AISA CLASS AA FINAL: 'Gritty' performance lifts Edgewood to championship

The Edgewood Academy Wildcats take hold of the AISA Class AA state championship trophy after the win over Autauga Academy on Friday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

His name didn’t show up much in the statistics, so Austin Champion’s performance at the Multiplex on Friday might have been overlooked by some. He had one admirer nervously pacing the sideline during Edgewood Academy’s battle with arch rival Autauga Academy, with Edgewood coach Darryl Free calling it the “grittiest performance I’ve ever seen from a high school kid” after Champion had suffered a heel injury a day earlier in the semifinals.

Champion limped through the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA finals and with some scoring help from Cooper Hall and Thomas Justiss the Wildcats were able to slide past the defending state champions for a 43-40 victory that gave Edgewood a sweep of the girls’ and boys’ AA championships.

“This has been two years in the making,” Free said. “Last year, we really struggled in close games. We talked about mental toughness, we preached mental toughness. I harp it all the time until they probably get tired of hearing it. But we were setting up for a game like tonight.”

 It wasn’t over until Evan Peak’s 3-point attempt bounced off the rim at the buzzer, allowing the Wildcats (23-4) to escape the clutches of a much improved Autauga team that reeled off six consecutive wins to surprise some people with an appearance in the finals.

“I thought that was exactly how it was going to go today, except I envisioned us on the winning side of it,” Autauga Academy coach William Turner said. “I knew it was going to be a close game. We have developed since the time we last played them on Jan. 17. We are not the same team any more. I think they found that out in the first half and had to really lock in to get it done.”

Edgewood also discovered how difficult it was to run an offense without their inspirational point guard and their pressure defense. With Champion limited in his movement, Free turned to Justiss, a freshman, to take over the point and directed some of his offensive schemes to run through Hall, but the Wildcats were also in need of their pressure defense, which is impossible to run if all five players on the floor can’t pressure the opposing players. 

“With his injury, we thought about getting out of the press and getting back in a zone,” Free said. “I came up to him at the start of the second half and said, ‘Look, we’ve got to get back in our press, can you do it?’ He said, ‘Coach, I can do it.’ That’s a testament to him. He can’t put weight on the bottom of his foot, but was able to come out (in the semifinals) and take over the game. He may not score as much (in the championship game), but if Austin Champion isn’t on the floor, we don’t win the ballgame.”

Champion delivered on the other end of the floor as well. Hall had a game-high 14 points, hitting the shot that put the Wildcats ahead 26-25 in the third quarter, then hitting another basket, then watching as Champion drilled a 3-pointer for his first points of the night. Another Hall basket followed and suddenly the Wildcats had an eight-point lead in a game where every point was valuable.

“The best player makes big shots when it matters,” Turner said of Champion, who hit another basket in the fourth quarter to finish with five points. “And he did.”

“They hit a couple of big shots,” Peak said. “In the fourth quarter, we made up for it.”

Hall finished with 14 points, followed by Justiss with 12. Damien Dickerson led Autauga with 13 points, followed by Cameron Wright with 11.

The Generals (12-10) would get as close as two points on two occasions in the final minutes as Dezmen Dickerson scored five of his eight points in the final three minutes, then within 41-40 with 16.4 seconds left on a Cameron Wright free throw.

Free then inserted senior guard JB Collier into the lineup and the Generals promptly fouled him, only to have Collier hit both free throws with 6.7 seconds left to give the Wildcats a three-point lead.

“JB’s had a rollercoaster ride his entire career,” Free said. “The last third of the season, he’s really stepped up for us and embraced a bigger role. For him to step up and hit clutch shot after clutch shot with those free throws … I don’t think it can happen for a better kid.”

Peak’s potential game-tying shot didn’t fall, allowing the Wildcats to win their third game against the Generals this season in the meeting that mattered the most.

“We had a shot with one second left to tie the game,” Turner said. “We came in here, playing with house money at 12-9 in our last six games, just to get here.”

Free saved some of his biggest praise for his opponent.

“That’s a young team over there,” Free said. “They’re going to be back. That’s a good basketball team over there. I give all the credit to Coach Turner, coming off a state championship and getting his team back ahead of schedule.”

It didn’t end the way Turner envisioned it, but it did for five Edgewood seniors, including the appropriately named Champion.

“It just makes everything worth it,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity. It’s been tough. I think today it all paid off.”