AISA CLASS AA CHAMPIONSHIP: South Choctaw ends Lowndes run of titles

South Choctaw coach Stacy Luker holds the Class AA championship trophy high after their win over Lowndes Academy on Thursday at Cramton Bowl. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

“Hairy Dog” was a memorable play for the South Choctaw Academy Rebels.

Trailing 7-6 in the AISA Class AA state championship game, the Rebels had been relentlessly driving the ball against three-time defending state champion Lowndes but now faced a third and 13 at the Lowndes 17-yard line.

South Choctaw coach Stacy Luker dusted off “Hairy Dog,” a play he installed on Monday, and the Rebels’ only pass completion of the day went for 14 yards and a first down, leading to the game-winning score on the next play and a 14-7 win at Cramton Bowl on Thursday for the program’s third state championship.

It was the first state championship since 2007 for South Choctaw (13-0), but the seventh state championship for Luker, the first-year coach and Hall of Famer who won five titles at Sweet Water and another at Clarke County.

“I didn’t want them to forget it, so we named it ‘Hairy Dog,’” Luker said. “We actually stole it off Georgia Saturday night. They ran the same play down on the goal line against Tennessee and I thought, man, that’s beautiful.”

It was beautiful for South Choctaw as well. After a holding penalty threatened to stall the drive, Kade Carroll rolled right on third and 13 and threw to Dawson Sikes for 14 yards, setting up Jackson Boykin’s 3-yard touchdown run on the next play.

Boykin also ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-7 lead.

“A good football game between two good football teams,” Luker said. “I felt like our style probably wore on them a little in the second half, especially that last drive.

“We just beat a really good football team. When you’ve run 30 games in a row, it’s hard to give it up.”

Lowndes Academy (11-1) entered the game with the state’s longest winning streak and three consecutive state titles, but met their match in an opponent that occasionally tried the corner, but ran much of the time between the tackles, chewing up nearly 17 minutes of the 24-minute second half.

“We had our style that we played and we stayed within it,” Luker said. “We have been in some fights before tonight … and I think that helped us in the second half. I thought the key, as I do every week, is the box. I tell our kids all the time win the box, win the game. That’s what it came down to, our ability to run the football and theirs to not. I felt like we sort of made them one dimensional at times during this game.”

After a scoreless first quarter, South Choctaw marched to the end zone on a methodical 13-play, 63-yard drive capped by Carroll’s 2-yard run for a 6-0 lead.

Lowndes answered in the final seconds of the first half on a 7-yard run by Jeremy Hardy. Watters Box drilled the extra point with 18 seconds remaining for a 7-6 halftime lead.

But the defending state champs managed just one first down and 21 total yards on its next two possessions, holding the ball just 5:20 of the first 15 minutes of the second half. As Lowndes grew weary, South Choctaw seemed to grow stronger.

“I thought it was a hard-nosed football game, two teams just playing tough,” Lowndes Academy coach Shane Moye said. “We felt like we played great defense the entire football game, just couldn’t get it going on the offensive side. I’m proud of my boys. What they’ve accomplished, winning 30 games in a row and having an opportunity to play for the fourth state championship is just an honor.”

Until South Choctaw’s final drive and “Hairy Dog,” it looked as if Lowndes would find a way to win its fourth straight title.

“There was nothing you could do,” Moye said. “They kept getting enough, kept getting enough and getting a first down. We had our opportunities, for sure, and didn’t capitalize. It’s a tough feeling watching the clock. Can we keep them out? Can we keep them out?”