PREP RECAP (Week 3): Catholic hammers Slocomb; Wetumpka tops Park Crossing
Jeremiah Cobb finds running room in Catholic’s win over Slocomb on Friday. (Dylan Hurst)
COMBINED REPORTS
The Montgomery Catholic Knights remained unbeaten after cruising past the Slocomb Red Tops, 58-0, on a rainy Friday night. Seven different Knights put points on the board in the region victory.
The two biggest contributors statistically were junior quarterback Caleb McCreary and senior tailback Jeremiah Cobb. McCreary completed 12 of 15 passes for 294 yards and four touchdowns while Cobb rushed 14 times for 116 yards and three touchdowns plus caught three passes from McCreary for 73 yards and a score.
“That’s a really talented group over there, and McCreary does a great job, Cobb does a great job, but I continue to say there’s a lot of other kids,” said Knights head coach Kirk Johnson. “Our offensive line blocks well, and E.J. Babies is back, and that makes us even more dimensional. He got some snaps in after dealing with an injury and I’m really proud of him.”
A group of senior wide receivers also scored as Justin Rose caught one pass for 84 yards and a touchdown, Josh Palmer caught three passes for 44 yards and a touchdown and LJ Green caught a pass for 21 yards and a touchdown.
Senior kicker Gabe Russo converted a 43-yard field goal. Sophomore running back Giovanni Hayner rushed 4 times for 46 yards and a touchdown.
Babies had three carries for 38 yards and broke a long touchdown run that was called back after he was ruled out of bounds before the end zone.
The Knights (4-0 overall and 2-0 in region play) got the scoring started about halfway through the first quarter after Slocomb had come up empty following a seven-minute drive. McCreary completed a touchdown pass to Rose for 84 yards on the Knights’ first play from scrimmage.
McCreary’s second passing touchdown went for 21 yards to Green early in the second quarter.
Cobb got his first rushing touchdown of the night later in the second quarter on a 21-yard dash.
Palmer caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from McCreary late in the second quarter, but the extra-point was blocked by Slocomb.
The last score of the half came off of McCreary’s fourth touchdown pass, this time an 18-yard strike to Cobb in the end zone with only seconds remaining before halftime.
The next two scores both came from Cobb, who ran in a 5-yard touchdown early in the third quarter, and another for 16 yards later in the same quarter.
Russo added a 43-yard field goal early into the fourth quarter and Hayner closed out the scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run.
The Knights will be at home again next Friday when they take on Geneva in their third region game of the season.
Montgomery Academy 30, Dale County 13
Jashawn Cooper rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a 30-13 homecoming win over the Warriors at McLemore Field on Friday night.
A Cooper touchdown and a Dale County safety staked the Eagles to an early 9-0 lead before the Warriors scored in the second quarter to pull within three points at the half.
Cooper added another touchdown in the third quarter and one on the first play of the fourth quarter to give Montgomery Academy a 23-6 lead. After a Dale County touchdown, Carson Springer threw a touchdown pass to DJ Vinson midway through the fourth quarter for the game’s final points.
Montgomery Academy (3-1) improved to 2-0 in 4A Region 2 play with an important region game with Andalusia next Friday.
Dale County (0-4) dropped to 0-2 in Region 2 play and will travel to Union Springs to play Bullock County in a region game next Friday.
In addition to Cooper, Chance Wilson had 47 rushing yards and Thomas Woodward had 20 rushing yards and 18 receiving yards. Springer was 3 of 3 for 93 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Arch Lee had 11 tackles to lead the Eagles. Cooper had six tackles, Will Hardin had six tackles and a fumble recovery and Graham Martin had five tackles and blocked a field goal.
St James 41, Greenboro 6
GREENSBORO -- Both KJ Jackson and Cosner Harrison topped the 4,000-yard career mark on Thursday as the Trojans scored six first-half touchdowns in a 41-6 win over Greensboro.
Jackson, a junior, completed 6 of 9 passes for 113 yards and four touchdown passes, with three of them coming in the first quarter. He now has 4,069 career passing yards and 58 career touchdown passes, which are both school records.
Harrison, a senior, rushed for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 12 carries to give him 4,032 yards in his career. He is only the second Trojan running back to ever surpass 4,000 career yards, trailing only Tony Amerson, who finished with 5,084 yards in 2018.
Jackson connected with Ethan Beard on touchdown passes of 21 and 23 yards on the Trojans’ first two possessions and added a 5-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Wright for a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Harrison scored on runs of 4 and 18 yards and Ziggy Holloway caught a 21-yard pass from Jackson for a touchdown and a 41-0 halftime lead.
Holloway and Braylen Corley both had interceptions for the Trojans.
St. James (3-1) improved to 2-0 in 3A Region 3 play and will play host to Southside next week for homecoming. Greensboro (1-3) dropped to 1-1 in Region 3 play and will play at Prattville Christian next week.
Wetumpka 27, Park Crossing 8
WETUMPKA - Quarterback Nathan Rogers passed for 164 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Indians to their first win in Class 6A, Region 2 play Friday at Wetumpka Municipal Stadium.
Rogers threw TD passes for 7 yards to Jamarion Thrasher and 54 yards to Malik Owens. Michael Dillard added two rushing scores of 1 and 3 yards.
The Thunderbirds took the early lead on Solomon Beebe’s 2-yard run on the final play of the first quarter.
Dillard finished with 58 yards on 16 carries for the Indians (3-1, 1-1). Owens had seven receptions for 107 yards.
Beebe and Terry Owens each had 47 yards rushing for the Thunderbirds. Quarterback Chase Ford had 75 yards in total offense.
Wetumpka travels to Russell County next week. Park Crossing (0-3, 0-2) faces Sidney Lanier at Cramton Bowl next Friday.
Auburn 31, Jeff Davis 0
AUBURN - The Volunteers managed just one first down in a shutout loss to Auburn on Friday at Duck-Samford Stadium.
JD was held to negative offensive yardage as the Tigers raced out to a 21-0 first-half lead.
The Vols (1-3, 0-2) continue Class 7A, Region 2 play next face Central-Phenix City next Saturday while Auburn (4-0, 3-0) comes to Cramton Bowl on Thursday to play Robert E. Lee.
AISA
Autauga Academy 35, Fort Dale Academy 10
PRATTVILLE -- Alan Alvarez kicked a 32-yard field goal and caught a 52-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Alford to account for all of Fort Dale’s points in a 35-10 loss to the Generals.
Alvarez’s field goal trimmed the deficit to 13-3 in the first quarter and his catch cut the Autauga lead to 20-10. Alvarez finished with 123 yards on three receptions.
Alford completed 7 of 14 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown.
Autauga (3-0) improved to 2-0 in AAA play and will host Valiant Cross next week. Fort Dale (1-2) dropped to 0-2 in AAA play and will play host to Morgan Academy next week.
Lowndes Academy 42, Southern Academy 18
HAYNEVILLE -- Clayton Hussey threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more as the Rebels defeated Southern Academy 42-18 in a Class A Region 1 game at Mac Champion Field.
Hussey threw a 49-yard pass to Luke Lovell to open the scoring, then scored on runs of 49 and 7 yards, along with a two-point conversion run, to extend the Rebels’ lead to 29-6. He added a 34-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Dansby.
Hussey led the Rebels in rushing with 91 yards on seven carries. Kasen Dismukes added 69 yards on 13 carries.
Southern got a 29-yard touchdown pass early from Campbell Webb to Gabe Haney, but the team’s other points came on a Webb punt return and a Haney kickoff return.
Noah Smith added an 11-yard touchdown run for Lowndes and Lovell had a 42-yard interception return for the game’s final points.
Defensively, Dismukes led the Rebels with 11 tackles, followed by Dominic Dougan with 10 tackles and Hussey and Dansby with nine tackles each.
Wesley Hall led Southern with 12 tackles.
Lowndes (2-1) improved to 2-0 in region play and will face a pair of AA teams, Edgewood at home and Abbeville Christian on the road, over the next two weeks.
Southern (1-2) was playing its region opener.
AISA SCOREBOARD
Friday’s Games
Lowndes Academy 42, Southern Academy 18
Wilcox Academy 42, Sparta Academy 26
Autauga Academy 35, Fort Dale Academy 10
Monroe Academy 14, Valiant Cross 6
Lakeside School 43, Coosa Valley Academy 11
Banks Academy 23, Escambia Academy 13
Thursday’s Games
Glenwood School 34, Bessemer Academy 7
Lee-Scott Academy 48, Morgan Academy 6
Clarke Prep School 74, Snook Christian 30
Patrician Academy 38, Pickens Academy 21
Edgewood Academy 40, Abbeville Christian 0
Chambers Academy 38, Crenshaw Christian 6
Macon East Academy 35, Hooper Academy 18
Jackson Academy 44, South Choctaw Academy 0