma extended its 14-7 halftime lead with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jensen to Alex Elam in the third quarter and a 5-yard scoring run by Alex Burris in the final period.
“We came out in the second half and just marched out and scored,” Alma coach Todd Dilbeck said. “Of course, we had an injury right after the kickoff and then another injury. I think that may have hampered the game a little bit.”
Junior Malachi White capped a 12-play, 62-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to give Alma a 7-0 lead.
Huntsville answered on the final play of the first quarter when Brandon McRae returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
It was Alma’s turn to convert a turnover into points in the second quarter as Burris returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown to put the Airedales ahead 14-7 with 4:30 left in the half.