TUESDAY PREPS: Prattville flag football hands Catholic payback; Trinity volleyball sweeps Marbury
Prattville’s Lanieya Page pulls down a pass for a touchdown in the Lions’ win over Catholic on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
MARBURY -- Last year, an experienced Catholic flag football team handed Prattville’s start-up program its first loss in a 12-0 game at Catholic.
This year, the tables were turned as an experienced Prattville team that returns all but two starters played its fourth game in four days, appearing much more at ease against a Catholic squad that opened the season with a 12-0 loss to the Lions at Marbury High on Tuesday afternoon.
“They’ve played, they’ve been there, we’re still working out kinks,” Catholic coach Whitney Toole said. “We’ve got a young team. We’re starting a new quarterback, we’re starting new receivers, we’re starting a new defense. It’s just going to take time. This game doesn’t determine our end goal.”
The third meeting between the two teams looked a lot like the first two, a 12-0 shutout by Catholic in the first game and a 6-0 shutout in overtime by Prattville in the rematch. In Tuesday’s matchup, Lanieya Page caught two touchdown passes from Kaytie Chandler, including the game-clinching grab with 3:45 left that sealed the win for the Lions.
“That was Coach (Mike) Battle,” Prattville coach Brian Pittman said. “He found a matchup and slid (Page) into another spot hoping they would forget about her. I don’t know how you do, but that’s what happened. We changed the formation a little bit and we were able to get her one-on-one in the corner and I’ll take her any day of the week matched up one-on-one.”
The play came on a fourth-and-goal play from the Catholic 11-yard line after Prattville had called a timeout to talk about the upcoming play.
“Coach Mike had a good idea,” Page said. “He saw the way they were lined up and he was like, ‘let’s switch this up, we’ve got one more shot at this, it’s now or never,’” Page said. “He lined me up, I was a little nervous but I had to put my trust in him and that’s what I did. Got out there one-on-one and I knew it was either me or her and I wanted it to be me.”
Catholic drove into the red zone twice, dropping a fourth-down pass in the end zone and throwing an interception. A final drive reached the Prattville 26 in the final minute before another interception killed the threat.
“I think the defense played pretty solid,” Toole said. “We’re replacing two or three (starters) and we saw a couple of holes at the end. We blew coverage on the back end a couple of times. But in the grand scheme of things, we blew chances on the offensive end, too, so it was multiple things we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and get better.”
Catholic reached the 1A-5A finals last year, but had to replace tailback Ann Cobb and quarterback Jehle Dickson. New quarterback Hayden Fitts rushed for a game-high 48 yards on 11 carries and completed 8 of 17 passes for 44 yards. Defensively, she had three tackles and two pass breakups.
“I’m proud of Hayden, I’m proud of (backup) Paige (Sims),” Toole said. “We knew from the beginning it was going to be a different look. Jehle did stuff (Fitts) didn’t do last year and Hayden’s going to do things that (Dickson) didn’t do. Paige is going to mix in here and there. We’ve just got to get better at what we’re doing and stop comparing ourselves to last year’s team.”
The Knights managed just 51 total yards and four first downs in the second half.
Prattville, meanwhile, used a 43-yard touchdown pass from Chandler to Page late in the first quarter to put the Knights in a 6-0 hole. Page had slipped behind the secondary on blown coverage by the Knights, presenting Chandler with an easy target. The Prattville quarterback was 13 of 25 for 160 yards and two touchdowns, with Page catching six of those passes for 78 yards, while also recording three tackles, two pass breakups and an interception on defense.
In four games, Page has six touchdown receptions and an interception return for a touchdown.
“Legs were heavy, bodies were heavy, but it was one of those games where we had to pick each other up,” Page said. “We had to dig it out. Considering what we did Saturday against all those teams, we knew we had it in us, we just knew it would come down to who wants it more and who was willing to really dig in a game. Our team is the type to build each other up, get hyped and dig it out. And we proved that tonight.”
Prattville was held to just 8 rushing yards by the Catholic defense, but Pittman wasn’t complaining after winning a hard-fought matchup with the Knights.
“Typical game we’ve had the three times we’ve played,” he said. “A defensive struggle, back and forth. Early on, we were fortunate to hit a shot. You could tell we were a little tired from Saturday still, but that’s not an excuse. We didn’t have as much pep in the first half like we needed, but come clutch time, we came up with a couple of picks and Brooklyn Johnson makes a heck of a catch and that’s the first boom I heard from our sideline and our kids and I think that willed us in.”
Johnson, the Lions’ center, had a 16-yard reception on a third-and-11 play that set up Page’s game-clinching touchdown reception five plays later.
Prattville (4-0), which is playing all of its home games at Marbury because of ongoing renovations at Stanley-Jensen Stadium, will return to Marbury on Thursday for a 6 p.m. game with Smiths Station. Catholic (0-1) will hold its home opener next Tuesday against Central-Phenix City.
VOLLEYBALL
Trinity 3, Marbury 0
The Wildcats won their area opener against Marbury on Tuesday night, sweeping the Bulldogs 25-15, 25-10 and 25-3 at Captain Jack Court.
Holland Williams led the Wildcats with nine kills, six aces and five blocks, while Ellie Causey had 25 assists.
Trinity (6-2, 1-0 in area play) travels to St. James on Thursday for an area match.
Prattville Christian 2, Glenwood School 0
Prattville Christian 2, Chilton County 0
PRATTVILLE -- The Panthers swept a tri-match at home on Tuesday, defeating Glenwood School 25-18 and 25-12 and Chilton County 25-13 and 25-10.
For the Panthers, Baylee Rogers had 33 assists, a kill, 16 digs and four aces, Emma Cate Carter had 16 kills, a block, 11 digs and three aces, Maren Diefenderfer had eight kills, a pair of blocks and three digs and Leah Cate Wilson had eight kills, a block, a dig and an ace.
Natalee Wheeler had nine digs, an assist and an ace, Morgan Fowler had two assists, five digs and two aces, Brylee Byrd had nine digs and an ace, Aiden Williams had nine digs and an assist, Anniston Robison had four kills and a dig, Kenadie Minor had three kills, Marion Lewis had a kill and a block, Olivia Rossi had a kill and two digs, Kandice Crosby and Paysley Bayer each had a pair of digs and Jenna McClendon had a kill.
PCA (7-1) travels to Catholic on Thursday to play in a tri-match against the Knights and Pike Road.
St. James 2, Elmore County 0
St. James 3, Holtville 0
The Trojans swept Elmore County and Holtville in a tri-match in the St. James’ gym on Tuesday, defeating the Panthers 2-0 and then beating Holtville 3-0 in the 5A Area 6 opener for both teams.
The Trojans defeated Elmore County 25-16 and 25-16 as KK Corley led with 12 kills, 11 digs and two aces. Arden Green added four kills and two blocks. Tat Shuford finished with 14 assists and two aces.
St. James then defeated the Bulldogs 25-2, 25-14 and 25-10) as Sana Shuford set the tone with 23 consecutive serves in the first set. She finished with three kills and four aces. Corley recorded 20 kills, eight digs and six aces, while Charleigh Kate Harper added four kills. Tat Shuford had 19 assists and Ragan King added eight more. Sydney Johnston led in digs with 15.
St. James (4-0, 1-0 in area play) will return to area action on Thursday with a home match against Trinity at 6 p.m.