4A SEMIS: Catholic falters in semis again as Andalusia advances to Super 7
Catholic’s Jeremiah Cobb runs off right tackle Daniel Burns in the Knights’ loss to Andalusia on Friday at Cramton Bowl. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Catholic changed region rivals, jerseys and locations before playing its 2022 semifinal, but it couldn’t change the outcome.
A year after losing to region rival Montgomery Academy in a 10-7 semifinal matchup at home, the Knights moved their semifinal rematch with Andalusia to Cramton Bowl.
The results proved to be the same, however, as the Bulldogs pulled off a three-point shocker over their region rivals, defeating Catholic 29-26 in the 4A semifinals.
For the second straight year, Catholic looked virtually unbeatable in winning its first 13 games, then committed an array of self-inflicted mistakes in the 14th game that ended its season a game short of the goal.
“They made the plays, we didn’t make the plays,” Catholic coach Kirk Johnson said. “That’s two years in a row where you dominated the regular season and when it’s time to take it to state, we didn’t. That’s on me.”
The Bulldogs (13-1) will face Cherokee County (12-2) for the 4A state championship in Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium on Friday at 11 a.m.
It marks the first trip to the Super 7 for Andalusia, who had lost five times in the semifinals over the last six years before finally reaching the championship game for the first time since winning a title in 1977 under legendary coach Don Sharpe.
“This is a big accomplishment,” Andalusia running back Dorian Crittenden said. “I don’t have any words. This is the biggest thing we ever did.”
Crittenden was a primary architect in the win. He generally plays linebacker on defense and spells one of the state’s top-rated juniors, tailback Jamarrion Burnett, but Burnett was hospitalized last week in the win over Anniston and wasn’t medically cleared to play in Friday’s game with Catholic.
“It’s just teamwork,” Crittenden said. “I saw I was going to have to take on a big role, so I stepped up and did it. But it’s all teamwork. We all did this, we all accomplished this.”
Crittenden ran the ball 45 times for 216 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns, allowing the Bulldogs to own the ball for 31:29 in the 48-minute game, a commanding time of possession margin that wore down the Catholic defense.
“Dorian was a tremendous football player for us in JV (junior varsity), played a lot as a ninth grader, but Dorian and I had some things we had to figure out together,” Andalusia coach Trent Taylor said. “He was away from football his junior year. I sat down with he and his mother and he said, ‘I want to do things right, I want to be something different.’ What a tremendous story for that young man to do what he did tonight on this stage and then have the opportunity to play in Auburn next week.”
In the Oct. 21 meeting in Andalusia, Catholic extended a 24-23 halftime lead with a 21-0 run in the second half by dominating the line of scrimmage and holding the Bulldogs to 47 total yards on four possessions over the first 22 minutes of the second half. Friday’s rematch was a completely different story as Crittenden carried the ball an astounding 14 times for 90 yards in the third period alone.
“No. 9 is a dude,” Johnson said. “We knew (Burnett’s absence) wasn’t going to matter. That kid is a college football player and we knew regardless of who ran the ball, they’ve got a big offensive line.”
While the Knights committed season-ending mistakes on offense and special teams that only compounded the problem, the Catholic defense struggled to slow a methodical Andalusia offense that churned out 23 first downs and 358 total yards.
“To be quite honest with you, I think we’re a better football team than we were in Week 10,” Taylor said. “That’s something we’ve taken a lot of pride in the last several years -- get better, get better, get better. Coach (Griffin) Windham does a fantastic job with our offensive linemen. Really and truly, front wise, it was the same thing we saw last time. I just think we did a better job tonight.”
The Knights scored in four plays to open the game, hitting Luke Harkless with a quick strike that turned into a 61-yard scoring reception and a 7-0 lead. But the next drive ended when a Caleb McCreary pass bounced out of Justin Rose’s hands and was intercepted by Tyler Sigers on the Andalusia 6-yard line.
That was followed by an unforced fumble on the next possession, a missed extra point on the fourth possession and a failed two-point conversion run on the fifth possession. In the second half, two promising Catholic drives were turned back in the red zone by the Bulldogs’ defense as Gabe Russo pushed two field goals wide left.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t make the plays,” Johnson said. “We had the ball in the red zone four times and couldn’t get points. We didn’t make the plays when it was time to. That’s on us as coaches for not having our guys prepared to make those plays.”
Sigers’ interception started the Bulldogs on a 13-play march to the end zone capped by Jack Lathrop’s quarterback sneak to tie the game early in the second quarter. The fumble led to another Andalusia touchdown as Crittenden scored on a 16-yard run untouched through the middle of the Catholic defense.
Jeremiah Cobb, who had 162 yards on 18 carries, scored on runs of 37 and 1 yards to give the Knights a 19-14 lead, but the Bulldogs moved the ball 62 yards in just over three minutes, scoring on Lathrop’s 18-yard pass to Tycamren Jackson for a 22-19 lead.
Crittenden would score again on an 8-yard run midway through the third period to put the Bulldogs ahead 29-19, but two missed field goal attempts by Russo left the Bulldogs comfortably in command.
Catholic got one more touchdown from Harkless with 4:03 left and got the ball back with 1:22 remaining, but turned the ball over after four incomplete passes.