E.A. Sports Today

Donoho a perfect 10

Falcons shut out Coosa Christian to finish regular season 10-0

By East Alabama Sports Today

GADSDEN — Anytime you get a 9-0 team facing a 1-8 team one might expect the score to get out of hand. It was no exception Thursday as unbeaten Donoho dismantled Coosa Christian 62-0 to put the wraps on an undefeated regular season that featured eight shutouts.

”I am proud of the way these guys have played throughout the season,” Falcons coach Shannon Felder said. “We’ve been able to overcome some adversity with injuries to key players and through it all the team has been able to stick together and has helped us be where we are today.”

Justin Foster rushed for 97 yards and scored four touchdowns on his six carries as the fourth-ranked Falcons (10-0) rolled up 312 yards of total offense.

The Falcons, who open the Class 1A playoffs next week at home against Decatur Heritage, scored early and often in the first half as they rolled out to a 49-0 lead. The Conquerors only had 18 players dressed out, but they battled as hard as they could.

A failed fake punt set up Donoho early, at the 35. Four plays later Foster scampered 15 yards for his first touchdown and the rout was on. Foster also scored on runs of 13, 7 and 31 yards.

Before the half was over, Chandler Collins found the end zone and Trey Brown had two touchdown runs.

Donoho’s other scores came in the third quarter on a 20-yard interception return by Mitchell Baker and Tej Patel’s 5-yard run. Baker had two of the Falcons’ four interceptions.

The Donoho defense held the Conquerors to 37 yards of net offense, 32 of which came on one run in the fourth quarter. Sam Garner had 12 tackles and a fumble recovery, Parker Morgan had seven tackles and John Hutto six.

This is third 10-0 regular season in Falcons’ history. The other two were in 2006 and 1978. The last was in 2006. They currently have a 13-game regular-season winning streak.

They went into the final week of the season one of 21 undefeated teams in the AHSAA.

“We talked a lot this week about not losing our focus,” Felder said. “I watched Coach (Nick) Saban last night and he talked about how they came out on fire against Tennessee and then they lost their focus and intensity and how hard it was to get it back.

“We do not want that to happen to us. We want to continue to work hard and try to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. So far we have done a pretty good job of that.”

Category Don CC
First downs 15 6
Rushes-yds 37-296 26-26
C-A-I 2-3-0 4-18-4
Passing yds 66 11
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Punts-avg 2-33.5 4-25.8
Penalties-yds 9-80 3-32

Donoho 21 28 13 0 — 62
Coosa Chr. 0 0 0 0 — 0

D – Justin Foster 15 run (Mitchell Baker kick)
D – Trey Brown 1 run (Baker kick)
D – Chandler Collins 10 run (Baker kick)
D – Foster 13 run (Baker kick)
D – Foster 7 run (Baker kick)
D – Foster 31 run (Baker kick)
D – Brown 5 run (Baker kick)
D – Baker 20 interception return (Baker kick)
D – Tej Patel 5 run (Baker kick)

You must be logged in to post a comment Login