HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Last Friday, Huntsville was playing in a crucial game when it came to its contention in Class 7A Region 4.

The Panthers pieced together a pretty defying 36-7 win over Albertville, and an integral part of adding another to the win column belongs to junior running back Marlin Jones Jr. With 30 carries, he reached the end zone four times which is a career-high for Jones.

“Marlin has you know through six games, he played in five of them and he’s rushed for about 590 yards and I’m really proud of where he’s come he’s a junior this year, and he’s just gotten better each year,” said Huntsville football head coach Mark Fleetwood. “He practices hard, he’s a guy that in the weight room in the offseason, he does a good job just seeing the fruits of his labor paying off and he’s added a spark to us, and he runs the ball extremely hard between the tackles. He can run outside he can catch the ball outside of the backfield so he’s a versatile back.”

You see Fleetwood uses the word ‘spark’ when describing what Jones brings to the team. And he provided many sparks against the Aggies, his biggest moment though was a 34-yard run with about five minutes to go in the third to really seal the deal for the Panthers.

“Well I didn’t know if he was going to get there, I got worried at first but boy he took it to the middle, then hit the outside and then got up the sideline and at a key time when we sort of needed to break the game open,” said Coach Fleetwood.

“I ain’t going to lie, I kind of got tired at the end. Coach said he didn’t know if I was going to make it or not but I saw the backers kept flowing in, so I went inside and the corner came and that’s when I sort of bounced outside and finished the run,” said Jones.

And Jones is just ready to throw on his pads and strap on his helmet again this week.

“My favorite thing about playing is those Friday nights you know,” said Jones, “Huntsville spirit! I take it one game at a time and I’d really like to improve my yards.”

Huntsville will need Jones to keep that momentum going on the gridiron as they have another crucial region game on the ballot this week against Florence.