Playoff pressure
- Updated: October 25, 2019
Loss to Randolph County puts pressure on Pleasant Valley to win regular-season finale against Ohatchee for historic playoff berth
By East Alabama Sports Today
WEDOWEE — After Thursday night’s loss, Pleasant Valley’s hopes of making the Class 3A playoffs comes down to the final week of the season against a non-region opponent or a little help.
The Raiders lost to Randolph County 40-14 to wrap up their region scheduled tied with B.B. Comer for the fourth spot from Class 3A Region 6. Saks could make it a three-way tie with a win over Glencoe tonight, and that would be good for the Raiders.
A deadlock with Comer would give the spot to the Tigers by virtue of their last-minute win over PV two weeks ago.
In the three-way tie with Saks, the tiebreaker goes to wins by non-region opponents. If Comer beats Fayetteville next week, it would be in the playoffs for the first time since 2013, collecting six wins from the Wolves. If Comer and PV both lose, Comer would have 0 non-region opponent wins and PV gets the nod by virtue of its win over Saks. If PV beats 8-0 Ohatchee, the No. 2 team in 2A, it gets in regardless of the Comer-Fayetteville result.
“You can’t let one game (B.B. Comer) define you and that’s what our kids have got to get over,” Raiders coach Jonathan Nix said. “We can’t live in yesterday and what happened two weeks ago. We knew the back end of our schedule was loaded with very good teams and Ohatchee might be one of the better teams we played.”
The Raiders (5-4, 3-4) had chances against the Tigers (8-1, 6-1), who can grab a share of the region lead if Wellborn beats Piedmont tonight.
They scored first on Brody Phillips’ 2-yard run, but the missed the two-point conversion and Randolph County went on top with 1:30 left in the first quarter on Jonathon Prothro’s 23-yard run and Braxton Daniel’s extra point.
The Raiders drew within 21-14 with 1:53 left in the first half on Phillips’ 22-yard pass to Colby Nelson and his two-point pass to Drake Hardy. But the Tigers answered with Daniel’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Benefield with 46 seconds left in the half.
“That was a big play right before the half,” Nix said. “That kind of sucked the momentum out of us right there.”
“My two coaches up the top have been hacking at me for about two series about just throwing it,” Randolph County coach Pat Prestridge said. “Great throw by Braxton and great catch by Daniel and the rest is history. That might have bene something we needed right there to loosen them up a little bit more.”
Randolph County stretched its lead with two touchdowns in the third quarter. – Reported by Jeremy Wortham
| PV (14) | RC (40) | |
| 11 | 1st D | 16 |
| 30-46 | Rush | 42-302 |
| 10-19-3 | C-A-I | 1-1-0 |
| 74 | Pass | 46 |
| 0 | Fum | 1 |
| 4-25 | Pens | 6-40 |
Pleasant Valley 6 8 0 0 – 14
Randolph County 7 20 13 0 – 40
Scoring plays
PV – Brody Phillips 2 run (PAT failed), 3:52 1Q
RC – Jonathon Prothro 23 run (Braxton Daniel kick), 1:30 1Q
RC – Dante Jordan 30 interception return (Braxton Daniel kick), 10:42 2Q
RC – Keyshawn Garrett 6 run (Braxton Daniel kick), 5:25 2Q
PV – Colby Nelson 22 pass from Brody Phillips (Drake Hardy pass from Brody Phillips), 1:53 2Q
RC – Daniel Benefield 46 pass from Braxton Daniel (PAT failed), 0:46 2Q
RC – Dante Jordan 70 yard run. (PAT failed), 9:16 3Q
RC – Jonathon Prothro 6 run (Braxton Daniel kick), 5:44 3Q
Alexandria 45, Douglas 6: The Valley Cubs bounced back from their loss in the region championship game with a dominating performance over the Eagles. They held Douglas to 51 yards of offense (all rushing, on 48 carries) and kept it out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.
Nine ball carriers combined for 150 yards rushing and four touchdowns for Alexandria, and 27 players made at least one tackle. Ronnie Royal, Devin Burton, Dekari Garrett and Antonio Ross all scored rushing touchdowns, while Javais McGhee had a 62-yard punt return for a score, Layton Ellison recovered a fumble in the end zone and Grayson Forrest kicked a 36-yard field goal.
The Valley Cubs (7-1) will host their first-round playoff game. They will get Sylacauga if the Aggies beat Munford Friday or Center Point if Munford wins.
| Doug (6) | Alex (45) | |
| 48-51 | Rush | 20-150 |
| 0-1-0 | C-A-I | 4-5-0 |
| 0 | Pass | 69 |
| 2-8 | Pens | 5-40 |
Douglas 0 0 0 6 – 6
Alexandria 28 17 0 0 – 45
Scoring plays
A – Devin Burton 1 run (Grayson Forrest kick)
A – Ronnie Royal 16 run (Grayson Forrest kick)
A – Javais McGhee 62 punt return (Grayson Forrest kick)
A – Layton Ellison fumble recovery in end zone (Grayson Forrest kick)
A – Antonio Ross 5 run (Grayson Forrest kick)
A – Dekari Garrett 40 run (Grayson Forrest kick)
A – Grayson Forrest 36 FG
D – Eli Teal 6 run (PAT failed)
Ohatchee 49, Gaston 0: Domonique Thomas scored three touchdowns and the Indians wrapped up their second straight undefeated region season on a Senior Night moved to Thursday to avoid the expected bad weather.
After Thomas scored on a 1-yard run to open the scoring all of the Indians’ touchdowns came on big plays. Thomas had a 60-yard run and returned an interception for a score. Riker Lambright had a 52-yard run, Noah Fuller had a 53-yard run, Gavin Williams had a 51-yard run and Trey Pesnell capped the scoring with his second touchdown of the season, a 53-yard run. That’s 270 rushing yards on the touchdowns alone.
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