Wildcats close again

Friday County roundup: Reports from games with White Plains, Piedmont, Alexandria, Jacksonville, PV, Weaver

By East Alabama Sports Today

CENTRE – Chris White is confident his White Plains football team is going to break through soon. The Wildcats are playing well enough to make it happen, they just have to eliminate the crucial mistake at the crucial time.

For the third week in a row the Wildcats came close to snapping their long losing streak only to come up short in the end.

It happened again Friday night.

Quarterback Tyren Dupree scored two touchdowns, including a 67-yard game winner with less than eight minutes to play, and there was an interception with 61 seconds left to save Cherokee County’s 13-12 win over the Wildcats in a Class 4A, Region 5 game.

It was White Plains’ 22nd consecutive loss, currently the fourth longest active streak in the state. In each of the last three weeks, though – against Westbrook Christian, Anniston and Cherokee County – the Wildcats (0-7, 0-5) were leading with eight minutes to play.

“Our guys fight hard, we kind of make bad mistakes at crucial times,” White said. “Like the old saying goes, four or five plays are going to determine the outcome of a football game, but the problem is the four or five plays we’re doing some bad things. Other than that, we’re playing good football; we kind of make mistakes we don’t need to be making.”

The Wildcats controlled the pace with a numbing run game, taking an early lead that Cherokee County (3-5, 3-2) couldn’t overcome until the fourth quarter.

Their 289 yards of offense outgained Cherokee County by 100 yards. Pat Harris rushed for 133 yards on 26 carries and Ethan Bozarth added another 70. But the Wildcats missed conversions on both of their touchdowns and turned it over three times.

“I think we’re real close; it should have been tonight, no doubt,” White said. “But you’ve got to do those little things right.”

Lined up at tailback, Harris typically ran off right tackle. In the right slot, Bozarth took inside handoffs, sprinting around left end. It was a 1-2 punch the Warriors simply could not stop in the first half. Bozarth’s 12-yard touchdown run around left end gave White Plains a 6-0 lead with 4:00 left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats’ seven plays on the ensuing scoring drive were three Bozarth runs around left end and four Harris carries off right tackle. Harris’s 2-yard touchdown run put White Plains up 12-0 lead with 11:21 left in the second quarter.

Later, they found themselves faced with fourth-and-2 from their own 30 and went for it. Multiple Warriors halted quarterback Ryan Bannister’s sneak over center, giving Cherokee County a short field on its next possession.

The Warriors reverted to their run game, but the Wildcats didn’t budge easily. After 12 plays, including three successful fourth-down conversions, Dupree scampered around left end for the score. Gustav Jensen’s PAT cut the Wildcat lead to 12-7 with 1:11 left in the half, a score that remained until the halftime horn sounded.

Dupree put the Warriors ahead on a 67-yard quarterback draw. The sinewy senior muscled through the first and second lines of defense and outran the Wildcats secondary down the left sideline.

White Plains had two more possessions to try to re-take the lead. One ended on downs while Austin Pruett’s interception thwarted the other.

“It worried me when we got down by 12, and they’re a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense,” Curry said. “I’m glad our kids responded. At the start of the year we never really got in sync. Now we’ve got everybody in the right place. We’re coming together.” –additional information by Roy Mitchell, Cherokee County Herald

PIEDMONT 35, WELLBORN 10

PIEDMONT – School officials formally recognized all those who made Piedmont’s 500 all-time victories possible, but first the Bulldogs had to take care of business to add to that total.

The Bulldogs scored their 503rd all-time victory when they turned back Wellborn.

The program earned its 500th career victory three weeks ago against Pleasant Valley. After the game Friday night school officials invited all former players in attendance to make their way to the Field of Champions turf for a group picture before breaking into individual decades.

Actually, the second-ranked Bulldogs (7-1, 5-0) had to come from behind before they could make it a completely joyous occasion.

Wellborn (1-6) got on the board first with a 27-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, then Piedmont’s Cardavion Myers took over. The senior quarterback was responsible for the Bulldogs four touchdowns in the first half on runs of 74 and 39 yards between touchdown passes of 69 and 16 yards to Darien Bossie.

Myers rushed for 109 yards and completed 6 of 8 passes for nearly 100 more. Lee Stanley, who scored the Bulldogs final touchdown in the third quarter, was Piedmont’s leading rusher with 110 yards. The Bulldogs rushed for 315 yards as a team.

Both went over the 1,000 yards rushing for the season. Myers is now at 1,097 yards (and 11 touchdowns), while Stanley is at 1,072 and 15 touchdowns. Myers has thrown for 13 scores.

Coach Steve Smith lifted his starters after the first series of the third quarter.

The win was Piedmont’s 31st straight against teams from Alabama, 18th straight against teams from Calhoun County and 24th straight against region opponents (22 in the regular season).

The Bulldogs will play for their third straight region championship – and sixth in the last eight years – next week at home against Ohatchee, the team they played for the Class 3A North championship a year ago.

PIEDMONT 35, WELLBORN 10
Wellborn 3 0 0 7 — 10
Piedmont 21 7 7 0 — 35

W – 27 FG, 6:38 1Q
P – Cardavion Myers 74 run (Brant Deerman kick), 5:14 1Q
P – Darien Bossie 69 pass from Cardavion Myers (Brant Deerman kick), 2:13 1Q
P – Darien Bossie 16 pass from Cardavion Myers (Brant Deerman kick), 0:35 1Q
P – Cardavion Myers 39 run (Brant Deerman kick), 1:44 2Q
P – Lee Stanley 2 run (Brant Deerman kick), 5:16 3Q
W – 5 run (PAT good), 7:07 4Q

ALEXANDRIA 42, DOUGLAS 17

DOUGLAS – Kennan Woodruff returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and the Valley Cubs were literally off and running.

Opening up in a spread atypical of this team’s offense, Jacob Wells hit all five of his pass attempts for 100 yards and two touchdowns and the Valley Cubs erupted for 40 points in the first quarter.

The Valley Cubs had 10 players rush the ball. Nate McCallum had the most yards (70 on two carries); he also had an interception. Eighth-grader Grady Trantham had the most work, nine carries for 30 yards. Grayson Chaffin caught three passes for 86 yards, rushed twice for 33 yards and scored each way.

Douglas’ Jacob Riggins rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

[table id=77 /]

Alexandria 40 2 0 0 — 42
Douglas 0 7 3 7 — 17

A – Keenan Woodruff 85 kickoff return (Samuel Shaw run), 11:46 1Q
A – Grayson Chaffin 8 run (Josh Tucker pass from Joe Tucker), 8:45 1Q
A – Samuel Shaw 2 pass from Jacob Wells (Grayson Chaffin run), 4:54 1Q
A – Grayson Chaffin 40 pass from Jacob Wells (Devin Burton run), 3:11 1Q
A – Nate McCallum 50 run (Travis Chastain run), 0:07 1Q
A – Safety, 11:37 2Q
D – Jacob Riggins 3 run (Jesus Cruz kick), 1:24 2Q
D – Jacob Sims FG, 5:11 3Q
D – Jacob Riggins 20 run (Miguel Cruz kick), 10:49 4Q

JACKSONVILLE 41, ONEONTA 14

JACKSONVILLE – Colton Clark completed 11 of 14 passes for 104 yards and four first-half touchdowns – three in a five and a half minute stretch in the second quarter – as the Golden Eagles (5-3, 4-1) won their fifth in a row.

Jakobie Dean-Calloway and Jewels Gray both caught five balls, with Drew-Calloway grabbing two for touchdowns. Macey Carr rushed for 132 yards on 12 carries and didn’t run in the second half. Tahj Kirkland ran for 69 yards and eight carries.

Ben Patterson had eight tackles – all for loss or sack – and Josh Glass had six tackles. Preston Harvey hit all six of his PATs.

JACKSONVILLE 41, ONEONTA 14
Oneonta 7 0 0 7 — 14
Jacksonville 14 21 7 0 — 42

J – Jakobie Dean-Calloway 34 pass from Colton Clark (Preston Harvey kick), 9:02 1Q
O – Sincere Baker 55 run (Axel Chacon kick), 3:45 1Q
J – Macey Carr 53 run (Preston Harvey kick), 3:17 1Q
J – Steven Landers 15 pass from Colton Clark (Preston Harvey kick), 10:01 2Q
J – Josh Bell 7 pass from Colton Clark (Preston Harvey kick), 7:29 2Q
J – Jakobie Dean-Calloway 5 pass from Colton Clark (Preston Harvey kick), 4:35 2Q
J – Macey Carr 11 run (Preston Harvey kick), 6:44 3Q
O – Taveris Hill 82 run (Axel Chacon kick), 0:28 4Q

RANDOLPH COUNTY 40, PLEASANT VALLEY 3

JACKSONVILLE – Aaron Knight rushed for 134 yards, Trent Lane went for 104 and they combined to score their team’s first three touchdowns as the Tigers (6-1, 3-1) won their fourth in a row.

Once the Tigers got the ball, they rushed for 411 yards as a team and five players found the end zone – Knight, Lane, Antonio Hester, Donte Davenport and Antonio Morgan. But they had to get the ball.

Pleasant Valley gave the Tigers fits early, recovering an onsides kick and a fumble. The Raiders (2-5, 1-4) controlled the ball for the first 10 and a half minutes of the game and grabbed a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard Matisse Miller field goal. Then it was all the Tigers.

The Tigers have scored 40 or more in six of their seven games this season.

The win sets up a Showdown Friday in Class 3A Region 5 next week with all four region contenders playing each other. Randolph County hosts Weaver while Piedmont hosts Ohatchee. – Jeremy Wortham

[table id=78 /]

Randolph Co. 0 12 14 14 — 40
Pleasant Valley 3 0 0 0 — 3

PV – Matisse Miller 32 FG, 1:33 1Q
RC – Aaron Knight 8 run (PAT failed), 7:14 2Q
RC – Aaron Knight 9 run (PAT failed), 0:42 2Q
RC – Trent Lane 34 run (Aaron Knight run), 10:53 3Q
RC – Antonio Hester 22 run (PAT failed), 5:43 3Q
RC – Donte Davenport 6 run (PAT good), 10:23 4Q
RC – Antonio Morgan 44 run (PAT good), 6:20 4Q

WEAVER 57, GLENCOE 0

GLENCOE – London Knight and Shamar Spinks both scored three touchdowns and the Bearcats (5-2, 2-2) added two defensive scores in the fourth quarter to completely overwhelm the Yellow Jackets.

The 57 points are the most the Bearcats have scored in a game since putting 61 on Sardis in the opening round of the 2005 playoffs; they put up 61 twice that season. The 57-point margin of victory in the their biggest in school history.

Robert Gaines and Taylor Thompson both returned fumbles for touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Bearcats kept the shutout alive by blocking a field goal attempt in the third quarter.

The Yellow Jackets (2-5, 0-4) have lost five straight and were shutout for the second game in a row. That hasn’t happened since 1994, when they were blanked three straight games in the middle of the season.

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