Ben Allen scored two second-half touchdowns and Brandon “Cornbread” Thomas had 100 yards rushing and a TD to lead the Spalding High Jaguars to a 25-13 win over the Pike County Pirates in a preseason scrimmage Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

The Jags have beaten the Pirates for the third straight preseason.

Both teams started slowly, going three-and-out in their first two possessions of the game. Pike got the game’s initial first down at 6:50 in the first quarter while Spalding’s initial first down came at 4:12 of the first on an 18-yard run by Thomas.

Spalding drove down the field on Pike after Thomas’ run, gouging the Pirates with its ground attack and quarterback substitutions. But things looked bleak for the Jags when Pike defensive lineman Bailey Brunkhorst sacked quarterback Monquez Sullivan on third down at the Pirates 38. Undaunted, the Jags went for it on fourth down, with Thomas taking a pitch, breaking a tackle and scampering 38 yards for the TD with 1:36 left in the first. The extra point by Trey Gregory gave the Jags the 7-0 lead.

Pike came back on its ensuing possession. Pirates starting quarterback Tyler Gregory threw a nice 31-yard pass to tight end Jess DeVoursney to put them in Jags territory. After big runs by running back Artez Oglesby got Pike in the red zone, Gregory threw a fade pass in the corner of the end zone to senior receiver Darius Jordan for a touchdown. The extra point by Jarrod Fuqua tied the game at 7-all early in the second.

Spalding had a chance to take the lead late in the second. After Pike defenders Drew Wolf and Cameron House stopped Thomas on first and goal, Spalding quarterback Powell Krepps threw a screen pass to Thomas on fourth down. Thomas made some nice moves but was tackled at the Pirates’ 1-yard line and the score remained 7-7 at the half.

It was all Spalding in the second half. The Jags caught a break on a drive when Pike was called for a personal foul, keeping that drive alive and leading to Allen’s first TD run from 18 yards out. The point-after was no good so Spalding led 13-7 at 4:55 of the third quarter. Another mistake by Pike, this time a blocked punt by the Jags, led to Allen’s 4-yard TD run and a 19-7 Jags lead with 39.8 seconds left in the third.

Both teams played their young guys in the fourth, with Spalding getting good runs from freshmen Antonio Puckett and Xavier Rossell. Jags freshman quarterback Grant Moore threw a 14-yard TD pass to sophomore Jericho Thompson for the 25-7 margin midway through the quarter.

Pike sophomore tailback Tra Taylor scored a 14-yard rushing TD late in the fourth. The PAT was blocked and the game ended at 25-13.