1ST ROUND PREVIEW: MA looking for 2021 magic in playoffs
Led by Robert Johnson (far left), the Montgomery Academy Eagles begin the quest to return to the Super 7 with the playoff opener at T.R. Miller on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
A year ago, Montgomery Academy juggled its offensive lineup by moving tailback Jamal Cooper to quarterback and the Eagles responded with four consecutive wins to reach the 3A title game.
Can history repeat itself?
This year, the Eagles were 3-5 and had to win games at Slocomb and Geneva to earn a playoff berth. Coaches juggled the defensive lineup by putting senior linemen Owen Johnson and Kenny Heumann side by side on the defensive line and Montgomery Academy responded with two of its best defensive performances of the season.
“We’re a work in progress and we knew it,” Montgomery Academy coach Robert Johnson said. “We knew it was going to take us a while to find the right formula. So we’ve been doing different things, trying to put people in difference places. What we fell into the last two weeks is Kenny and Owen playing all the time on defense.”
Johnson and Heumann are among the most experienced of the 14 seniors so it made sense to lean on their talents. Johnson played primarily defense, anchoring the line at nose guard.
“He’s a three-year starter that’s been super valuable for us,” Robert Johnson said. “He’s really hard to block, but he’s also a captain and a great leader for us. He rotates in on offense, but the reason he doesn’t start is because we need that one guy who can fill in at a moment’s notice. And he knows all the positions. He can do any of them.”
Heumann has started at left tackle for the last two years but didn’t play a lot of offense.
“To start the season, I would go one, two plays on defense when Owen went out,” Heumann said. “With this change, I’m on both sides of the ball most of the game. When I do get tired, me and Owen rotate (at tackle) but (the change on defense) shut down the interior run game for a lot of these teams and that helped our defense get to our full potential.”
The defensive front had featured Johnson and Jet Tomlinson in the middle and Jashawn Cooper and Graham Martin at the ends, but now allows Cooper to play more at linebacker after Tomlinson has moved outside.
“I feel like it really boosted us on defense,” Owen Johnson said. “We had Jet Tomlinson playing three-tech and I was at nose guard. He was good, but he’s not as beefy as us. Putting us both as two-techs, we can’t get moved so it just kind of shut down the interior run game.
“It’s a huge reason why we’ve played really well the last two weeks,” Robert Johnson added. “It allows us to do a few more things with the linebackers and DBs because of their play. I think that’s changed our season a little.”
The Eagles (5-5) still face an uphill battle in the playoffs, starting with Friday’s game at Brewton’s Municipal Stadium against T.R. Miller (9-1). Getting elevated from 3A to 4A because of Competitive Balance Factor has proven to be a challenge for Montgomery Academy after an impressive run through the 3A playoff bracket the last two years.
“I think the main difference is the teams we play (this year) have more depth,” Heumann said. “They also have bigger guys over 260 pounds. With us, it’s me and Owen as the two guys at the heavy weight. And we’re very thin in our depth.”
That doesn’t change the mindset for the Eagles, which will enter the 2022 postseason tied with Wetumpka for the longest string of consecutive playoff appearances (10) in the River Region.
“Last year, we lost a game right before the playoffs and that really gave us the drive to show everybody we’re better than that,” Owen Johnson said. “This year, it’s kind of the same thing. We haven’t had the best season, but when we hit the playoffs, it’s 0-0, so it’s a new season. Put all the stuff in the past away and play our game.”
Montgomery Academy has been in that win-or-go-home mode for the past three weeks, needing two region wins to clinch a playoff berth.
“These last two games we played, they were pretty much playoff games,” Heumann said. “If we didn’t win them, it was done for us. So we’ve been 0-0 for the last three weeks. I think it’s going to give us a great drive against T.R. Miller. We’ve already been playing to stay in it and not go home.”