THURSDAY PREPS: Prattville fights back to beat Pike Road; T.R. Miller tops Reeltown
Prattville’s Akeem Blackmon tackles Tristin Blackmon near the goal line in Thursday’s game at Wetumpka Municipal Stadium. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
WETUMPKA -- Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Not once, not twice, but three times Donovan Brown turned special teams miscues into good fortune for the Prattville Lions, who rallied late to defeat Pike Road 41-37 in a sloppily played season opener on Thursday night.
The game was played at Wetumpka Municipal Stadium, where all of Prattville’s home games will be held while Stanley-Jensen Stadium undergoes renovation.
“It was huge,” said Prattville coach J.B. Wallace, who picked up a signature win after the Lions struggled to a 3-7 record last season. “To start the season off 1-0, that’s huge and I’m proud of those guys.”
The Class 7A Lions were knocked to the turf on several occasions by the Class 6A Patriots, but kept fighting back and finally figured out a way to win in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we had them on the ropes but we kept letting them off,” Pike Road coach Granger Shook said. “My hat’s off to J.B. Coach Wallace had them ready. They had grit, they were tough, they were physical. I’ve got to do a better job of getting our boys ready. I was proud of how we didn’t quit at the end. But special teams killed us. It wasn’t just one kid (messing up). It was somebody different every time. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board on special teams.”
On the opening kickoff, Connor Hall’s kick hit the turf and bounced around as Prattville returners watched and Pike Road’s coverage unit raced to get the ball. Brown finally scooped up the ball, reversed field and raced 79 yards down the sideline for a quick 7-0 lead.
“The other guy, I thought he was going to get it,” Brown said. “It ended up he didn’t get it in time, so I was like, I need to just pick it up. They all collapsed on one side, so I just bounced it outside and did what I had to do.”
The play was the only offensive production for either team in the first quarter. Prattville finished the quarter with 16 total yards and one first down, allowing the Patriots to draw within 7-2 after a snap went over quarterback Gavin Rigdon’s head and out of the back of the end zone.
Things seemingly got worse for the Lions in the second quarter as Ja’Michael Jones started picking up yardage, capping an eight-play drive with a 14-yard run. Cason Myers’ two-point conversion pass for Elias Holtsclaw gave the Patriots a 10-7 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Calvin Brown was stripped of the ball by Julius Lane an Ben Shelton recovered for the Patriots on the Prattville 26, setting up an 11-yard run by Patrick Carter for a 17-7 lead.
It was the first of several times in the game when the Patriots looked as if they were going to grab control of the game, only to have the Lions answer. Tristin Blackmon, who finished with 69 yards on 18 carries, scored on a 1-yard run with 13 seconds left to help the Lions pull within 17-14 at the half.
Jones, who led Pike Road with 160 yards on 27 carries, was the workhorse on an impressive 16-play drive to open the second half as the Patriots pulled out to a 24-14 lead.
“I was proud of how we came out in the second half,” Shook said. “We had them on the ropes. We had a six-minute drive where we just pounded the ball. But special teams let them back in the game. You score 37 points, you should win the game.”
Brown fielded the ensuing kickoff on the 22-yard line and sprinted 59 yards to set up Rigdon’s pass to Brodie Bowman two plays later to make it 24-21 with 4:40 left in the third quarter.
The two teams traded touchdowns to close out the quarter, but the Lions continued their offensive assault in the fourth quarter while the Patriots struggled for any offensive punch as Jones sat out long stretches of the second half.
“We just had to make some adjustments and fix some things up front,” Wallace said. “I felt like we were (wearing Pike Road down). We went through a fourth-quarter program and my kids believe in that. They believe when it gets to that fourth quarter, they’re going to be rising to the occasion. They’ve been through some tough times and they’ve made it through.”
Pike Road turned the ball over on downs, but the Patriots’ defense held Prattville on three plays and forced a Paxton Genola punt. His punt bounced along the ground before brushing against a Pike Road player just as Brown arrived to recover the punt for the Lions.
“I don’t know how I was in the right position to get that,” Brown said, “but, yeah, it ended up in my hands.”
The Lions converted the mistake into a KJ Blue touchdown run four plays later and Blue added another touchdown run with 82 seconds left to put the finishing touches on the Lions’ rally.
“It stings but we didn’t play our caliber of ball tonight,” Shook said. “They had a lot to do with it, so my hat’s off to them.”
Pike Road’s offense churned out 438 yards and 24 first downs, but couldn’t come up with the plays to put the game away. Myers completed 15 of 34 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns, including a 13-yard touchdown pass to Omari Smith on the game’s final play to make the score respectable.
Pike Road (0-1), losing its third consecutive season opener, will travel to 7A Enterprise next week, while Prattville will travel to Millbrook to play Stanhope Elmore.
“Enterprise will be licking their chops after watching this film,” Shook said. “Coach (Ben) Blackmon will have his boys ready to play. But we’ve got to fix us.”
T.R. Miller running back Myles Johnson runs for big yardage with Reeltown’s Larry Butler trying to catch him in the Tigers win over the Rebels on Thursday at Cramton Bowl. (Courtesy AHSAA)
T.R. Miller uses big second half to tame Reeltown
In a 7-7 tie at halftime, T.R. Miller scored 21 unanswered points which began with a fumble recovery on the second-half kickoff that led to the go ahead score in a 28-7 win over Reeltown in the annual AHSAA Kickoff Classic at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
The Tigers, who became the winningest program in the state with the victory, recovered the fumble on the Reeltown 24 yard line and needed six plays to take the lead on Myles Johnson’s 1-yard run with 8:50 to play in the quarter. The turnover was one of four turnovers by the Rebels in the game.
The Tigers extended their lead on the next possession after stopping Reeltown on a fourth-down try at the 44-yard line. On the next play, Kavarious Bell caught a 44-yard pass from Nathan Commander for a score with just over six minutes left in the quarter.
Johnson closed out the scoring in the final two minutes with a 47-yard romp.
Reeltown’s lone touchdown came in the first quarter on a Traylen Roberts 3-yard run that tied the game at 7-7. The Tigers had taken the early lead on a Quaveon McCants 12-yard run.
Johnson finished with 110 yards on 15 carries. Commander passed for 120 yards on 7 of 14 completions.
Tae Martin led Reeltown with 95 yards rushin on just one carry. Reeltown quarterback Jamarkius Smith passed for 127 yards on 12-of-21 attempts with an interception.
Reeltown (0-1) returns to action next week against Trinity while T.R. Miller (1-0) plays Straughn.