Neither senior quarterback Kevin Henderson nor sophomore tailback Jamar “Marty” Jones had to pile up the big numbers that they normally do to lead Springfield to victory Friday night.

They both contributed however, with the intangibles.

While Jones drew the attention of the Northlake Christian defense all night, it was Henderson who took advantage by making the plays with his feet instead of his arm. Henderson, who has thrown for over 1,800 yards and 21 touchdowns this season, averaged nearly seven yards per carry Friday night with 66 yards on 10 keepers, along with a pair of touchdown runs.

When it was all said and done, not only did the Bulldogs end the regular-season with a 25-6 win over the Wolverines to clinch a home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs next Friday, but Springfield also received some other good news just prior to their game ending.

Jones, who did go over the 1,000-yard mark on the season Friday night, was bottled up by the Wolverines’ defense with only 32 yards on 16 carries.

Northlake Christian however, could put a cap on the Bulldogs’ senior wide receiver Darron “Slim” McKigney, who not only caught six passes for 68 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown late in the contest, but also threw one on a 19-yard halfback pass connection to fellow senior wide receiver Tony Patrick.

McKigney’ TD catch from Henderson didn’t exactly ‘ice’ game, since there was only 53 seconds left, but did signal the green light for teammates to give Springfield second-year head coach Ryan Serpas and two of his assistant coaches a “Gatorade-like” ice-water shower on the sidelines.

Henderson was 11-of-18 for the game for 144 yards, while Patrick grabbed four passes for 58 yards, Will Freeman one for 30 yards and Jones one for six.

But it was the hard-nosed running by Henderson that helped give the Bulldogs an early lead, first on a fourth-down, two-yard quarterback draw for a touchdown on the Bulldogs’ opening drive and then a 12-yard draw late in first half on third down to give Springfield a 12-0 lead at intermission.

“Our running back has been doing such as a great job when we play-action off of him, but I come out of the backside and he draws the whole defense to him,” said Henderson. “And our great blocking lets me get big gains.”

Northlake Christian was on the receiving end of the second-half kickoff, but on the second play from scrimmage, Wolverine QB Tim Broussard fumbled the ball and Springfield’s Chad Bryson scooped it up and returned it to the NLC 30

After three carries for 11 yards by Jones, McKigney tossed the 19-yard halfback score to Patrick to make it 18-0 with 9:30 to play in the third quarter.

Turnabout fair play, NCS executed a 71-yard halfback completion from running back Derek Williams to Cody Jones, who crisscrossed the field before being dragged down from behind  by Springfield’s Dwayne “Hootie” Davis at the Bulldogs’ 1 yard line.

After Springfield’s Kolandre Richardson stopped Williams in his tracks on first down, 5-10, 180-pound junior managed to squeeze in over the goal on second for Northlake Christian’s lone touchdown of the night.

A two-point conversion failed, as the Wolverines were flagged for attempting two forward passes.

Northlake Christian did convert a razzle-dazzle play on a fake punt late in the first quarter, as  punter-slash-quarterback Tim Broussard  hooked up with Austin Cherry for a 34-yard gain to give the Wolverines a first down on the Springfield 20.

NCS worked its way down to the Bulldog 1 yard line, but on fourth down, Williams was stopped short of the goal by Richardson and John Quaves.

Williams was NLC’s leading rusher on the night, but was limited to just 29 yards on 16 carries. The Bulldogs held the Wolverines to just 52 yards on the ground, while Springfield’s defensive front had five quarterback sacks.

Northlake Christian, which entered last Friday’s contest on the bubble at No. 29, will likely fall out of the playoff bracket.