KICKOFF CLASSIC: Fourth-quarter rally lifts Pike Road over Catholic

Action from the 2020 AHSAA Kickoff Classic at Cramton Bowl. Pike Road defeated Montgomery Catholic, 63-34, on Thursday. (Photos courtesy AHSAA/Kristy Gallagher)

By TIM GAYLE

In a game that featured 986 yards and 14 touchdowns between the two teams, it was defense that finally settled the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Kickoff Classic between Catholic and Pike Road on Thursday night at Cramton Bowl.

“It was amazing,” Pike Road coach Patrick Browning said. “I hope we were able to give the fans every bit of their money’s worth.”

The Catholic Knights finally ran out of gas, sputtering to a halt on offense as Pike Road shifted into high gear and scored the last 41 points of the game to coast to a 63-34 victory in the season opener for both teams.

The game, telecast over a cable network and available nationwide through streaming, was drew nationwide attention as the 2020 high school football season opened against a backdrop of facially covered and sometimes socially distanced fans that braved intermittent rain to watch two teams that completed undefeated regular seasons a year ago and were meeting for the first time on the gridiron.

“I think I speak for every coach in the state of Alabama, we were thrilled to be able to play this game tonight,” Browning said. “We had no idea whether we were going to be able to play a season and the AHSAA did a great job with their medical team, making sure we had protocols in place this summer and the coaches in this state did a fantastic job following those protocols and that’s the reason we were able to play tonight.” 

Pike Road was forced to punt three plays into the game, only to get new life on a roughing-the-punter penalty. The next time a team lined up to punt was midway through the third quarter as Catholic clung to a 34-29 lead. After the penalty, the two teams combined to drive 459 yards in six possessions, with each team scoring three times for a 20-19 lead by Catholic with 8:09 remaining in the first half.

The Patriots’ next drive resulted in a Carson Fike field goal, following by an 80-yard bomb from Catholic freshman Caleb McCreary to D.J. Carter on the next play. Pike Road tailback Quinshon Judkins, running out of Wildcat formation, dropped a snap at the Catholic 1-yard line to kill a drive just before the half and Catholic opened the second half with a bomb from McCreary to Myles Butler on the third play of the second half for a 34-22 lead.

“That’s very out of character for us,” Browning said of the big-play breakdowns that resulted in Trey Wallace moving from receiver to cornerback in the second half. “No one was pleased, especially me. We told them at halftime if we would just stop the big plays, we’re going to win the game. That’s what they did in the second half minus the very first play after halftime.”

That was it for the Knights. The final six possessions ended with three interceptions, a pair of punts and a possession that stalled on downs. Pike Road, meanwhile, countered with four touchdowns on its next four possessions and a pair of interception returns for touchdowns. The Patriots were on cruise control while the Knights, it appeared, ran out of gas.

“It looked like it,” Catholic coach Aubrey Blackwell said. “I’ve got to go back and look at the tape and see. We knew there would be some areas we didn’t match up well. It definitely appeared that way. The leaning on us with the amount of size on both sides of the line definitely wore us out as the game went on.”

You would think with the lack of spring football practice and seven-on-seven summer camps, two teams that were breaking in new quarterbacks against quality defenses would struggle to find the end zone. Instead, two quality defenses were shredded by McCreary and Reeltown transfer Iverson Hooks, the new Pike Road signal caller.

“We’ve got some great players on both sides of the ball,” Browning said. “They’ve got some great players on both sides of the ball, also. I’m a little surprised at what the score ended up but, again, when you don’t have competition in the summer there are going to be some kinks that you’re going to have to work out.”

To add insult to injury, the Knights struggled to get any input from assistant coaches in the press box, hampering adjustments that were badly needed in a season opener. 

“Our CoachComm headsets didn’t work tonight,” Blackwell said. “They’re a year old. Again, it’s kinks you would work out in a spring game. They worked at our scrimmage last week and tonight they didn’t, so we had nothing from the (assistant coaches in the press) box. I guess that’s my fault, but when you don’t have any communication out of the box, that’s tough.”  

For Pike Road, Hooks was 16 of 25 for 296 yards while also running for 114 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 15 carries. Blake Durham was his favorite receiver, catching nine passes for 143 yards, while Wallace added 94 yards on four receptions. Judkins had 133 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, getting 97 of those yards while lined up beside Hooks and taking direct snaps from center Jeremiah Frazier. 

McCreary was 9 of 19 for 318 yards and three touchdowns, showing his ability to convert big plays for the Catholic offense but also throwing three interceptions – two of which were returned for touchdowns by Wallace and Sage Etheridge and another by Wallace that set up a touchdown two plays later. Carter had 105 yards on four receptions, while Butler had 183 yards on three receptions. Tailback Jeremiah Cobb rushed for 93 yards on 10 carries. 

“I’m really proud of how we played in this game for three quarters,” Blackwell said. “I think for three quarters we played some of our best football, offensively, that we’ve played around here. There were a lot of good things we could take away from this. We’ll just go back to work tomorrow and watch film, fix our mistakes and prepare for Charles Henderson.”

Catholic (0-1) travels to Troy next Friday to play 5A Charles Henderson in a game that was originally scheduled for Catholic but will now be played at Troy University. Pike Road (1-0) returns home to play Calhoun.