Tigers find a way

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: October 27, 2018

Roundup: Randolph County trudges to a win, White Plains drops another heartbreaker, Alexandria routs Douglas

Pleasant Valley’s Colton East (32) goes flying after being upended by Randolph County’s Damarcus Davis. On the cover, Atario Hester was one of nine players the Tigers used to run the football. (Photos by Jeremy Wortham)

By Jeremy Wortham
For East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE – It might not have been the prettiest victory of all time, but Randolph County coach Pat Prestridge will take it – and the playoff position that came with it.

Coming off an emotional victory last week over the state’s previously top-ranked team in Class 3A, a return to their own No. 1 ranking, rainy conditions and a slower paced offense by the Pleasant Valley Raiders all put a damper on the Tigers’ performance.

But they managed to find just enough to score a 35-6 victory to secure the No. 2 seed out of Class 3A Region 6.

“We didn’t play great; we expected our guys to play a lot better than we did,” Prestridge said. “We didn’t come out fired up. I guess we were rebounding, well not rebounding, but I guess our heads were a little swollen from last week. A win’s a win, but it’s not the performance we wanted.”

Still, the Tigers took three of their first four possessions of the first half for scores. Terrance Sims scored from 3 yards out early in the first quarter and Demarcus Davis had a 1-yard quarterback sneak to make it 14-0.

They were able to spread the wealth with nine players carrying the ball for 283 yards. Atario Hester had 134 yards on 16 carries and Sims had 50 yards on 10 carries.

“We couldn’t do a lot of things we wanted to do because of the weather, wet balls and all, but we like to share the wealth,” Prestridge said. “We don’t want to depend on one person; that way people can’t key on us. We depend on everybody at the same time. Nobody knows who’s going to get the ball or who’s time it is. When it’s your chance to touch the ball, you better make something happen.”

The Raiders put together their best drive of the first half, but stalled 15 yards from the end zone and turned the ball over on downs. The Tigers went on drive 85 yards with Davis running a 5-yard bootleg into the end zone for a 21-0 halftime lead.

The Raiders got the ball to start the second half. Brody Phillips threw a screen pass that was batted in the air and intercepted by Nick Sims. Atario Hester got his first points of the game on the next drive with 3-yard run with 10:08 remaining in the third.

Davis intercepted his second pass of the game later in the third quarter and returned it for his third touchdown and the Tigers’ final score of the game.

“The defense has been playing great the last couple of weeks,” Prestridge said. “We’re finding ourselves a little bit; we’re growing a little bit. We’re starting to comprehend what we need to do and know where we have to be.”

PV avoided the shutout when Colton East scooped up a Tigers fumble and returned it 77 yards for the Raiders’ only points of the game.

Randolph County 35, Pleasant Valley 6
Team stats RC PV
First downs 14 8
Rushes-yds 41-283 34-47
Passes 2-2-0 2-9-3
Passing yds 17 43
Fumbles lost 2 1
Penalties-yds 8-70 0-0

Oneonta 21, White Plains 20: The Wildcats suffered another heartbreaking loss when Oneonta stopped Jaden Harris’ go-ahead two-point conversion just short of the goal line with 10:26 left in the fourth quarter.

Harris scored two of White Plains’ touchdowns and quarterback Jaden Chatman threw two touchdown passes. David Hall scored all three Oneonta touchdowns, one on a run and two on passes from Brody Pinyan.

Pinyan completed 10 of 14 passes for 141 yards. Hall rushed for 104 yards and caught four passes for 81 more.

Mac Young was White Plains’ leading rusher with 59 yards on six carries. Harris rushed for 54 yards on 10 carries. Chatman completed five of 10 passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

Team stats One WP
First downs 17 14
Rushes-yds 32-137 36-172
Passes 10-14-0 5-12-1
Passing yds 141 78
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Punts-avg 4-34.5 2-48.5
Penalties-yds 6-55 3-25

Scoring summary
Oneonta 0 7 14 0 – 21
White Plains 0 6 8 6 – 20
WP – Ben Rouse 6 pass from Jaden Chatman (kick failed), 11:16 1Q
O – David Hall 1 run (Erick Pineda kick), 6:32, 2Q
O – David Hall 21 pass from Brody Pinyan (Axel Chacon kick), 8:24 3Q
WP – Jaden Harris 22 pass from Jaden Chatman (Ethan Bozarth pass from Jaden Harris), 2:53 3Q
O – David Hall 29 pass from Brody Pinyan (Erick Pineda kick), 1:05 3Q
WP – Jaden Harris 20 run (run failed), 10:26 4Q

Alexandria 54, Douglas 6: The Valley Cubs spread the wealth in their final region game of the season.

Ten players ran the ball for 384 yards and seven touchdowns. Romeo Dye had a team-high 85 yards and two touchdowns. Sam Shaw also scored two touchdowns and Nate McCallum had 71 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown burst.

Javais McGhee 37 and Chaning Orr also ran for touchdowns and Jared Ponder caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Wells. .