CLASS 3A CHAMPIONSHIP: St. James powers back to win first-ever state title

The St. James Trojans won the Class 3A state championship on Thursday, defeating Piedmont, 45-28, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. Photos provided by Marvin Gentry. To order photos, click here.

By TIM GAYLE

AUBURN -- Getting St. James out of its comfort zone seemed to make the Trojans more comfortable.

Trailing by 10 points at the half and needing to change its defensive approach, the Trojans responded with a 35-8 run to defeat Piedmont 45-28 and win the Class 3A state championship at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

 In a record-setting season of firsts for the Trojans, they set a school record for wins in a 13-2 season by winning the school’s first football championship in its first trip to the finals. 

“Honestly, there’s nothing like it,” St. James senior Ethan Beard said. “I’m speechless.”

It was the 14th Alabama High School Athletic Association football championship won by a Montgomery County school, including five by Robert E. Lee, three by Sidney Lanier and two by Jeff Davis. Of the remaining four, three came from Capital City Conference schools -- Montgomery Academy in 1987, Trinity in 2003 and St. James on Thursday.

But the large contingent of Trojan fans who made the trek to Auburn probably didn’t feel very confident early and neither did their players on the field. Piedmont (12-3), which won two of its five championships with the current group of seniors, including last year’s win over Montgomery Academy, hooked up its offensive wagon to record-setting quarterback Jack Hayes and Hayes responded with three touchdown runs for a 20-10 lead in the first half.

“In the first half, it went about as well as it could go for us, trying to slow the game down,” Piedmont coach Steve Smith said. “I think both teams had four possessions in the first half and we were able to score with just a couple of seconds to go and get the ball coming out (in the second half). We kind of felt like we’d have a difficult time matching up with them in a track meet, so to speak, if it was a high-scoring game.”

St. James, meanwhile, looked out of sync on both sides of the ball. Cosner Harrison had scored on a 13-yard run -- on a possession kept alive by a fourth-down pass from KJ Jackson to Clint Houser -- but the defense struggled to line up in coverage against the Bulldogs and Jackson was struggling to connect with his receivers.

“The first half, I came out real slow,” Jackson said. “Honestly, it was a little bit of nerves. Once we went in at halftime, everybody put faith in me, the line gave me some extra time (in the second half) and it was all up from there.”

There was no panic in the Trojan locker room, just a change in defensive philosophy to slow down Hayes, the AHSAA all-time career yardage and touchdown leader who was starting his 60th game for the Bulldogs. Hayes had already rushed for 141 yards in the first half and would finish with 214 yards and four touchdowns on 35 carries.

“We came in, made some defensive adjustments,” Perry said. “The offensive coaches still felt good about what we were doing. Coach (Jeff) Corley went in there at halftime and put in a five-man front on defense, went ‘cover zero’ against them because they had a 10-point lead and they were going to run the ball and end the ballgame.”

Corley’s strategy, with Perry’s blessing, was risky at best. The Trojans primarily play zone defense in their coverage but would now switch to “cover zero,” an alignment aptly named for its “zero” help for secondary players and generally features blitzing to force the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly 

In this version, there would be no blitzing. The defenders were scattered along the line of scrimmage to contain Hayes. Meanwhile, defensive backs Ziggy Holloway, Beard, Houser, Cole Anderson and Pruitt Conner would be on their own, lining up man-to-man on Piedmont receivers with no help.

“Coach Corley trained us very well for ‘man’ coverage,” Beard said. “As soon as they started hitting us with the run, we had to get in a five-man front. So we put our guys in a five-man front, they told us to lock up the secondary. We just had faith in the back end and got the job done. 

Hayes, who completed 4 of 10 passes in the first half for 71 yards with two passes broken up by St. James’ defenders, would complete just 2 of 16 passes for 9 yards in the second half. Ten of his passes were broken up in the second half, including four by Holloway and three by Beard.

“We had some chances to make some plays in the passing game,” Smith said. “To their credit, we’d get a step and their guy would get in there and get a hand on it and rip it out. We just didn’t convert some times when we had a chance to make them.”

The Trojans started their rally on the first play of the second half as Beard knocked the ball loose from Max Hanson on the kickoff return and Anderson recovered on the 23-yard line. After a 2-yard run by Harrison, Jackson hit Houser in stride in the left corner of the end zone to make it 20-17. 

Piedmont, which had scored on three of its four first-half possessions, would now watch as the Trojans scored on their first five possessions of the second half.

“The second half just didn’t go our way,” Hayes said. “They played better than we did in the second half and that’s why they won the game. You could tell they were fired up after we fumbled the kickoff and it just went downhill from there. We dug ourselves too deep of a hole and couldn’t come back from it.”

Jackson would complete 6 of 7 passes for 283 yards and five touchdowns in the second half, unleashing a barrage on the Piedmont secondary. Holloway caught a pass over the middle for 48 yards and a touchdown to give the Trojans the lead, then Houser hauled in a similar pass for 57 yards and suddenly the Trojans had stunned the crowd for a 31-20 lead.

“We probably had more overall team speed than they did,” Perry said. “We kind of misfired on some of the things in the first half. We just settled down and let our receivers do what they do. (Offensive coordinator Neal) Posey did a real good job of getting in formations that made them just one up on us (in man-to-man coverage) and we could pick the leverage they were playing and knew how to attack it.”

Still, the Bulldogs settled down and marched to a touchdown on Hayes’ 5-yard run and conversion run to trim the deficit to 31-28 five seconds into the final period.

“I called Jack over there after we had scored and made it 31-28,” Smith said, “and I said, ‘Perfect scenario here. We’ve got them pinned deep, we stop them, we run seven, eight minutes off the clock and win this game.’”

A fumbled kickoff had rolled 25 yards laterally and out of bounds, leaving the Trojans fortunate to still have the ball, but backed up on the 6-yard line. After a 1-yard run by Jackson, he stepped back and launched a bomb to Beard. He broke into the clear near midfield, hauled in the pass and sprinted for the end zone to complete a 93-yard touchdown pass.

Five plays and a Piedmont punt later, Jackson rolled out, found Beard again on a 53-yard scoring strike with 8:21 remaining and the Trojans could start their celebration a little early.

“I dropped back and it looked cloudy, so I rolled out,” Jackson said. “I thought I was going to run it. I looked up and I saw Ethan running open so I just let it go.”

Jackson’s fifth touchdown pass -- and the 42nd of the season -- gave him more touchdown passes this season than he had in his career. Beard, who had 194 yards on four receptions, pulled in his 14th and 15th touchdowns of the season, another school record.

“We had some run plays that went well, but when it came down to it, the passes were getting the touchdowns,” said Harrison, who had 102 yards on 20 carries. “And everybody was good with that.”