PREP RECAP (Week 2): Catholic, ACA highlight undefeated week for CCC; Holtville wins; Hooper tops Macon East
COMBINED REPORTS
Catholic 56, Booker T. Washington 6
Caleb McCreary ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more to lead the Knights to a 56-6 victory over Booker T. Washington in the region opener for both teams on Friday.
The win was the 27th consecutive regular-season victory for Catholic dating back to 2020. It was also the 28th consecutive region victory for the Knights dating back to a 2018 loss at Headland.
McCreary, a Troy commitment, completed 9 of 16 passes for 110yds and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran for two more scores.
Josh Griffin added 150 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
Rickie Williams had six tackles and a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown to lead the Catholic defense, which has held 18 of the last 23 regular-season opponents to a touchdown or less. Garrett Sanford had eight tackles, including three for loss and a sack, along with a fumble recovery and a 57-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Zay Rudolph had eight tackles, including two for loss, Myles Khatri had nine tackles, including two for loss, and JJ Williams had three tackles and an interception.
Catholic (3-0 overall and 1-0 in region play) travels to Slocomb next week for a region game.
Montgomery Academy 38, Bullock County 19
Montgomery Academy shook off the flu bug with help from DJ Vinson, who had a school-record 250 receiving yards to lead the Eagles to their first win of the season in a 38-19 win over region rival Bullock County at McLemore Field on Friday night.
During the week, 17 of the team’s 38 players missed at least one practice due to illness and many remained sidelined on Friday night, forcing a team already searching for depth to play its players on both sides of the ball.
That didn’t seem to faze Vinson, who caught eight passes for 250 yards, setting one school record and tying another with three touchdowns.
Park Cook finished the night completing 12 of 20 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns.
On the ground, Chance Wilson rushed 11 times for 185 yards and a touchdown while contributing eight tackles on defense.
Outside linebacker Will Hardin led the MA defense with 14 tackles and a pair of sacks. Knox Wingate added 10 tackles and a forced fumble and David Whisenhunt had nine tackles and an interception.
The win was the first for new coach Ethan McBride.
The Eagles (1-2 overall and 1-0 in region play) travel to Midland City next week for a region game with Dale County.
Alabama Christian 30, Lynn 20
David Ortiz-Ramirez rushed 20 times for 187 yards and a touchdown and AC Walters added 140 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries as the Eagles defeated Lynn 30-20 in their home opener at Faulkner’s John Mark Stallings Field on Friday.
The loss was the first for Lynn (1-1) in the regular season since losing to Alabama Christian 64-26 last year in the second week of the season.
Walters scored on a 16-yard run late in the second quarter to counter a Lynn touchdown and Tyson Summers returned from an offseason injury to kick a 28-yard field goal and give the Eagles a 9-7 halftime lead.
Ortiz-Ramirez sprinted 94 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter to make it 16-7 and Walters ran 26 yards to the end zone in the early moments of the fourth quarter for a 23-13 lead.
Lynn came back with another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter but Walters countered for the Eagles with a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:27 left in the game.
Defensively, William Milner had 11 tackles to lead ACA, while Lane Smith, TJ Merritt and Ari Bowman each had five tackles. Blake Shaw had a pair of sacks and Darrius Gardner had an interception.
ACA (1-1) will play host to undefeated Trinity next Friday.
Trinity 43, Southside-Selma 26
Ross Sanders rushed for 111 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries to lead Trinity past Southside-Selma in the region opener for both teams at Ragsdale-Boykin Field.
Walker McClinton added a pair of touchdown passes, both to Webber McClinton, as the Wildcats improved to 3-0 for only the second time since 2009.
The 2021 Wildcats opened the season with seven wins before losing to Catholic.
Walker McClinton completed 10 of 21 passes for a pair of touchdowns while throwing two interceptions. Webber McClinton had 74 yards on four receptions, Winston Phillips added 40 yards on three catches and Xavier Boswell had 12 yards on two receptions.
Chase Parker added 26 rushing yards on six carries and Ryan Basile added five extra points.
Defensively, Coleman Till led the Wildcats with 12 tackles. McClain Brown had nine tackles, Boswell had eight tackles and a pair of interceptions, Dalton Gaston had eight tackles, Parker had seven tackles, Carson Brown had seven tackles and Luke Hall had six. Bo Stewart had five tackles and an interception.
Sanders had three sacks and three quarterback pressures.
Trinity travels to Alabama Christian next week.
St. James 63, PCA 35
PRATTVILLE -- In a wild game that featured a little of everything, the Trojans scored the last three touchdowns to pull away from Prattville Christian for a 63-35 win at Panther Stadium on Friday night.
KJ Jackson threw five touchdown passes, Cole Anderson ran for three touchdowns and Ziggy Holloway scored two touchdowns on pass receptions and another on a kickoff return as the Trojans and Panthers scored on every possession in the first half.
Holloway scored the game’s first touchdown on a 63-yard pass from Jackson, but PCA answered with a Tanner Byrd quarterback sneak to tie the game.
Tabor Offord scored on a 33-yard reception from Jackson and Anderson added an 80-yard run but Byrd threw the first of three touchdown passes to Liam Taylor to make it 21-13.
Holloway scored on the ensuing kickoff, running 96 yards to the end zone, but Byrd and Taylor hooked up again to make it 28-21.
Offord’s 24-yard reception for the Trojans was answered by a 5-yard touchdown run by Byrd. A third touchdown reception by Offord, this one for 25 yards, was answered by Taylor’s third touchdown reception from Byrd to trim the deficit to 41-35.
At that point, the Trojans scored the game’s final three touchdowns, one on a Holloway reception and two on Anderson runs, to secure the region opener.
Jackson completed 7 of 10 passes for 210 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran in a two-point conversion.
Holloway had two receptions for 102 yards, both scoring touchdowns, and Offord had three receptions for 82 yards, scoring a touchdown on each reception.
Anderson rushed 17 times for 194 yards and three touchdowns and Jake Huff converted 7 of 8 extra point attempts.
St. James (2-1) returns home for a region matchup with Greensboro next Friday, while PCA (1-2) is off.
Holtville 41, Shelby County 21
HOLTVILLE - Keiland Baker totaled 438 yards in offense to lead the Bulldogs to their first win in Class 5A, Region 4 Friday at Boykin-Chapman Field.
Baker passed for 210 yards and added 54 yards on the ground and was responsible for three touchdowns. Hunter Chavis added 100 yards and two scores. Eric Atkins had 110 yards and a touchdown in receptions.
Luke Strength led the Holtville defense with 11 tackles while Jayce Price had an interception. Chasen Webster and Joshua Jeminez each had a fumble recovery.
Holtville (2-1, 1-0) is home again next week to face Selma in a region game.
AISA
Hooper Academy 50, Macon East Academy 24
CECIL -- Ron McGinty rushed for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Colts put themselves in position for the playoffs with a 50-24 win over the Knights on Friday night.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak dating back to 2016 in the series for Hooper and was the third largest margin of victory for a Hooper team in series history.
The win put Hooper (2-1) in first place in AA Region 1 with a 2-0 record, followed by Chambers at 1-0, Edgewood at 1-1, Macon East at 0-1 and Abbeville Christian at 0-2. With just two region games remaining, the Colts are virtually assured of a playoff berth for the first time since 2020 and only the second time since 2013.
In addition to McGinty, Judah Petty rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown, Kadyn Lumley rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown, Christ McCoy rushed for 44 yards and a touchdown and Ellis Fleming rushed for nine yards and a touchdown.
Lumley led the Hooper defense with 10 tackles.
Macon East, trying to find a spark for its struggling offense, turned to Barrett Spaeth at tailback and Sam Wallace at quarterback. Spaeth rushed for 103 yards -- while making a team-high seven tackles on defense -- and Wallace had a rushing touchdown and passed for another.
Macon East (0-4) has a week off before traveling to Auburn to play defending AAA state champion Lee-Scott. Hooper will travel to Snook Christian next week.
Lowndes Academy 29, Southern Academy 0
GREENSBORO -- The Rebels pitched their third shutout of the season on Friday night, holding Southern Academy to just 88 total yards in a 29-0 victory.
The two-time defending A state champions improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in A Region 1 play, outscoring their opponents 121-0 this season.
Kasen Dismukes rushed for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 11 carries while recording seven tackles on defense.
Scott Stinson added 48 yards and a touchdown on just two carries and Clayton Hussey had 16 yards and a touchdown on three carries.
Cooper Dansby also had seven tackles for Lowndes, with Jase Howard contributing six.
Lowndes will travel to Edgewood next week, while Southern (3-1) is idle.
Edgewood Academy 29, Abbeville Christian 0
ABBEVILLE -- Edgewood Academy raced out to a 29-0 lead at the half and coasted to their first win of the season in a AA Region 1 victory over the Generals on Friday.
Gabe LeMaster had five receptions for 125 yards, including touchdown catches of 56, 45 and 8 yards. He also had 52 return yards and a two-point conversion, all in the first half.
Ethan Evans was 7 of 10 passing for 119 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
Parker Shaw rushed for 51 yards on nine carries, including a 24-yard touchdown run, and led the defense with 16 tackles.
Cooper Freeman had 11 tackles for Edgewood, followed by Jackson Hudson with eight tackles and Zayne Talley with five tackles and a sack. Tanner Trucks had an interception for the Wildcats.
Edgewood (1-3) improved to 1-1 in region play with games remaining against Hooper and Macon East. Abbeville Christian dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in region play.
The Wildcats return home to play Lowndes Academy next week, while Abbeville is idle.
Fort Dale Academy 34, Autauga Academy 20
GREENVILLE -- Cam Wright scored a pair of touchdowns and Damien Dickerson added another but the Generals’ defense came up short against Fort Dale Academy on Friday.
It was the first loss of the season for Autauga (3-1) and dropped them to 1-1 in region play with a region matchup next week at Valiant Cross.
Fort Dale (3-1) evened its region record at 1-1 and will travel to Selma to play Morgan in a region matchup next week.