Anniston stuns Cubs
- Updated: October 24, 2015
County roundup: Bulldogs blank region champs for second straight shutout; Saks, Jax nearly score 100
By East Alabama Sports Today
Probably nobody outside the locker room believed Anniston could pull it off, but the Bulldogs believed and because they did they are heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Playing what coach Eddie Bullock called their best game of the year, the Bulldogs knocked off previously undefeated region champion Alexandria Friday 25-0 to earn the No. 4 seed out of Class 5A Region 6.
“We pulled it off,” Bullock said. “We had to win. If we won, we’re in, if we lost, we’re out.
“Nobody gave us a chance. It’s a good feeling when nobody believes in you but you and you get a win like that. I told them I felt we were good enough to win and should’ve been playing like that.”
Seventh-ranked Alexandria (7-1, 6-1) had been averaging 438 yards and 41 points a game, but the Bulldogs (4-4, 4-3) held the Valley Cubs to less than 200 yards in handing them their first shutout since October 2013. It was the first time Anniston had shut them out since 2010.
The Cubs did get the ball inside the 10 twice, but Anniston turned them away with a fumble and a fourth-down stop. Despite the loss, they’re still the region’s No. 1 team by virtue of their victory over Mortimer Jordan.
It was Anniston’s second straight shutout, the first time since 1997 (Saks and Talladega) they’ve posted back-to-back shutouts in consecutive weeks. In 2000 they shut out consecutive opponents (Jacksonville and Sylacauga), but they had an open date in between.
Brashaud Harris had 12 tackles and an interception. Edward Montgomery had 14 tackles and Elijah Jackson had 12 tackles.
“This was a little better than St. Clair County,” Bullock said, referring to their last shutout. “This game we didn’t make any major mistakes.”
The Bulldogs showed they meant business when Tae Miller went 74 yards on the first play for a touchdown. Miller later threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Ross.
ANNISTON 25, ALEXANDRIA 0
Alexandria 0 0 0 0 — 0
Anniston 6 12 0 7 — 25
AN – Tae Miller 74 run (PAT failed), 11:36 1Q
AN – Hakeem Ross 21 pass from Miller (PAT failed), 9:54 2Q
AN – L.J. Heard 11 run (PAT failed), 6:29 2Q
AN – Jeremy McCants 21 run (Marcelous Mosley kick), 1:44 4Q
Piedmont 35, Weaver 14
WEAVER – Darnell Jackson rushed for 115 yards and one touchdown and threw a touchdown pass in the third quarter as Piedmont completed an undefeated run through Class 3A Region 6 with a 35-14 victory over Weaver.
Both teams have qualified for the Class 3A playoffs, with the Bulldogs (8-1, 7-0) the No. 1 seed.
Jackson scored on a 13-yard run in the first quarter. He threw an 18-yard pass to Wil Mitchell in the third quarter that closed the scoring. He also had a punt return for a touchdown called back by a penalty.
Piedmont got off to an explosive start with Bayley Blanchard returning the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, but the Bulldogs couldn’t shake their hosts until quarterback Taylor Hayes broke off a 44-yard touchdown run with 1:29 left in the first half for a 28-14 lead.
Hayes rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. The Bulldogs rushed for 367 yards as a team.
Delo Forbes scored both touchdowns for Weaver (4-5, 4-3) – on a 70-yard pass from Dalton Hamby in the first quarter and a 70-yard run in the second.
PIEDMONT 35, WEAVER 14
Piedmont 14 14 7 0 — 35
Weaver 7 7 0 0 — 14
P – Bayley Blanchard 89 kickoff return (Easton Kirk kick), 11:45 1Q
W – Delo Forbes 70 pass from Dalton Hamby (Riley Benavides kick), 3:54 1Q
P – Darnell Jackson 13 run (Kirk kick), 1:27 1Q
P – Taylor Hayes 1 run (Kirk kick), 3:00 2Q
W – Forbes 70 run (Benavides kick), 2:30 2Q
P – Hayes 44 run (Kirk kick), 1:29 2Q
P – Wil Mitchell 18 pass from Jackson (Kirk kick), 3:47 3Q
Team stats P W
First downs 18 10
Rushing yds 367 135
C-A-I 6-12-0 10-22-2
Passing yds 89 187
Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0
Punts-avg 1-40.0 NA
Penalty yds 55 45
Saks 63, Jacksonville 36
JACKSONVILLE – Calvin Figueroa rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns and Quin Smith threw for four scores as Saks scored the most points in the history of the series while beating the Golden Eagles for a fifth straight year.
The 63 points by the ninth-ranked Wildcats (7-2, 6-1) were one short of tying the school record. The 99 combined points were the most by the two teams in the history of the series.
Figueroa rushed for 169 yards on his four touchdowns alone. Demetrius Powell also scored four touchdowns, three of passes from Smith and a 53-yard run. Smith also threw a touchdown pass to Kenyan Mays.
Tae Ackles and Nico Richmond each scored two touchdowns for Jacksonville (6-4, 4-3); Ackles scored the first and last touchdowns of the game.
Ackles rushed for 96 yards on 19 carries and finished the season as a 1,000-yard rusher (1,011 yards in nine games). He lined up as the punter late in the game and fell on a bad snap for a 23-yard loss, but the play went against the team’s yardage not his individual record, preserving his 1,000-yard season.
SAKS 63, JACKSONVILLE 36
Saks 14 21 14 14 — 63
Jacksonville 14 9 7 6 — 36
J — Tae Ackles 1 run (Preston Harvey kick), 11:23 1Q
S — Calvin Figueroa 67 run (Anthony Cornejo kick), 11:03 1Q
J — Nico Richmond 4 run (Harvey kick), 8:58 1Q
S — Demetrius Powell 17 pass Quin Smith (Cornejo kick), 3:39 1Q
S — Figueroa 1 run (Cornejo kick), 10:27 1Q
J — Safety, Patterson tackled Smith in end zone, 8:47 2Q
S – Powell 77 pass from Smith (Cornejo kick), 4:25 2Q
J — Quin Veasley 19 run (Harvey kick), 3:35 2Q
S — Figueroa 43 run (Cornejo kick), 2:00 2Q
S — Figueroa 58 run (Cornejo kick), 11:47 3Q
S – Powell 18 pass from Smith (Cornejo kick), 7:33 3Q
J — Richmond 35 run (Harvey kick), 5:32 3Q
S – Kaynan Mays 10 pass from Smith (Cornejo kick), 11:52 4Q
S – Powell 53 run (Cornejo kick), 7:19 4Q
J — Ackles 1 run (kick failed), 3:59 4Q
Glencoe 48, Pleasant Valley 8
JACKSONVILLE – Pace Ozmint rushed for 144 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 60-yard pass from Chase Wilson to open the scoring as sixth-ranked 3A Glencoe kept Pleasant Valley winless.
Austin Bush went for 111 yards on 10 carries as the Yellow Jackets (8-1, 6-1) rushed for 452 yards as a team and outgained the Raiders 521 yards to 102.
Ozmint, Bush and Wilson have combined to rush for more than 1,700 yards and 22 touchdowns this season.
Ethan Borders rushed for 53 yards for PV (0-9, 0-7). Caden Turner scored the Raiders’ only touchdown, capping a 13-play, 74-yard drive.
GLENCOE 48, PLEASANT VALLEY 8
Glencoe 14 13 7 14 — 48
Pleasant Valley 0 0 0 8 — 8
G – Pace Ozmint 60 pass from Chase Wilson (Andrew Lang kick), 9:49 1Q
G – Taylor Daugherty 3 run (Lang kick), 2:11 1Q
G – Ozmint 18 run (kick failed), 9:38 2Q
G – Ozmint 14 run (Lang kick), 2:59 2Q
G – Ozmint 6 run (Lang kick), 7:30 3Q
G – Aaron Bush 13 run (Kaitlyn Smith kick), 11:49 4Q
PV – Caden Turner 1 run (Josh Preston pass from Elijah Borders), 6:55 4Q
G – Micah Sizemore 6 run (Smith kick), 2:06 4Q
Team stats G PV
First downs 23 11
Rushes-yds 48-452 35-80
C-A-I 2-8-0 4-17-1
Passing yds 69 22
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Punts-avg 0-0 5-26.4
Penalties-yds 6-106 4-38
Wellborn 42, Ohatchee 14
Jordan Montgomery, Kedrick Harris and D.J. Rhoden all ran for two touchdowns as the Panthers rolled up more than 400 yards of offense to get past Ohatchee.
Rhoden led the rushing attack with 131 yards on 18 carries, while Montgomery (82) and Harris combined for 122 yards on 18 carries. The Panthers (6-3, 5-2), the No. 3 team from 3A Region 6.
Ohatchee (3-6, 2-5) moved the ball, but were shut out in the second half. Austin Tucker and Taylor Eubanks rushed for 79 and 77 yards, respectively, and each scored a second-quarter touchdown. Eubanks had 11.5 tackles on defense.
WELLBORN 42, OHATCHEE 14
Ohatchee 0 14 0 0 — 14
Wellborn 14 7 7 14 — 42
W – Jordan Montgomery 4 run (Montgomery kick)
W – Kedrick Harris 4 run (Montgomery kick)
O – Austin Tucker 5 run (Dakota Wise kick)
W – D.J. Rhoden 5 run (Montgomery kick)
O – Taylor Eubanks 1 run (Wise kick)
W – Harris 3 run (Montgomery kick)
W – Montgomery 20 run (Montgomery kick)
W – Rhoden 45 run (Montgomery kick)
Team stats O W
First downs 15 17
Rushes-yds 50-190 44-282
C-A-I 1-8-0 5-6-0
Passing yds 9 127
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Punts-avg 2-38.5 0-0
Penalties-yds 3-25 9-62
Cherokee County 45, White Plains 6
Tyren Dupree completed the only two passes he threw for scores and the Warriors scored touchdowns on five of their first six plays to nail down the No. 3 seed in 4A Region 6.
Dupree got the Warriors (6-3, 5-3) started with touchdown passes to Quartez Henderson and Justin McKnight and by quarter’s end they had a 35-0 lead. If you did the math, Dupree’s passer rating for the game would be 707.20 or 158.33 by NFL standards.
Gage Whiteside scored the only touchdown for White Plains (1-8, 0-7) on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.
CHEROKEE COUNTY 45, WHITE PLAINS 6
Cherokee Co. 35 0 0 10 — 45
White Plains 0 0 0 6 — 6
C – Quartez Henderson 50 pass from Tyren Dupree (James Sewell kick)
C – Justin McKnight 16 pass from Dupree (Sewell kick)
C – Brendan Bray 22 run (Sewell kick)
C – Jacob Graves 19 run (Sewell kick)
C – McKnight 33 run (Sewell kick)
C – Sewell 27 FG
W – Gage Whiteside 1 run (kick failed)
C – KaVon Stubbs 9 run (Sewell kick)
Team stats CC WP
First downs 10 15
Rushes-yds 22-118 47-138
C-A-I 6-7-0 2-8-2
Passing yds 155 4
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
Punts-avg 1-30.0 3-18.0
Penalties-yds 7-60 3-35
On the cover: Anniston’s L.J. Heard (34), looking for room in an earlier game against Moody, scored one of the Bulldogs’ touchdowns Friday night against Alexandria. (Photo by Prime Time Prepz/www.primetimeprepz.com)
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