SOUTHWEST 1A BOYS FINAL: Autaugaville keeps moving towards championship goal

Autaugaville moved into the state semifinals in Class 1A with a victory over Keith on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

It’s been 16 years since Autaugaville earned a trip to the state tournament.

The Eagles, a perennial power in the 1980s and through the mid-1990s, took care of Keith 63-45 in the Southwest Regional 1A championship game on Thursday night at Garrett Coliseum to advance to the state tournament for the first time since losing to J.F. Shields in the 1A championship game in 2005.

For the small Autauga County community 15 miles west of Prattville, basketball is the one sport that draws generations of sports fans in the community back to the high school gym on Friday nights.

“I can’t say enough about the community this year,” Autaugaville coach Darren Golson said. “They have supported these kids and the school tremendously. We went two and a half hours away to McIntosh (in the regional semifinals) and it seemed like the whole community was there. We had more fans, two and a half hours away, than McIntosh had. They were here tonight. Not only do they follow us, but if we need anything, they pour it out to us. All we have to do is ask. Whatever we ask for, they’ve taken care of us.”

This year’s team has earned the support of the community with a 29-0 record, reaching the regionals for the eighth time in the 16 years since losing to Shields with a team built with good guard play, a playmaker in 6-foot-8 forward Dewaun Stubbs that responded on Thursday with 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots and a beast in the paint in 6-3, 260-pound center Makenzie Bristow-Matthews, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds, including 10 boards on the offensive end of the floor.

“We have four guards that are tremendous on defense,” Golson said. “We can shoot when we want to shoot, but why do we need to shoot when we can work it inside? I have 10 guys that love defense. Even when we’re not doing as well (offensively), we’re averaging holding opponents under 50 points.

That defense was tested on Thursday as an unevenly officiated game between two similar-style teams resulted in Autaugaville spending much of the night in foul trouble. Three starters had two personal fouls in the first seven minutes of the game and before the end of the third period, four starters had either three or four personal fouls. 

“Fouls are always a contributing factor in how you play,” Golson said, choosing his words carefully. “You want to play fast, but we had to slow it down. Certain plays we can’t play or defenses we can’t run and we couldn’t do a lot of that tonight. Luckily, they weren’t shooting as well as they usually do because they can really shoot it. We’re lucky for that.”

Three times in the last 11 years, Golson’s team has finished as the area runner-up to Keith. He is well aware of the Bears’ capability, so he opted to start the third quarter with a more deliberate offense, only to switch out of it when two of his starters were called for charges.

“Might as well play,” he said. “It is what it is. Try to get a lead and hold on.”

The Eagles did more than hold on, pulling away in the fourth quarter for an 18-point lead to earn a berth in the semifinals on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Birmingham’s Bill Harris Arena against Decatur Heritage (17-8). 

Golson knows this year’s group of players and coaches will be judged not by the first 29 games they’ve won but the ones ahead. He was a junior on the 1982 Autaugaville team coach by Bennie Lee Justiss that routed McIntosh for the 2A state championship.   

“We had a chance to go back in ‘83 but didn’t make it,” he said, a reflection of the standard held by the school’s fans.

Golson was an assistant coach on the last Calvin Hunter-coached team in 2004 that reached the 1A semifinals, only to be turned away by Courtland 55-49. 

He returned as head coach in 2005, only to lose in the finals to J.F. Shields 64-58.

Now he’s back again, brushing aside two losses in area tournaments, six defeats in sub-regional games, six losses in the regional semifinals and last year’s loss to Francis Marion in the regional championship game since that debut as a championship contender in 2005.

For Golson, who earned a championship as an Autaugaville player, started his coaching career as a championship contender and finished his first year as a head coach playing in March, taking a team back to Birmingham after a 16-year absence has to generate a special feeling. 

“We’re not finished yet,” he said. “We’ve got two more games to go, hopefully. Then you can ask me that question.”