THURSDAY PREPS: Morgan Academy holds off Valiant Cross; Opelika tops JAG
Valiant Cross receiver Jeremiah Dixon takes off for an 83 yard TD reception in Thursday’s matchup against Morgan Academy. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
It took Morgan Academy the better part of the first half to figure out a way to slow down the Valiant Cross offense.
And while the Senators never figured out how to corral Warrior receiver Jeremiah Dixon, their efforts to minimize the damage caused by the rest of the Warriors, along with their ball-control offense, allowed Morgan to hold off Valiant Cross 30-21 on Thursday night at Faulkner University’s John Mark Stallings Field.
“We just tried to mix up what we were doing defensively a little bit,” Morgan Academy coach Danny Raines said. “The kids played well, played hard. We were a little sluggish in the first quarter, got better in the second quarter and in the second half I was really pleased with the kids’ effort. I was really disappointed how we came out in the first quarter. I just didn’t think we were into it.
“But they’re a really talented team. It’s a great win for our kids, to come over here and get this win and start region play 1-0. That’s a really good football team.”
Valiant Cross, which weathered 10 first-half penalties with 231 total yards and trailed by just a touchdown at the half, had the ball for just 5:12 in the final 24 minutes as Morgan’s ball-control offense kept the ball away from the Warriors for all but nine offensive plays in the second half.
The ball ended up in Dixon’s hands on two of those second-half plays, however, and the junior ended up in the end zone both times. He amassed 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just four receptions, while adding a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to his all-purpose arsenal. His 335 all-purpose yards were 37 more yards than Morgan’s offense compiled as a team and 41 more than the total amount of yardage from the Valiant Cross offense.
“We definitely did not want him to touch the ball,” said Raines, who decided on an onside kick in the fourth quarter after the previous kickoff was returned for a touchdown by Dixon. “He hit us twice on those little bubble screens and was off to the races and, of course, the kickoff. He’s a heck of a player.”
It was Dixon that broke a scoreless tie late in the first quarter. He took a simple pass in the right flat from Deshawn Hall on third and six, beat the Morgan defenders to the corner, then sprinted 83 yards down the field to the end zone.
A bad snap on the extra-point attempt left the score at 6-0.
Morgan answered with a three-play scoring drive, using passes from Caden Tellier to reach the end zone in 54 seconds. The last pass, a 27-yard strike down the left hash to Milton Hand, was followed by a two-point conversion run by Speedie Pernell and an 8-6 lead.
A 37-yard field goal by Kelby Stoup put the Warriors back in front 9-8 before the Senators turned to their ground game to chew up time and yardage. Pernell scored on a 5-yard run late in the first half for a 16-9 halftime lead, then added a 9-yard touchdown run on another reverse for a 24-9 lead.
Dixon’s kickoff return pulled the Warriors back into the game, but Morgan answered early in the fourth quarter with a 13-play drive capped by a 1-yard run from Rhett Thomas for a 30-15 lead.
Dixon would touch the ball just once on offense in the second half as Hall eluded a Morgan defender, spun away from another would-be tackler, scrambled away from an almost certain tackle and dumped a short pass to Dixon. The junior broke inside, then weaved back out and went 62 yards to make it a nine-point game at 30-21 with 2:35 left.
“He did a lot of good things for us tonight,” Valiant Cross coach Oscar Berry said. “He was very focused and locked in. And he executed at a high level. That’s what we’ve got to get across the board.”
Morgan recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
“Probably more so than anything else, we’ve got to be disciplined in terms of our mentality,” Berry said. “We can’t relax, we can’t get comfortable when we seem like we’re having some success. We’ve got a lot of young players, so their emotional energy and just making sure they’re locked in when it’s going good -- or when it’s going bad -- they’ve got to get better at staying even keeled.”
Morgan (1-1 and 1-0 in AAA) will travel to Auburn to play Lee-Scott next week, while Valiant Cross (0-2 overall, 0-1 AAA) will travel to Monroeville to play Monroe Academy next week.
“We were a little limited tonight,” Berry said. “We’re still kind of moving people around in terms of trying to figure out who is going where. We’re so young at every position. It’s not easy math. We’re having to do the math on the fly.”
Opelika 36, JAG 16
Quarterback Roman Gagliano passed for three touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to their first win of the season while handing the Jaguars (formerly Jeff Davis High School) their second-straight loss in a Thursday tilt in Class 7A, Region 2 at Cramton Bowl.
JAG quarterback Armonte Graham had a touchdown run of 40 yards and a 74-yard pass for a touchdown to Tyanthony Elmore in the final minutes for the Jags’ only points of the game.
Jordan Tolbert had two TD receptions for Opelika (1-1, 1-0) while Blake Johnson added the third touchdown reception in the latter stages of the game.
JAG added insult to injury with 16 penalties totaling 110 yards.
The Jaguars (0-2, 0-1) returns to Cramton Bowl next Thursday to face Sidney Lanier.