Showdown set
- Updated: October 8, 2016
Top-ranked Piedmont rolls over Wellborn with solid game, sets up showdown with Ohatchee next week
Piedmont’s Chase Bobbitt sprints down the sideline with his first-quarter interception return for touchdown Friday night. On the cover, quarterback Taylor Hayes gets through a hole. (Photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
One of the many things Piedmont coach Steve Smith is proud of his team for is its ability to stay on point and focus on the task at hand. You don’t win state championships by getting ahead of yourself.
The top-ranked Bulldogs had that focus tested Friday night, but they played one of their most complete games of the season — particularly in the stretch the starters played — and put away Wellborn 47-16 to set up a Class 3A Region 5 title showdown with Ohatchee on the Creekbank.
Both teams will go into the game undefeated and ranked in the Class 3A poll. No. 7 Ohatchee was idle but Indians coach Scott Martin was here at The Hill for the first half and he saw plenty.
The Bulldogs (8-0, 5-0) had plenty of chances to let their minds wander in this one. They dominated on both sides of the ball, opened a big lead early and could have looked ahead to next week’s game even though this one hadn’t finished, but they never wavered.
“Coach Smith preaches that from Day One,” senior Chase Bobbitt said. “If you want to be 15-0, you got to start off 1-0, 2-0, 3-0. To be 15-0 at the end, you have to beat Wellborn first. We weren’t focused on next week. We were just focused on Wellborn.”
The Bulldogs, who’ve now won 18 in a row, opened a 35-0 halftime lead. They scored all four times the offense had the ball and Bobbitt scored on a 42-yard interception return.
It was more of the same in the second half. Austin Brazier returned the second half kickoff 65 yards to open the scoring and the offense scored the next time it touched the ball — making it 5-for-5 — for a 47-0 lead 3:15 into the third quarter.
The first team offense accounted for 266 total yards. Quarterback Taylor Hayes was 9-of-12 for 124 yards and two touchdowns passing and rushed for 59 yards and the game’s first score. Lee Stanley rushed for 51 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
“I think this is one of the sharpest games we have played,” Hayes said. “It’s always good to be able to move the ball and feel like you’re dominating the game.
“We’re not looking past anybody. Everybody in this region is a pretty good team, so we can’t overlook anybody. We’re trying to be 15-0, but we’ve got to be 8-0 before we can be 15-0.”
The defense, meanwhile, was equally strong. It held the Panthers (3-3, 1-3) to five plays of positive yardage in the first half, 56 yards total and seven net rushing. Wellborn’s longest gain, a 49-yard pass early in the second quarter, ended in a lost fumble, one of four takeaways Piedmont had in the first half and five in the game.
Cobey McFry followed his keys and recovered three fumbles in the first half. The Bulldogs turned two of them into touchdowns.
“(The defense) was outstanding,” McFry said. “It was just a fundamentally sound game. We just played to the best of our capabilities and it showed out there tonight. We played really good tonight, probably the best all season.”
Now the focus can turn completely to Ohatchee.
“I’m thinking about it right now,” Hayes said. “We’re going to go enjoy the win and the long weekend. We’ll come in 3 o’clock Monday and be ready to get after it. It’ll be a good game.”
This story will be updated.
Piedmont 47, Wellborn 16
Piedmont 14 21 12 0 — 47
Wellborn 0 0 8 8 — 16
P – Taylor Hayes 7 run (kick failed), 4:27 1Q
P – Chase Bobbitt 42 interception return (Darien Bossie pass from Taylor Hayes), 2:45 1Q
P – Lee Stanley 2 run (Easton Kirk kick), 11:54 2Q
P – Darien Bossie 62 pass from Taylor Hayes (Easton Kirk kick), 10:14 2Q
P – Austin Brazier 10 pass from Taylor Hayes (Easton Kirk kick), 0:12 2Q
P – Austin Brazier 65 kickoff return (kick failed), 11:42 3Q
P – Lee Stanley 5 run (kick failed), 8:45 3Q
W – Javian Thomas 13 run (Pat Harris run), 5:47 3Q
W – Jordan Mongomery 40 run (Jordan Montgomery run), 9:53 4Q
Team stats Pied Well
First down 18 8
Rushes-yds 40-220 29-138
Passing 9-12-0 1-3-2
Passing yds 124 49
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-3
Punts-avg 1-38.0 3-31.3
Penalties-yds 5-35 3-25
Wellborn’s Jordan Montgomery (6) takes a handoff from quarterback Austin McQueen in the first half Friday. Montgomery scored the Panthers’ second touchdown in the second half. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login