Friday roundup

Randolph County dominates Weaver to get second in region; J’ville pulls away from White Plains, Guntersville shuts down Alexandria

By East Alabama Sports Today

WEDOWEE – Randolph County may have come up short of a region championship, but the Tigers are still putting together dominating performances to show they’re going to be a force in the playoffs.

They put another one together Friday night, racked up nearly 400 yards of offense, getting six different players scoring touchdowns and getting another interception return for a touchdown to rout Weaver 47-14 and lock up the second spot out of Class 3A Region 5.

“Even thought we’re in, we’re not satisfied,” Tigers coach Pat Prestridge said. “We know we should’ve been closer to (region champion) Piedmont than we were, but that’s gone, that’s history; it’s up to us what we want to do.

“It’s good to be in the playoffs, but that’s not the end of the road. We knew we should be in the playoffs; we’re there. Our guys did an outstanding job and I’m proud of them. After last week, that first half (against Pleasant Valley), I didn’t know where we’d be at, but they bounced back and did an awesome job.”

The Tigers (7-1, 4-1) racked up 321 yards on the ground. Aaron Knight led the attack with 113 yards on 10 carries. Trent Lane had 82 yards on 12 carries. Both scored a touchdown. Quarterback Brody Wortham threw for two scores.

“When you’ve got a stable full of athletes who can run the ball — all of them – it’s hard to defend all that,” Prestridge said. “You’ve gotta give credit to the offensive line. They’re blowing people off the ball, they’ve blocked hard this year, and their names are never mentioned.”

Andrew Prestridge caught one of Wortham’s touchdown passes and recorded the Tigers’ fifth pick-six of the season for another score.

After a quick three-and-out for the Bearcats, Anterio Hester took off on a 35-yard touchdown run on the Tigers’ opening drive. The Bearcats (5-3. 2-3) threatened the next time they got the ball with Dalton Hamby completing three straight passes, but Prestridge ended the drive when he returned an interception 51 yards to make it 14-0.

“This year our defense has made so many touchdowns for us,” Prestridge said. “We fuss all the time about how many touchdowns the defense has made this year and that is a plus. But you’ve got to win all phases of the game, and we did that tonight.”

The Tigers outscored Weaver 27-7 in the second quarter to take a 41-7 halftime lead. They have scored 40 points or more in seven of their eight games this season and only Piedmont (41) has scored more than 14 points against them.

“They make plays, we’ve got to make plays,” Prestridge said. “Tonight was our night. We made the plays and our guys did well.” – Jeremy Wortham

[table id=82 /]

Weaver 0 7 0 7 — 14
Randolph Co. 14 27 6 0 — 47

RC – Anterio Hester 35 run (Buck Heard kick), 7:58 1Q
RC – Andrew Prestridge 51 interception return (Buck Heard kick), 6:23 1Q
RC – Aaron Knight 45 run (Buck Heard kick), 11:01 2Q
W – Shamar Spinks 1 run (kick good), 8:55 2Q
RC – Trent Lane 18 run (Buck Heard kick), 5:25 2Q
RC – Donte Davenport 3 run (Buck Heard kick), 3:04 2Q
RC – Andrew Prestridge 30 pass from Brody Wortham (kick failed), 0:03 2Q
RC – E.J. Clark 30 pass from Brody Wortham (kick failed), 8:28 3Q
W – Caleb Allison 25 pass from Dalton Hamby (kick good), 4:34 4Q

Jacksonville 41, White Plains 20

Jakobie Dean-Calloway returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown right after White Plains had just tied the game at 14 and it touched off a 27-point run that carried the Golden Eagles (6-3, 5-1) to their sixth straight victory.

The whole complexion of the game turned in the final three minutes of the first half. The Wildcats rallied from a 14-0 deficit to tie the game at 14 with 3:00 left on the second of Mac Young’s two 1-yard touchdown runs, but Dean-Calloway returned the ensuring kickoff 85 yards for Jacksonville’s go-ahead touchdown.

Macey Carr then recovered a White Plains fumble and Preston Harvey kicked a 26-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter to give Jacksonville a 24-14 halftime lead.

Rontarius Wiggins was the Golden Eagles’ leading rusher with 86 yards on seven carries, including their final touchdown on a 52-yard run. Macey Carr rushed for 59 yards and a touchdown against his former team.

Colton Clark completed 12 of 16 passes for 132 yards. Dean-Calloway caught half of them for 85 yards.

Josh Glass led the Jacksonville defense with nine tackles. Omarion Adams had eight tackles and three sacks.

Jacksonville 14 10 10 7 — 41
White Plains 0 14 0 6 — 20

J – Josh Glass 2 run (Preston Harvey kick), 8:24 1Q
J – Tahj Kirkland 47 run (Preston Harvey kick), 6:42 1Q
WP – Mac Young 1 run (PAT), 9:37 2Q
WP – Mac Young 1 run (PAT), 3:00 2Q
J – Jakobie Dean-Calloway 85 kickoff return (Preston Harvey kick), 2:43 2Q
J – Preston Harvey 26 FG, 0:00 2Q
J – Macey Carr 4 run (Preston Harvey kick), 8:52 3Q
J – Preston Harvey 43 FG, 3:00 3Q
J – Rontarius Wiggins 52 run (Preston Harvey kick), 5:40 4Q
WP – 5 run, 0:00 4Q

Guntersville 17, Alexandria 0

GUNTERSVILLE – Quarterback Kye Capolupo ran for two short touchdowns and Guntersville never let the Valley Cubs’ running game get going.

The Wildcats (7-1, 5-1) held Alexandria to minus-3 yards net rushing in the game (zero net in the second half) and 87 yards total.

Grayson Chaffin was the Valley Cubs’ leading rusher with 12 yards, seven coming on their longest rush of the game. Team leading rusher Keenan Woodruff and quarterback Jacob Wells both were held to negative rushing yards.

The Cubs (7-2, 4-2) had 41 net yards in the first half, 49 of which came on a Wells pass to Joe Tucker. They were handcuffed by the loss of fullback Sam Shaw, who missed the game due to illness.

It was the second time the Valley Cubs had been shut out this season and snapped a three-game winning streak.

[table id=81 /]

Alexandria 0 0 0 0 — 0
Guntersville 7 7 3 0 — 17

G – Kye Capolupo 3 run (Preston Martensen kick), 1:12 1Q
G – Kye Capolupo 1 run (Preston Martensen kick), 10:57 2Q
G – Preston Martensen 21 FG, 2:11 3Q

On the cover: Randolph County’s Aaron Knight heads for the end zone on a 45-yard run. (Photo by Jeremy Wortham/TigerDen Media)

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