Harris has career day
- Updated: September 15, 2018
County roundup: White Plains’ Harris has 3 TDs, 3 interceptions on historic night for Wildcats
Friday’s county games
Anniston 28, Cleburne County 8
Boaz 14, Alexandria 7
Donoho 14, Winterboro 8
Jacksonville 56, Cherokee County 21
Ohatchee 45, Cleveland 6
Oxford 62, Charles Henderson 0
Piedmont 27, Randolph County 22
Saks 42, Wellborn 13
Weaver 40, Pleasant Valley 13
White Plains 32, Ashville 20
By East Alabama Sports Today
ASHVILLE – Jaden Harris came pretty close to doing it all on an historic night for the White Plains football program.
Harris was a beast on both sides of the ball Friday night as the Wildcats rallied to beat Ashville 32-20 for its second win of the season and first region victory in four years.
The junior rushed for 195 yards and scored three touchdowns and also had three interceptions.
“I don’t know if there’s anybody in the state who had as good a night as he had,” White Plains coach Chris White said.
Harris scored on runs of 80, 3 and 49 yards. One of his interceptions came on the next play after he fumbled at the Ashville 1.
“If he made a mistake he turns around and makes up for it,” White said. “He was just a spark for us. It was definitely 100 percent on every snap. He definitely had the energy on the offensive side of the ball and definitely had the most energy on the defensive side. You could just feel it. Even though a lot of guys were making plays, his energy level was way high.”
The Wildcats (2-2, 1-1) rallied from a 20-14 deficit early in the third quarter and scored the last three touchdowns of the game to win. Harris’ third touchdown tied the game at 20, then Ethan Bozarth scored the Wildcats’ last two touchdowns – one by pass, one by run – to help them pull away.
White Plains hadn’t won two games in a season since 2014. The region victory was the first for every player in the Wildcats’ locker room, ending a 23-game region losing streak. Their last – and only other – region win in Class 4A came on Oct. 17, 2014.
There was even a welcoming committee at the school waiting for the players when the bus returned from the game.
“We’re pretty danged excited,” White said.
White Plains 32, Ashville 20
Team stats WP Ash
First downs 16 9
Rushes-yds 45-348 36-144
Passes 2-3-0 3-8-3
Passing yds 33 86
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Punts-avg 2-4.5 3-30.7
Penalties-yds 5-55 9-95
Scoring summary
White Plains 6 8 12 6 – 32
Ashville 7 6 7 0 – 20
A – Kolby Armstrong 1 run (Reid Eastis kick), 0:50 1Q
WP – Jaden Harris 80 run (run failed), 0:00 1Q
A – Derrick Walker 46 run (kick failed), 10:08 2Q
WP – Jaden Harris 3 run (Jaden Harris run), 3:20 2Q
A – Kolby Armstrong 61 pass from Adriane Hernandez (Reid Eastis kick), 10:29 3Q
WP – Jaden Harris 49 run (kick failed), 8:25 3Q
WP – Ethan Bozarth 33 pass from Jaden Chatman (run failed), 2:35 3Q
WP – Ethan Bozarth 30 run (pass failed), 10:35 4Q
Ohatchee 45, Cleveland 6
OHATCHEE – Apparently you can take the team out of the region, but you can’t take the region out of the team.
The Ohatchee Indians knew things couldn’t possibly be as difficult as the region they just stepped out of when they were repositioned into Class 2A this season, but they’re still playing the same brand of hard-nosed football they did when they were in the toughest Class 3A region in the state.
The Indians posted their second Class 2A Region 6 victory rather easily when they dispatched the Cleveland Browns, er, Panthers by a handy sum. They’ve won their two new region games by a combined score of 99-25. They’ve outscored their three opponents this season 140-33.
“You can’t compare the region we’re in now to the one we’ve been in the last four years,” Ohatchee coach Scott Martin said. “The competition is definitely not the same, but I can’t control that. All I can control is my players and my team and come out and execute to the best of my ability and if we execute we’re going to win.
“We’re playing against schools that are our relative size, but I think we’re battled tested in 3A. What we cannot do – and I talk about this – is we can’t get lackadaisical because maybe the competition hasn’t been as good because there are good 2A competitors out there.”
All they have to do is look to this week when they travel to Westbrook Christian, which is 3-1 after winning its region opener with 62 points Friday night.
The Panthers took the opening drive down to the 2, but the Indians held them on fourth down and then drove 98 yards for their first score. In fact, Ohatchee had four possessions in the first half and scored touchdowns on all of them.
Domonique Thomas rushed for more than 200 yards and scored three touchdowns. Quarterback Grayson Alward threw a touchdown pass to Thomas and ran for another score. The defense held Cleveland to negative yards until the Indians put their young unit in the game.
“I thought our kids were very, very physical tonight and we set the tone for the game,” Martin said. “I was impressed with the way we played on both sides of the ball.”
Jacksonville 56, Cherokee County 21
CENTRE – Ron Wiggins had another big night. For the second week in a row Wiggins rushed for five touchdowns and this time put 209 yards with it as the Golden Eagles (4-0, 2-0) won their 11th straight regular-season game and eighth straight region game.
Wiggins scored on runs of 10, 55, 3, 1 and 5 yards; he also scored a pair of two-point conversions. He went for 254 yards and five scores last week against Ashville.
Quarterback Luke Jackson threw for 221 yards on 10-of-13 passing. One of his completions was a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jewels Gray, who caught four balls for 102 yards.
Jaylon Prater had a strip fumble and returned it 32 yards for a defensive touchdown.
Jacksonville 56, Cherokee County 21
Team stats Jax Cher
First downs 18 17
Rushes-yds 33-187 37-230
Passes 8-11-0 6-16-3
Passing yds 218 34
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Punts-avg 2-40.0 5-21.6
Penalties-yds 6-50 12-105
Scoring summary
Jacksonville 14 14 21 7 — 56
Cherokee Co. 0 14 7 0 — 21
J – Ron Wiggins 10 run (kick failed), 10:07 1Q
J – Jaylon Prater 32 fumble recovery in end zone (Ron Wiggins run), 1:52 1Q
CC – Kendrick Fife 11 run (Martin Maer kick), 5:51 2Q
J – Ron Wiggins 55 run (DeMarien Stewart kick), 5:01 2Q
CC – Caden Hubbard 36 yars (Martin Maer kick), 4:03 2Q
J – Ron Wiggins 3 run (DeMarien Stewart kick), 1:14 2Q
J – Ron Wiggins 1 run (DeMarien Stewart kick), 9:32 3Q
CC – Slade Alexander 14 run (Martin Maer kick), 6:55 3Q
J – Jewels Gray 42 pass from Luke Jackson (Ron Wiggins run), 6:00 3Q
J – Ron Wiggins 5 run (DeMarien Stewart kick), 3:27 3Q
J – Jae-Taj Morris 14 run (DeMarien Stewart kick), 9:03 4Q
Boaz 14, Alexandria 7
BOAZ – Christian Collins rushed for 191 yards and both Boaz touchdowns as the Pirates beat the Valley Cubs for the first time ever (1-8). Hartselle (0-10) and Emma Samson (0-6) are now the only teams the Pirates are winless against in a minimum of five games played.
Donoho 14, Winterboro 8
WINTERBORO – Amari Smedley and Rod Elston scored touchdowns and Donoho had three other touchdowns called back, but still held on to win its third game of the year. The Falcons (3-1, 2-0) hadn’t won three in a season since 2015 (3-6) and hadn’t won more than one region game since going 7-0 in 1A Region 5 in 2014. Smedley’s touchdown came on a punt return and Elston’s score came on a run from scrimmage.
Weaver 40, Pleasant Valley 13
JACKSONVILLE – Shamar Spinks ran for three touchdowns and Weaver pulled away from a tight game with three touchdowns in the final six minutes. Spinks scored on runs of 8, 2 and 41 yards.
The Bearcats (3-0, 2-0) jumped out front 20-0 on Amardric Elston’s 48-yard touchown and Spinks’ first two scores, but PV (1-2, 0-2) drew within 20-13 with 11:50 to play on a pair of touchdowns by Alex Parris.
Weaver pulled away on touchdowns by Spinks, Caleb Allison (fumble return) and Drake Monroe. The first two scores came 19 seconds apart.
Weaver 40, Pleasant Valley 13
Team stats Wea PV
First downs 13 17
Rushing yds 244 156
Passing yds 60 40
Turnovers 1 3
Scoring summary
Weaver 7 7 6 20 – 40
Pleasant Val. 0 0 7 6 – 13
W – Amardric Elston 48 run (PAT good), 1:09 1Q
W – Shamar Spinks 8 run (PAT good), 6:44 2Q
W – Shamar Spinks 2 run (kick failed), 9:39 3Q
PV – Alex Parris run (PAT good), 3:45 3Q
PV – Alex Parris run (kick failed), 11:50 4Q
W – Shamar Spinks 41 run (PAT good), 6:08 4Q
W – Caleb Allison 27 rumble return (PAT good), 5:49 4Q
W – Drake Monroe 20 run (PAT failed), 2:48 4Q
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