SATURDAY PREPS: MA waltzes through Mayor's Cup Volleyball tourney; Catholic football stays unbeaten

Montgomery Academy’s Kaci Armistead executes the dig in the Mayor’s Cup tourney at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex on Saturday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy went through seven opponents without dropping a set, defeating Pelham in the finals to win the annual Mayor’s Cup at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Saturday.

“They don’t like to lose,” Montgomery Academy coach Julie Gordon said of her players. “And they work so hard. They work well together, they’re scrappy, we stay in system a lot. And even when we’re out of system, we’re still good and we can still hit the ball hard. And a lot of teams that don’t do that well.”

They were in system for most of the day, easily standing out as the best team in the prestigious 20-team tournament, although Spanish Fort provided a stiff test before falling 28-26 in the second set.

Montgomery Academy (27-2) defeated Prattville Christian 2-0 and Carver 2-0 on Friday, then came back on Saturday to defeat Silver Bracket finalists Hartselle 2-0 and John Carroll 2-0 in pool play. In the Gold Bracket, the Eagles defeated St. Paul’s Episcopal 2-0 in the quarterfinals, Spanish Fort 2-0 in the semifinals and Pelham 2-0 in the finals.   

“We played nine matches in three days and they never slacked off, never looked tired,” Gordon said. “That’s the mark of a great team.”

Beating Bayside Academy in the Mayor’s Cup semifinals a year ago was a remarkable achievement,  but the Eagles couldn’t follow up with a win over Spanish Fort.

In this year’s Cup, the Eagles defeated the 2023 state semifinalist Toros in a hotly contested semifinal, then defeated Pelham 25-20 and 25-20 in the finals.

“It’s easy to fire your team up -- really, I don’t have to do anything -- against the Trinitys, the Catholics, the PCAs, because they’re crosstown rivals,” Gordon said. “We have to have that same passion and drive for whoever our opponent is. If we have this reputation, we have to play like it. That’s something we’re learning.”  

Montgomery Academy will travel to Stanhope Elmore for a 6A Area 5 game on Tuesday, then go to Pike Road on Thursday for a tri-match involving the Patriots and Auburn.

While the Montgomery Academy-Spanish Fort semifinal was high quality entertainment, the Gold Bracket quarterfinal match between Trinity and Prattville Christian was equally intense. PCA prevailed in three sets after loing 3-0 at Trinity on Tuesday.

“We were hoping for a rematch after earlier this week because we didn’t play our best when we went there and we wanted to redeem ourselves a little bit and have our best against their best,” PCA coach Kaylon Cantrell said. “It was a game, for sure.”

After an emotional win, the Panthers struggled to match the intensity in a two-set loss to Pelham.

“Going to three (sets against Trinity) made us a little more tired,” Cantrell observed. “The excitement of it, that’s hard to come back after that. We could have beat Pelham, but they just had a few more good plays than we did.

“Tuesday was rough because we knew we didn’t play well and we had a tough (Mayor’s Cup) pool, we weren’t going to get to the Gold Bracket easily. I’m just really proud. They showed up in the right moments and did things the right way. This team works really well together. They play for each other. We think that can take us far.”

Prattville Christian (13-5) lost to Montgomery Academy 2-0 in the Panthers’ opener, then rebounded to defeat Hartselle 2-0, Carver 2-0 and John Carroll 2-0 to finish second in pool play behind MA. In Gold Bracket play, the Panthers defeated Trinity 2-1 before losing to Pelham 2-0 in the semifinals.

PCA will play host to LAMP on Tuesday and travel to Tallassee on Thursday in a pair of 4A Area 5 games.  

Trinity (13-4) defeated St. Paul’s Episcopal 2-0, Prattville 2-0, Providence Christian 2-0 and Briarwood Christian to emerge from pool play as the top seed. In Gold Bracket play, the Wildcats faced Prattville Christian in the quarterfinals and were defeated 2-1. 

Holland Williams had 46 kills, three aces, 16 blocks and four digs, Anna Moore had 30 kills, two aces, three blocks and 17 digs, Lilly Smith had 31 digs and three aces, Ellie Causey had 15 aces, 11 digs, 10 blocks and 101 assists and Bearden Ellis had 10 digs and seven aces.

Trinity will play host to Catholic on Tuesday and travel to Holtville on Thursday in a pair of 5A Area 6 matchups.

Alabama Christian lost to Pelham, then rebounded with a win over LAMP before losing to St. James and Spanish Fort. As the fourth-seeded team in their pool, the Eagles qualified for Silver Bracket play and were eliminated with a quarterfinal loss to St. Luke.

Pensacola State commitment Taegan Scott had 33 kills, 15 blocks and 17 digs, fellow senior A’Kirra McElveen had 20 kills, 11 blocks and 23 digs and sophomore Morgan Bond had 18 kills and 19 block assists.

St. James defeated Alabama Christian and LAMP in pool play to finish third and qualify for Silver Bracket play. The Trojans defeated Brew Tech in the quarterfinals before losing to John Carroll in the semifinals. John Carroll went on to lose to Hartselle in the Silver Bracket finals.

St. James (8-4) will travel to Holtville on Tuesday for a 5A Area 6 game, followed by a trip to Brew Tech on Thursday.

FOOTBALL

Catholic 28, Eufaula 0

EUFAULA -- JJ Williams ran for a touchdown and threw for another as the Knights won their 35th consecutive region victory with a 28-0 shutout of Eufaula on Saturday afternoon.

The game was postponed from Thursday after a security threat closed the school and shut down all extracurricular activities.

Williams, starting his third game in place of the injured Kingston Preyear, completed 8 of 10 passes for 172 yards, including a touchdown pass to BJ Bedgood, and rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown on four carries.

The 5A Region 2 win was the first ever for Catholic as a 5A program, but extended their region winning streak to 35 games, dating back to the end of the 2018 regular season.

In addition, the win was the 37th consecutive regular season victory dating back to 2020.  

Josh Harriell rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, while Zaylon Jackson added 57 yards on 10 carries. Bedgood had 160 yards and a touchdown on six receptions.

Defensively, linebacker Kam Miller had 12 tackles, including two for loss, to help the Knights post their 23rd shutout over the last four seasons. Linebacker Charles Chappelle had 10 tackles, including two for loss, safety Jo Pierce had six tackles, an interception and a pass breakup and defensive lineman KJ Washington had 11 tackles, including four for loss, a sack and a pair of pass breakups.

It was the first regular season shutout for Eufaula since losing to Opelika 21-0 in 2021, a string of 27 games.

Catholic (3-0) returns home to play Pensacola Catholic in a non-region game next Friday.

Eufaula (1-2) will travel to Headland for a 5A Region 2 game next Friday.