County sweeps
- Updated: November 6, 2020
Alexandria’s Royal (332 yards, 6 TDs) headlines big night as, for the second year in a row, all eight Calhoun County playoff teams won first-round games
CALHOUN COUNTY GAMES
CLASS 3A
Ohatchee 28, Lauderdale County 14
Wellborn 63, Phil Campbell 20
Piedmont 47, Colbert Heights 14
Saks 22, East Lawrence 15
CLASS 4A
Jacksonville 27, Jackson 24
Anniston 25, Williamson 16
CLASS 5A
Alexandria 57, West Point 20
CLASS 6A
Oxford 44, Minor 6
By East Alabama Sports Today
Just when you might have thought Ronnie Royal couldn’t ever have a better game than the one he enjoyed a couple weeks ago at Lincoln, Friday night’s playoff opener was even better.
The fab frosh rushed for 332 yards and six touchdowns on 16 carries as the Valley Cubs opened what could be a long playoff run with a 57-20 rout of West Point.
“Ronnie had a big night, I didn’t know how big until after the game,” Cubs coach Todd Ginn said. “He had some big runs. I thought he was patient tonight running the football. I thought he waited for his blocks to set up and ran the ball well.”
After being bottled up by Piedmont in the final regular season game, the first time Royal touched the ball Friday he went 96 yards for a score. He scored on three of his last four carries and had 134 yards on his last five carries of the game. His touchdowns went for 96, 1, 10, 54, 8 and 43 yards.
He didn’t even slow down when he broke off a big run in the first half and had a would-be tackler strip off his helmet; only a penalty flag brought it back.
“Tonight we just went out there to have fun, just play our game,” Royal said. “Coach always says work hard, play our game and we just plan to have fun.”
He had 309 yards and five touchdowns in the Lincoln game.His touchdowns that night covered 69, 68, 17, 42 and 37 yards. For the year he now has 1,710 yards and 28 touchdowns, and 26 carries of 20 yards-plus.
“Every game is going to be different because we come out there with a different mindset,” Royal said. “(This game) felt different to me because it was a playoff game, just knowing we had to play well because this could be our last game. We just had to stay out there and focus.”
The Valley Cubs (10-1) travel to Parker (6-4) for their second-round game.
Alexandria 57, West Point 20
West Point 0 0 7 13 – 20
Alexandria 14 14 22 7 – 57
A – Ronnie Royal 96 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 10:07 1Q
A – Ronnie Royal 1 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 2:29 1Q
A – Ronnie Royal 10 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 9:27 2Q
A – Javais McGhee 35 pass from Wesley Wright (Cleat Forrest kick), 0:30 2Q
A – Ronnie Royal 54 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 10:22 3Q
A – Ronnie Royal 8 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 3:43 3Q
W – Will Cochran 1 run (kick good), 0:29 3Q
A – Ronnie Royal 43 run (Austin Jeffers pass from Wesley Wright), 0:00 3Q
W – Kobe Bowers 60 pass from Will Cochran (PAT failed), 10:34 4Q
A – Nick Merriweather 5 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 6:20 4Q
W – Will Cochran 1 run (kick good), 3:10 4Q
| WP (4-7) | Alex (10-1) | |
| 34-164 | Rushes-yds | 31-440 |
| 18-29-1 | C-A-I | 6-13-0 |
| 323 | Passing yds | 104 |
| 2-10 | Pen-yds | 5-30 |
Piedmont 47, Colbert Heights 14
PIEDMONT – The Piedmont Bulldogs never take any game for granted, but there aren’t many more sure things than the Bulldogs in the opening round of the playoffs.
Piedmont hasn’t lost a first-round playoff game since coach Steve Smith’s first season at the helm (2006) and that trend continued Friday night as the Bulldogs routed Colbert Heights 47-14 in the opening round of the Class 3A playoffs.
They host Plainview (10-1) in their second-round game next week. They’ve won their last five second-round games.
Jack Hayes completed 11 of 17 passes to four different receivers for 269 yards and four touchdowns in the first half and the rout was on. He threw a pair of touchdown passes to Austin Estes and one each to Jakari Foster and Coleman Reid. The Bulldogs ran only two rushing plays in the first half and didn’t throw it all in the second.
The game was tied 7-7 early in the second quarter, but then it was all Piedmont. Hayes threw three touchdown passes and Max Hanson returned a punt 46 yards for a score to give the Bulldogs a 33-7 halftime lead.
Elijah Johnson and Parker Thornton scored touchdowns for the second-ranked Bulldogs (10-1) in the third quarter.
Reid caught four passes for 91 yards. Estes and Jadon Calhoun each caught three passes and Foster’s touchdown catch was his only reception. Thornton was Piedmont’s leading rusher with 82 yards on four carries.
Piedmont 47, Colbert Heights 14
Colbert Heights 0 7 0 7 – 14
Piedmont 7 26 14 0 – 47
P – Austin Estes 27 pass from Jack Hayes (Sloan Smith kick), 9:04 1Q
C – Gage Pugh 22 pass from Carson Shaw (Tristan Cheatham kick), 11:04 2Q
P – Austin Estes 17 pass from Jack Hayes (Sloan Smith kick), 10:35 2Q
P – Jakari Foster 82 pass from Jack Hayes (kick faled), 8:58 2Q
P – Max Hanson 46 punt return (Sloan Smith kick), 5:22 2Q
P – Coleman Reid 48 pass from Jack Hayes (kick failed), 2:26 2Q
P – Elijah Johnson 6 run (Sloan Smith kick), 9:57 3Q
P – Parker Thornton 6 run (Sloan Smith kick), 3:08 3Q
C – Austin Scott 2 run (Tristan Cheatham kick), 2:22 4Q
| CH (5-6) | Pied (10-1) | |
| 11 | 1st Downs | 13 |
| 140 | Rushing yds | 147 |
| 3-8-0 | C-A-I | 11-17-0 |
| 40 | Passing yds | 269 |
| 2 | Fumbles lost | 0 |
| 5-35.0 | Punts-avg | 2-28.0 |
| 6-41 | Pen-yds | 5-45 |
Wellborn 63, Phil Campbell 20
The fourth-ranked Panthers (9-1) were locked in a tight battle in the first half where the lead changed hands five times, but they made some adjustments at halftime and dominated the second half of their Class 3A playoff opener.
The Panthers led 20-14 halftime, then rushed for nearly 200 yards and five touchdowns in the second half, scored six times and had three takeaways.
“You’ve got to give some credit to Phil Campbell,” Wellborn coach Jeff Smith said. “They came out with a really good game plan and did a lot of things to us in the first half that we were not prepared for, that they had not shown. Watching film on them they would change their identity from week to week.
“They came out in the first half and hit us with some things we weren’t expecting and did a very good job with it. The thing that I’m proud of is we came down here at halftime and basically challenged our players and made just a few slight adjustments and they went out there and responded.”
Calvin Spinks rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Jett Smith had 72 yards and three touchdowns, while Logan Brooks (53 yards), Keyonte Curry (38) and Xavier Parker (23) all had one TD. Defensive end Tavaris Berry returned an airborne fumble for a touchdown in the second half.
The reward for winning their playoff opener for the second year in a row is a trip to top-ranked Fyffe (11-0), which could face three straight Calhoun County opponents if the fates allow. The Red Devils have allowed only 66 points this season with five shutouts. Wellborn is one of the highest scoring teams in the state (391 points) and have scored more than 45 points in five of their last seven games.
“You have to play them sooner or later,” Smith said. “If you’re going to win the state championship you’re going to have to beat them, that’s just point blank the way it is. We’d either play them now or play them later, so let’s go ahead and get it on. Let’s do it.
“They’ve got a great team, they’ve got a big (41-game) winning streak going and everything else. Why do we play the game? To play in games like that.”
Anniston 25, Williamson 16
MOBILE – Every team has the drive that defines a season and quarterback Kamron Sandlin delivered Anniston’s in the fourth quarter of its Class 4A playoff opener.
Sandlin capped a 15-play, 83-yard touchdown march that consumed eight minutes with an 8-yard run on fourth down with 4:19 to play to give the Bulldogs an insurance cushion. Sandlin’s first touchdown, a 23-yard run, capped an equally impressive eight-play, 76-yard drive to open the second half.
Williamson was the No. 1 seed out of Region 1, but has not won a first-round playoff game since 2007. The Tigers (7-4) never led in the game.
Anniston has won four of its last five after starting the season 0-5 against five teams that eventually made the playoffs. The Bulldogs (4-6) will host Bibb County (9-2) in their second-round game. It will be the 1,000th all-time game in Anniston’s football history.
Saks 22, East Lawrence 15
TRINITY – Sean Parnell threw a touchdown pass to Jalen McCants late in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 22-8 halftime lead and intercepted a pass in the final two minutes to kill the Eagles’ final threat and preserve their sixth straight win. The pick was one of five takeaways the Wildcats produced in the game.
East Lawrence was the No. 1 seed out of Class 3A Region 8. The Eagles have never won a playoff game (0-10). Saks has won its last three opening-round games (2017, 2018, 2020) and the second-round game after the first two. The Wildcats (8-3) host J.B. Pennington (8-3) in next week’s second round.
Ohatchee 28, Lauderdale County 14
ROGERSVILLE – Eli Ennis had touchdown runs of 53 and 40 yards and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Trey Pesnell to lead the third-ranked Indians. Ennis rushed for 183 yards. Noah Fuller had a 4-yard touchdown run.
Lauderdale County threatened Ohatchee’s 20-14 fourth-quarter lead after stopping and Indians threat with a fumble recovery inside the Tigers 40, but the Indians turned it away with back-to-back sacks. The Indians (10-1) host Winfield (10-1) in their second-round game.
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