COLUMN: Montgomery Academy suffers familiar ending in championship loss to Piedmont
Jashawn Cooper gets ahold of Piedmont quarterback Jack Hayes in the backfield for a sack in the Bulldogs’ win over Montgomery Academy in the Class 3A championship game at Protective Field on Thursday (Courtesy Jason Caldwell)
By GRAHAM DUNN
BIRMINGHAM - If déjà vu has a home, it lives somewhere in the annals of high school football.
More specifically, it showed up Thursday in the Class 3A championship game at Protective Stadium.
Montgomery Academy made its first appearance in a championship game in 34 years and after one half, looked like it would bring home a blue trophy.
But like last year, fate had different ideas.
MA’s rival, Montgomery Catholic had a similar situation. The Knights had taken a nine-point lead in the second half, only to watch Fyffe grab it late and hold on for the win.
The Eagles fell, 35-33, to Piedmont after owning a their own halftime lead. They almost made their own gallant comeback, but fell short.
Just like Catholic last year.
In each case, both Catholic and MA faced big, running straight-ahead quarterbacks in a no-nonsense offense. They dared you to step in front of them.
Both held their own but the brutality eventually wore down the defenses.
Early in the contest, MA took advantage of big plays and quick strikes to build a 21-0 lead. Piedmont stuck to the plan and regained the lead with ball control and a stifling defense in the second half.
“If you watch the game, it really wasn’t like (an MA blowout in the first half),” Eagles coach Robert Johnson said. . “We blocked a kick, had a great long run by Jamal (Cooper), caught a couple of big passes.
“Watch real football and that’s what it looks like. We knew they would come back. We felt like we would make plays and have a chance. We just didn’t make enough at the end to win.”
Last year, Catholic built a lead in the 3A championship game against Fyffe. It lasted until the fourth quarter when the Red Devils took the lead with the quarterback, Ike Rowell, leading the way.
The Knights had one last shot on the final possession but the final pass just missed, giving Fyffe its second-straight title.
Behind it’s own bruising quarterback, Piedmont scored 29 unanswered points to take the lead early in the fourth quarter after trailing 29-6 at halftime.
Meanwhile, MA’s offense had stalled. Through the first 20 minutes of the second-half play clock, the Eagles had run 20 plays from scrimmage, which included their first and only turnover of the game at the MA 17 yard line.
The Eagles had a chance late, but the second fumble of the game at the Piedmont 9 yard line ended a threat in the final minutes.
MA fans can play the “what if” game all they want. But this isn’t Piedmont coach Steve Smith’s first rodeo. He has taken the Bulldogs to the state championship six times and it showed in his team’s composure.
“He didn’t yell at us at halftime, pretty much went play-by-play to tell us what went wrong,” stated Piedmont linebacker Landon Smart. “He told us we would win if we stuck to what got us here. We needed to make plays and let it take care of the rest.”
Although disappointed, Johnson and his players still had a feeling of accomplishment, considering the team had lost three times during the regular season but still fought through a tough postseason against some of their biggest rivals.
“I am really proud of our guys,” Johnson said. “A heck of a season but I figured this game would be like this. It would come down to one play and who made it at the end. We gave it our best. We came up short.”