Late FG stings Glencoe
- Updated: November 28, 2014
Kick sends Madison Academy to play for its third straight state title; updates with scores, pairings
Glencoe running back Thomas Ozmint (5) takes an emotional moment after Friday’s state 3A semifinals loss to Madison Academy.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
GLENCOE — The coaches on the Madison Academy sideline told Nathan Geis with about 100 seconds left in the game to be ready.
The senior kicker had been ready long before that. Like all day long.
Geis had never kicked a game-winning field goal in his extraordinary career before Friday night, but he sent Madison Academy to a 31-28 win over Glencoe and into the Class 3A state title game for the fourth year in a row with a 34-yarder with 11.3 seconds to play Friday night.
At least that was the time when the ball sailed through the uprights.
The top-ranked Mustangs (13-1) will play Dale County (14-0) in their bid for a third straight state title Thursday at 11 a.m. in Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“I called it in pregame,” Geis said. “I’ve been asking for it all year … That’s the way to go Auburn.
“It’s something you have to think when you play this game and you play this position in the semifinals if it’s not coming down to last few seconds you’re not playing a good ball game. And we played a good ballgame, Glencoe played a good ball game and we came out on top. That’s good stuff.”
Glencoe coach Lee Ozmint told both teams huddled together following the conclusion of the game “the state championship took place on this field tonight” and implored the Mustangs to “finish the job.”
It was a game between two strong running attacks that, expectedly, was decided by who had the ball last.
Glencoe’s Thomas Ozmint, the coach’s son, rushed for 138 yards on 34 carries and scored the Jackets’ second touchdown. Quarterback Dylan Stone rushed for 94 yards on 13 carries. He accounted for their other three scores — two on runs and one on a pass.
Both of Madison Academy’s backs, Malik Miller and Kerryon Johnson, rushed for 164 yards. Miller ran for two scores and caught a pass for another. Johnson had a 32-yard touchdown run one play after breaking off a 24-yard drive-sustaining burst on a fake punt.
“This really (stinks),” a tearful Thomas Ozmint said. “We’ve worked so hard to try to make it to the state and we were so close. We knew it was going to be a really tough game. We gave it our all.”
Every time the Yellow Jackets (13-1) scored, Madison Academy matched it.
The Mustangs took their first lead at 28-21 on Miller’s 28-yard run with 17.1 seconds left in the third quarter. The Yellow Jackets retied it on Stone’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Willis.
The Jackets had a chance to retake the lead after Madison Academy’s Everett Brooks fumbled the ensuing kickoff and pounded the ground in frustration. But they couldn’t capitalize, turning it over on downs at the Mustangs 24.
It was the only fourth down attempt (among five) they failed to convert in the game.
“I felt like we got it,” Lee Ozmint said. “The little things today caught up with us. A little play here, a little play there, it could have been a different outcome, but unfortunately for us it didn’t.
“They did the things down the stretch they had to do and we didn’t convert right there, and I think that was a big play.”
It sent the Mustangs on their game-winning drive. It took nine runs between Miller and Johnson to reach the 17 before coach Eric Cohu summoned Geis.
“We knew he could get it in, once we got inside the 20 we were pretty confident,” Cohu said. “I told (one of the coaches) if we got the first down we’d keep using time outs to keep trying to score a touchdown, but fourth down, we were going to kick the field goal anywhere inside the 30 probably.
“He’s kicked a lot of big field goals in the course of his career … and we felt if we protected well he’d get it off and make the field goal.”
The Mustangs beat Calhoun County teams Piedmont and Wellborn on their road to the state title game.
Madison Academy lineman William Dye respectfully embraces Glencoe’s Ty Minshew (51) after Friday night’s hard-fought 3A state semifinal game.
AHSAA State Football Playoffs
Friday’s Semifinal Results
Class 1A
Maplesville 33, Billingsley 8
Hubbertville 45, Marion County 35
Class 2A
Elba 21, Washington County 14
Fyffe 42, Ranburne 14
Class 3A
Dale County 32, Gordo 28
Madison Academy 31, Glencoe 28
Class 4A
Leeds 42, UMS-Wright 14
Deshler 45, Cordova 22
Class 5A
St. Paul’s 31, Jackson 21
Pleasant Grove 27, Madison County 13
Class 6A
Saraland 14, Spanish Fort 10
Clay-Chalkville 35, Florence 21
Super 7 Pairings
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Dec. 3-5
Class 1A
Hubbertville (13-0) vs. Maplesville (13-0), Thursday, 3 p.m.
Class 2A
Fyffe (14-0) vs. Elba (14-0), Friday, 3 p.m.
Class 3A
Dale County (14-0) vs. Madison Academy (13-1), Thursday, 11 a.m.
Class 4A
Leeds (13-1) vs. Deshler (13-1), Friday, 11 a.m.
Class 5A
St. Paul’s Episcopal (14-0) vs. Pleasant Grove (12-2), Thursday, 7 p.m.
Class 6A
Clay-Chalkville (14-0) vs. Saraland (13-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Class 7A
Hoover (11-2) vs. Prattville (11-2), Wednesday, 7 p.m.
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