Written by: Chip Cirillo 

Destin Wade outdueled Chris Parson in a showdown of major-college commits.

That sparked Summit to a 49-28 win over Ravenwood, which put the Spartans in sole possession of first place in Region 7-6A in front of an overflow crowd in Spring Hill on Friday night.

Wade rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries for the Spartans (7-0, 3-0 7-6A).

Summit, which moved up to 6A after winning the 5A title last season, won its 18th straight game.

"It's a challenge, for sure, but we're just competing and having fun with it," Wade said of the move to 6A. "We're not scared of any opponent and I think that showed tonight, and we did pretty good. It was a good statement win."

The 6A newcomers could clinch the region championship with a win over Independence (3-4, 2-1) next week in the annual "Border Battle." 

Wade, a Kentucky commit, scored on runs of 1, 3 and 49 yards. His first run of the night, a 52-yard scamper with a nifty cutback move to the left, set up the Spartans' first TD.

"It takes more than one person to tackle him," Summit coach Brian Coleman said. "When he gets in the open field, he's dangerous, so we spread things out a lot and just let him go to work. From last year to this year, I think his vision and his speed have gotten a whole lot better."

Parson, a Florida State commit, passed for 131 yards and three TDs for the Raptors (5-2, 2-1).

He threw two TDs to Lee Molette and another to Michigan commit Myles Pollard.

Wade's 1-yard TD run gave the Spartans a 7-6 lead with 8:22 left in the first quarter and the hosts led the rest of the way.

"You watch film all week of him and you're, like, he's good and how do you stop him, right," Raptors coach Will Hester said. "You've got to be a willing participant to get him on the ground. You've got to get multiple people there. He's such a big and strong kid."  

Ravenwood narrowed the gap to 22-20 on Parson's 6-yard TD pass to Pollard with 8:03 left in the first half before Summit rattled off four consecutive touchdowns.

"People wondered how would they relate to 6A, right," Hester said. "Pretty darn well, it looks like."

Destin's twin brother, Keaten, another Kentucky commit, scored on a 27-yard TD run on an option pitch right to give Summit a 15-6 lead late in the first quarter.

"That wasn't really even supposed to be an option," Keaten said. "Ít was supposed to be a read with Destin and he was supposed to keep it, but he broke on the outside and I was just there so it was our chemistry and our perfect timing so that's how we got it done."

Keaten Wade intercepted Parson's deflected pass and gave Summit the ball at the Raptors' 35-yard line to set up Brandon King's 3-yard TD run that expanded the Spartans' lead to 29-20 late in the first half.

"My middle linebacker, James Turner, made a good deflection and read the play good and I was just there at the perfect time to catch it," Keaten said.

The next time Ravenwood had the ball Keaten tackled Parson on a fourth and 2 play, holding the quarterback to a 1-yard gain and giving the ball back to the Spartans.

Five plays later, Brady Pierce's 6-yard TD run increased the Spartans' lead to 36-20 with one minute left in the first half.

The Wade twins both came up big for Summit. 

"It was tough for us to bring him down," Raptors linebacker Andrew Dudas said of Destin. "Tackling him by the legs is hard and tackling him anywhere is hard."

The loss ended Ravenwood's five-game winning streak.

Keaten Wade rushed for 86 yards and one TD on nine carries.

Up Next

Ravenwood hosts Centennial in a region game Friday.

Summit hosts Independence in a region game Friday.