Playoff roundup
- Updated: November 8, 2014
Oxford cuts it close; Saks wins big, J’ville advances, Central-Clay Co. survives
Friday’s Calhoun County scores
Jacksonville 49, Locust Fork 35
Donoho 65, Decatur Heritage 0
Wellborn 42, Geraldine 14
Piedmont 34, Pisgah 6
Plainview 34, Weaver 6
Oxford 25, Dothan 19
Madison County 38, Alexandria 30
Saks 64, North Jackson 41
Next week’s playoff matchups
Calhoun County games
Donoho (11-0) at Marion County (6-5)
Piedmont (8-3) at Madison Academy (10-1)
Oakman (10-1) at Wellborn (7-3)
Saks (10-1) at Deshler (10-1)
Fayette County (8-3) at Jacksonville (9-2)
McAdory (11-0) at Oxford (6-5)
Around the area
Ragland (10-1) at South Lamar (5-6)
Tanner (9-2) at Randolph County (9-2)
Cleveland (9-2) at Woodland (8-3)
Gaston (8-3) at Ranburne (10-0)
Lauderdale (9-2) at Glencoe (11-0)
W.S. Neal (7-3) at Munford (8-3)
Cleburne County (9-2) at Cordova (8-3)
Central-Clay County (8-3) at St. Paul’s (11-0)
Lincoln (7-4) at Pleasant Grove (9-2)
Southside-Gadsden (9-2) at Decatur (8-3)
Oak Mountain (10-1) at Gadsden City (9-2)
By East Alabama Sports Today
DOTHAN — The Oxford Yellow Jackets made one of the longest trips in the first round of the high school playoffs Friday night and quarterback Ty Webber made sure it was not a wasted trip.
Now, the Yellow Jackets get to play at home.
Webber threw for one touchdown and ran for two others, including a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 32 seconds to play, to lift the Yellow Jackets to a 25-19 victory over Dothan in the Class 6A South playoffs Friday night.
The win was Oxford’s third in its last four games and sends it to play undefeated No. 6 McAdory (11-0) Friday at Lamar Field. It guarantees the Jackets (6-5) a seventh straight non-losing season.
“We have fought all year and felt like a lot of folks did not believe in us,” Oxford coach Ryan Herring said. “We had great senior leadership tonight.”
Webber took the Jackets 70 yards in 13 plays for the winning score after the Tigers (5-6) took a 19-17 lead on Evan Hogan’s 27-yard field goal with 5:32 to play. After scoring the touchdown, he threw the two-point coversion pass to Jacob Cook.
Webber scored on another 1-yard sneak earlier in the game and threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Cook. He finished with 117 yards rushing on 17 carries. Tre Gamble had 200 yards on 26 carries; he has 1,100 yards in his last five games.
“We worked hard all week,” Gamble said. “It’s the playoffs and we really wanted to play well. It was just a great team effort.”
Keaton Borrelli gave the Jackets a 17-7 lead with a 30-yard field goal two minutes before halftime, but the Tigers cut into it with a field goal of their own on the final play of the half.
Ty Williams’ 65-yard run drew Dothan within 17-16 in the third quarter, but the Tigers missed the game-tying extra point.
Jacksonville 49, Locust Fork 35
LOCUST FORK – Sid Thurmond ran for two touchdowns and scored on a 35-yard fumble recovery to send the Golden Eagles into the second round of the 4A playoffs for the second year in a row.
Thurmond was part of a balanced offensive attack. Tae Ackles and Niko Richmond rushed for 95 and 93 yards, respectively, and each scored a touchdown. Quarterback Quen Veasley accounted for 223 yards with 83 yards rushing and 140 yards on 10-of-15 passing.
Thurmond’s touchdown runs covered 11 and 42 yards. He also caught three passes for 63 yards.
“We had several kids step up tonight,” Jacksonville coach Clint Smith said. “A lot of things happened tonight – it went back and forth – and the kids did a good job responding to that.
The eighth-ranked Golden Eagles (9-2) host No. 9 Fayette County (8-3) in the next round.
Saks 64, North Jackson 41
The matchup really had Saks coach Jonathan Miller worried, but in the end the Wildcats had enough firepower to survive and advance.
The fifth-ranked Wildcats stopped the visitors on the game’s first possession, then Calvin Figueroa went 75 yards on their first play and they were off to a 22-0 first-quarter lead. It was 44-6 at halftime.
“Any time you play a team that leads 4A in scoring it’s something you need to worry about,” Miller said. “But we played physical, fast. We won the line of scrimmage.”
Devin Harris scored five touchdowns – four rushing and one on an interception return. Figueroa scored three times. They had 280 rushing yards in the first quarter alone.
Harris finished with 293 and Figueroa with 199.
On paper the road doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats. They travel to No. 4 Deshler next week.
Central-Clay County 28, Eufaula 24
LINEVILLE – Jaylon Lyles scored the last of his three touchdowns on a 2-yard run late in the fourth quarter to put the Volunteers on top for good and D.J. Ford preserved it with an interception with 6.2 seconds to play.
The reward for their sixth straight victory is a trip to top-ranked St. Paul’s in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
The game featured seven lead changes. The Tigers opened the scoring with a field goal and the teams spent the rest of the night trading scores.
The Volunteers’ go-ahead drive was highlighted by a throwback pass from Lyles to J.T. Burns to pick up a key first down. Once they had the lead, the Vols turned to the defense. Lane Browning’s sack forced the Tigers to throw deep, where Ford went over the receiver to make his game-sealing interception.
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