MA-ANDY: Burnett leads Bulldogs to easy win over MA
J’Marion Burnett rushed for 135 yards in just one half of play to lead Andalusia to an easy win over Montgomery Academy on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy entered Friday’s 4A Region 2 showdown with perennial power Andalusia knowing that a lack of depth could prove critical against a physical opponent that reached the semifinals of the 5A state playoffs a year ago.
The Eagles’ depth, or lack of, never became an issue. The much-anticipated matchup was settled in a matter of minutes.
The running of J’Marion Burnette, an interception return for a touchdown by Kameron Weaver and a blocked punt by Dorian Crittenden helped the Bulldogs to a 28-point lead in the first quarter on the way to a 49-7 rout of the Eagles at McLemore Field on Friday night.
“We didn’t match up physically at all,” Montgomery Academy coach Robert Johnson said. “There’s nothing we can do about that. You’ve got to play with what you’re dealt. Our kids have got to play better and I think we will. I think we learned a lot tonight.”
The 42-point loss is tied for the third worst defeat ever at McLemore Field and it could have been worse. The first seven times Burnette touched the ball, he scored on three of the runs. The four-star junior tailback, who counts Alabama and Auburn among his 23 offers, finished the first half with 135 yards on nine carries and never played in the second half with the Bulldogs owning a commanding 35-0 lead.
“We had a good game plan coming into this week,” Burnette said. “We executed every day in practice, worked as a team and played a real good football game against a really good team.”
The first time Burnette touched the ball, he carried a pile of players five yards. The second time, he weaved through the MA defense for 33 yards on the way to the end zone. His first carry of the second quarter was a 66-yard sprint to the end zone. It was eerily similar to Maplesville’s Tommy Agee, another junior who visited McLemore Field in 1981 with a running style that was in a league of its own.
“He’s really good,” Johnson said of Burnette. “I wish him luck. I wish he was a senior and I could say that maybe this is the last time we’ll see him. I think he needs to declare early and go straight into the NFL.”
Of course, there was more than Burnette. Weaver, a force on the defensive side of the ball, sniffed out a third-down screen play by the Eagles and grabbed Carson Springer’s pass out of the air at the Andalusia 9-yard line. No one challenged the Andalusia linebacker as he sprinted 91 yards toward the opposite goal line for a 14-0 lead.
Montgomery Academy’s next possession ended with three plays and a blocked punt as Crittenden smothered Springer’s punt at the 20-yard line, setting up three runs by Burnette to reach the end zone for a 21-0 lead.
Three plays and a punt later, Jack Lathrop found tight end CJ Sinkfield for a short pass that turned into a 40-yard touchdown play on the final play of the first quarter.
Andalusia has spent the week mourning the death of former basketball player Brendan Davison, a teammate of several of the football players, so veteran coach Trent Taylor said he was unsure how his team would respond. The Bulldogs ran, passed, intercepted a pass and blocked a punt to finish off the region matchup in 12 minutes.
“Our kids have been through a lot this week, obviously, and I was really proud of how they responded,” Taylor said. “We had a really good week of practice. We really didn’t know if we were making any improvement with the teams we’ve been playing. That’s a good football team. We challenged them before we came out to bring the physicality to them.”
The challenge was accepted as Montgomery Academy managed just 31 rushing yards on 18 carries in the first half while Andalusia finished with 385 total yards despite a running clock in the second half that limited the Bulldogs to eight plays.
“We did what we could do and it paid off in the end,” Burnette said. “We came out with the ‘dub.’”
Crittenden ran 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half and Zerrick Jones added a 33-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Montgomery Academy’s touchdown came on an 18-yard pass from Springer to Bryson Lilly in the fourth quarter.
“We made a lot of mistakes but that has a lot to do with them,” Johnson said. “The lesson to be learned is if we want to compete against teams like that, we can’t make those mistakes. But they’re great. We could have played mistake-free and we’re still going to get drilled tonight. That’s a well-oiled machine.”
Montgomery Academy (3-2) fell to 2-1 in region play and will travel to Faulkner’s John Mark Stallings Field next week to play Alabama Christian.