CLASS 3A FINALS: Montgomery Academy can't hold halftime lead in loss to Piedmont

Action from the Class 3A state championship game in Birmingham where Piedmont defeated Montgomery Academy, 35-33, on Thursday. (Jason Caldwell/Tim Gayle/Adam Sparks)

By TIM GAYLE

BIRMINGHAM – Considering the situation, it didn’t seem like much at the time.

Piedmont had benefited from a controversial pass interference call to score a late first-half touchdown, only to watch as Montgomery Academy drove down the field in quick fashion and answered with a score of its own. 

As Piedmont coach Steve Smith walked off the Protective Stadium field at halftime of the 3A finals, his team trailing by 23 points, he wasn’t sure what he would say to his players.

“In the first half, obviously, it didn’t go very well,” Smith said. “A lot of that credit needs to go to Montgomery Academy. We got behind big. At halftime, we really didn’t peel the paint off the walls (with halftime speeches) or anything, we just told our guys that if something didn’t change, we weren’t going to be happy. 

“Shoot, I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of anything like that.”

The Bulldogs (13-2) staged the most improbable comeback in the history of the Super 7 Championships, scoring 29 unanswered points on to way to a stunning 35-33 victory and their fourth championship in the last seven years.

Montgomery Academy, reaching the finals for the first time in 34 years, finished at 11-4.

“We knew they were going to come back,” Montgomery Academy coach Robert Johnson said. “I told (the players) we were going to go down and kick a field goal right at the end to win it. We just didn’t get that chance.”

Trailing 35-31, the Eagles would have two chances to win the game. Taking over at the MA 42 with a little more than five minutes remaining, Montgomery Academy ran five consecutive running plays to get to the Piedmont 9-yard line with a little more than two minutes left.

After quarterback Jamal Cooper was stopped for no gain, his exchange with tailback Ruston Bassett was fumbled and recovered by the Bulldogs.

Piedmont, which had a punt blocked earlier in the game by Montgomery Academy’s Chance Wilson, would take no chances on its next possession as punter Sloan Smith stepped out of the back of the end zone for the second time in as many possessions. 

“They had already blocked one punt,” Steve Smith said. “The second safety was probably by the book, but not a smart play because they’ve got an outstanding field goal kicker. If they got the thing down there in field goal range, it could’ve come back to bite us.”

They wouldn’t. Cooper was sacked on first down, scrambled on second down for eight yards, had his third-down pass batted down and was sacked again to finish off the rally. 

“Our defense has been really, really good all year long,” Smith said. “We felt very confident there as the way things were transpiring in the second half that we could stop them.”

Montgomery Academy, which managed just 44 total yards in the second half, stunned the Bulldogs with three lightning-quick touchdowns in the first 18 minutes. Cooper ran 62 yards for a touchdown, Wilson’s blocked punt set up a 30-yard touchdown pass from Cooper to Will Hardin on the next play and Wilson snatched the ball from a Piedmont receiver and returned the interception 67 yards for a 21-0 lead.

“We thought we had a chance to block a punt, but we got one and that was a big deal,” Johnson said. “What a great play. Then, the interception and the return. First, you thought the guy were going to catch it, then (Wilson) kind of poked it away from him. Once he grabbed it and spun away from him, I kind of thought he was going to score because he’s so fast. And Thomas Woodward made a heck of a block to finish it.”

Piedmont would answer with the help of a third-and-15 pass from Jack Hayes to Coleman Reid. Reid, behind Montgomery Academy’s Judson Lindsey, reached over Lindsey to bat the ball away, but Lindsey was called for pass interference. The Bulldogs used the controversial call for a first down and scored two plays later.

“I obviously thought it was offensive pass interference,” Johnson said. “I was clapping when the flag came out.”

An angry Eagle offense answered with an impressive 67-yard drive in 68 seconds, using passes from Cooper to D.J. Vinson for 32 yards and 28 yards to set up Jashawn Cooper’s 2-yard plunge with 16 seconds left. Lindsey ran in the two-point conversion for a 29-6 halftime lead.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of positive energy going on as we left the field, just to be quite honest with you,” Smith said.

Hayes, who had rushed for 75 yards but completed just 2 of 10 passes in the first half, was nearly unstoppable in the second half, rushing for 68 yards and completing 6 of 7 passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns to bring the Bulldogs back. 

“Nothing really changed with our game plan,” Hayes said. “We just had to come together as a team. He just told us in the locker room we have 24 minutes left in the season. Make it the greatest comeback anybody’s ever seen.”

It was, at least at the Super 7 Championships. Piedmont’s second-half performance was probably more like Johnson had expected before the game, but after a first half dominated by Montgomery Academy, it created a stunning turn of events.

“Really, it was the first drive (of the second half),” Piedmont senior lineman Steven Raney said. “We were able to come out and maintain our blocks longer and the running backs were running like mad men. We came out and executed. After we got that touchdown, it set the tone for the second half.”