MA-CATHOLIC: Miraculous Eagles take down Knights for trip to 3A finals

Jamal Cooper rushes for 21 yards on one of the few big plays of the night for MA in the 10-7 upset of Catholic on Friday. (Ryan Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Who said there’s no such thing as miracles?

This may not have been on the world-wide level of the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, but the memory of Herb Brooks’ coaching masterpiece was certainly on the minds of the Montgomery Academy players and coaches as Alex Kohn drilled a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give the Eagles a 10-7 upset of Catholic in the 3A semifinals at Knights Field on Friday. 

“Like Herb Brooks said, ‘Not tonight,’” Montgomery Academy coach Robert Johnson said. “They might be the better team, they might beat us 99 out of 100, but not tonight. Tonight, we were the better team.”

Johnson didn’t hold anything back when he was describing all the sporting world’s upsets that came to mind. 

“We talked about the 1980 U.S. hockey team, we talked about Duke beating UNLV, we talked about Mohammed Ali’s ‘rope-a-dope’ (win over George Foreman in 1974), we talked about all of it,” he said. “And we told them we believed in them and we were going to go do it.”

Not counting a two-play drive to run out the clock at the end of the first half, Montgomery Academy had eight possessions in Friday’s game, with five ending on three-and-out punts and the others resulting in a touchdown, missed field goal and the game-winning kick. The Eagles truly seized the moment to knock off the state’s top-ranked 3A team.

“At the beginning of the week, our coach talked to us and told us if we want this (Catholic) team out of the playoffs, we’ll have to be the ones to do it,” Montgomery Academy fullback Jashawn Cooper said. “The last time they played us, they beat us 42-0 and everybody was rooting for us to win, but they didn’t believe in us. This whole week, he kept reminding us of the biggest upsets in history.”

Montgomery Academy (11-3) will face Piedmont (12-2), an overtime winner against Saks, for the 3A state championship next Thursday at 11 a.m. in Birmingham’s Protective Stadium. Catholic ends the season at 13-1 after reaching the 3A finals a year ago.

“I’m super proud of these seniors,” Catholic coach Kirk Johnson said. “Hats off to Montgomery Academy, that’s one of the best coached football teams that we play. When you see a team four times in two years, it’s difficult.”

The two teams meet in the regular season and for the last two years have battled in the 3A semifinals. MA won the 2020 meeting 32-21, then lost in overtime in the semifinals 35-28 in overtime. This year, Catholic won the first game 42-0 with the help of several costly turnovers that crippled the chances of the grind-it-out wing T team. 

“Last spring, we decided we were going to just feel them out that first game,” Johnson said, “because we learned a lesson from the year before where we put our best game plan out there and beat them and woke them up. We tried to have a good game plan the second time and ended up losing in overtime. We won’t going to let that happen this year.”

Montgomery Academy broke a scoreless tie with an eight minute, 39-second drive that took 18 rushing plays, scoring on a 2-yard run by Cooper with 4:33 remaining in the first half. 

“I never in my wildest dreams thought we would do that against Catholic, but we did,” Robert Johnson said.  

“When we got that, we were feeling it,” Cooper said. “All we had to do is play defense.”

Catholic had initially scored the game’s first points on a 40-yard pass from Caleb McCreary to Luke Harkless but it was wiped out by a holding penalty. The Knights registered four first downs over the next two quarters but could never seem to sustain anything offensively.

“That happens in football,” Kirk Johnson said. “We shouldn’t have given up any points. It’s a team effort. That’s the game plan they put together and they executed it. We played their game of football and that’s ultimately on us.”

The next meaningful drive came in the fourth quarter as the Eagles marched into the red zone on an 11-play drive before stalling as Kohn’s 33-yard attempt was wide right.

“I think I was just too excited,” Kohn said.

He would get another chance two possessions later. Taking over at the 20 with 4:45 left, the big play came on a third-and-eight pass from Jamal Cooper to tailback Ruston Bassett. Bassett bent over to catch the low pass and was leveled by Catholic defensive back Kylon Griffin, resulting in a targeting call.

“We were just playing for a field goal,” Johnson said. “We were going to let Alex win this thing and he did.”

Six plays later, Jamal Cooper’s 3-yard run to the 20 allowed Robert Johnson to run the clock down to 2.6 seconds before calling a timeout. 

“We know the first time he missed it, but he’s the best kicker in the state,” Jashawn Cooper said. “The next time we get down there, he’s going to make that one.”

Kirk Johnson called a timeout seconds later in an attempt to ice the kicker, but Kohn’s kick was true, setting off a wild celebration on the MA sideline.

“That was crazy,” Kohn said. “I just had so much support after my miss. They supported me throughout the whole game. I did not want us to lose this game and it be my fault for missing the first kick. That would have been awful. This just feels awesome.

“I’ve been in the final four in soccer and in football six times now. I lost in overtime (in football) and on penalty shootouts (in soccer). I’m finally here. It feels really good.”  

Now, Montgomery Academy players can add Friday’s game to their list.

“I think it’s very big,” Cooper said. “To us, it’s very big.”

AHSAA 2021 FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Semifinal Results
CLASS 1A
SOUTH
Sweet Water (13-0) 21, Brantley (12-1) 18
NORTH
Wadley (14-1) 41, Pickens County (11-3) 36

CLASS 2A
SOUTH
Clarke County (12-2) 42, Highland Home (8-6) 21
NORTH
Cleveland (12-2) 21, Mars Hill Bible (10-4) 13

CLASS 3A
SOUTH
Montgomery Academy (11-3) 10, Montgomery Catholic (13-1) 7
NORTH
Piedmont (12-2) 52, Saks (12-2) 44 (OT)

CLASS 4A
SOUTH
Vigor (13-1) 42, Jackson (11-3) 21
NORTH
Oneonta (13-1) 28, Madison Academy (12-2) 24

CLASS 5A
SOUTH
Pike Road (13-0) 33, Andalusia (9-5) 0
NORTH
Pleasant Grove (12-1) 47, Fairview (12-2) 17

CLASS 6A
SOUTH
Hueytown (13-1) 44, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (11-3) 16
NORTH
Clay-Chalkville (14-0) 24, Mountain Brook (12-2) 18

SUPER 7 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
PROTECTIVE STADIUM, BIRMINGHAM
Wednesday, Dec. 1
GIRLS’ FLAG FINALS, Dec. 1
Hewitt-Trussville (10-0) vs. Smiths Station (10-2), 3 p.m.
CLASS 7A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Central-Phenix City (13-0) vs. Thompson (12-1), 7 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 2
CLASS 3A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Montgomery Academy (11-3) vs. Piedmont (12-2), 11 a.m.
CLASS 1A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Wadley (13-1) VS. Sweet Water (13-0), 3 p.m.
CLASS 5A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Pleasant Grove (12-1) vs. Pike Road (13-0), 7 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 3
CLASS 4A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Vigor (13-1) vs. Oneonta (13-1), 11 a.m.
CLASS 2A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Cleveland (12-2) vs. Clarke County (12-2), 3 p.m.
CLASS 6A SUPER 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
Clay-Chalkville (14-0) vs. Hueytown (13-1), 7 p.m.