St. Michael nips UMS-Wright on last-second TD
UMS Wright’s Richard Scott (26) takes the handoff from quarterback Max Fowler against St. Michael Thursday night in Fairhope. (Jon Hauge/Call News)
By BEN THOMAS
FAIRHOPE — Gunner Rivers overcame three interceptions to drive St. Michael 82 yards in 12 plays in the final two minutes Thursday night and capped the march with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Nygel Mitchell with 8 seconds left for a dramatic 25-20 victory over UMS-Wright.
Rivers finished 28-of-35 passing for 358 yards, including a 27-yard scoring pass to Brody Jones and a 40-yard TD to Tucker Tomlinson, who had seven catches for 149 yards. Jones had seven receptions for 75 yards and a TD and also had an interception which ended a Bulldogs threat at the end of the first half.
Rivers had been intercepted just once all season before getting picked off three times Thursday night.
“What a dang game that was,” said St. Michael coach Philip Rivers, who directed the Cardinals (10-0) to the first undefeated regular season in school history. “We knew this team was going to be tough. What a football game it was.”
UMS-Wright (6-4), which rallied from 13 points down in the final quarter to take the lead, will visit Andalusia for a Class 5A first-round game next week.
“We played hard man,” first-year Bulldogs coach Sam Williams said. “I can’t be mad at my kids. They played really hard. We have to put them in better spots early.”
UMS-Wright trailed 19-6 entering the fourth quarter but Max Fowler’s 2-yard TD run with 9:54 left and Caplyn Reed’s 9-yard run with 6:35 remaining — along with Kingston Phan’s two extra points — gave it a 20-19 lead. Then, Thomas Delong intercepted Rivers on St. Michael’s ensuing drive, giving the Bulldogs a chance to build on the lead.
UMS-Wright drove to a first-and-goal at the 9 but on fourth-and-goal from the 5, Williams opted to bypass the field goal and go for the touchdown and Noah Moss stopped Haas Harvill on a reverse for a 13-yard loss with 2:13 left.
“We had a decision right there to make,” Williams said. “And, at the end of the day, we probably made the right one to try to go for it. We had a play we worked a lot in practice. We had a guy free with a tight end leaking to the corner but (Moss) made a good play.”
Gunner Rivers went 7 of 9 for 73 yards on the winning drive. His perfectly placed 24-yard pass to Braedyn Walton gave the Cardinals a first-and-goal at the Bulldogs’ 3 with just 12 seconds left. After a timeout, Mitchell, lined up on the left side, took a shovel pass moving right and cut into the end zone for the go-ahead score.
“I had one timeout left,” coach Rivers said. “We ran that play knowing that if we got stopped, we were going to be in the middle of the field for a field goal attempt.”
Williams knew he might have given Gunner Rivers too much time at the end of the game.
“We kind of talked about him wanting to go 85 and he did,” Williams said. “He’s one of the best in the state if not the best in the nation.”
UMS-Wright tried several laterals on the kickoff as time ran out.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Moss, a South Alabama commit. “I think all the guys are going to remember this one for a long time.”
Coach Rivers couldn’t help but express pride in his quarterback, who leads Class 4A in passing with 2,506 yards and 41 touchdowns.
“I know he’s my son but I think that final drive says a lot about him,” coach Rivers said. “I think, in a game where it’s not going great, just hanging in there and 25-20 on the scoreboard is the only thing that matters. I told him at one point, ‘Who cares about stats anyway? We are trying to win the football game.’ It was tough tonight but our guys kept fighting. These are kind of games that can help you go win five in a row. Will we? I don’t know. But these games can help you do that.”
Reed and Perry Hand each had interceptions for the Bulldogs off tipped balls. St. Michael also won despite giving up an onsides kick, missing a pair of extra points and losing a fumble.
“We just came up a little short at the end there,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, that’s how you win playoff football games. You just have to find a way to finish there at the end. … I like the way we are competing. I think we’ve grown. I think we’ve gotten a lot better. I think we win games a lot of ways. But at the end of the day, it’s the big moments that change games. We didn’t make enough of the plays we needed to in the big moments. We got back in it, got it where we wanted, but you have to finish.”
Phan kicked field goals of 25 and 40 yards for UMS-Wright. Moss capped the Cardinals’ first drive of the game with a 4-yard TD run.
“That was a great win,” said Moss, who had 92 yards on 16 carries. “I’ll remember it for a long time. UMS is a great football program. They might make a run in the playoffs.”
Fowler completed 14 of 27 passes for 206 yards and was intercepted once. Richard Scott caught five passes for 69 yards.
Baker 21,
Vigor 12
MOBILE — Tate Graham was 12-of-21 passing for 242 yards and two touchdowns to lead the No. 7-ranked host Hornets to a win over the No. 2-ranked Class 5A Wolves.
Joshua Jones caught six passes for 108 yards and a touchdown, Jamien Pryor caught the other TD pass and backup running back Gavin Wood, playing in place of the injured Speedy Wheeler, had 92 yards on 24 carries, including a 2-yard scoring run, for Baker (8-2), which hosts Florence in the first round of the state playoffs on Nov. 7.
“It was a good football game between two good football teams and I’m glad we came out on the right side of it,” Hornets coach Eric Scott said. “We feel like we’re coming out (of the game) relatively healthy. We wanted to rest a couple of guys and I feel good about that.”
Sammy Dunn was 14-of-31 passing for 112 yards and two touchdowns for Vigor (8-2), which hosts Charles Henderson in the first round. Dylan Jacksoin had six receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns but the Wolves were hindered by 11 penalties for 60 yards.
“We’ve got to clean up the penalties,” Vigor coach Renardo Jackson said. “We’ve got to stop having empty trips to the red zone. We had a couple of touchdowns that were called back because of penalties and we’ve got to figure out a way to fix those became some of them came inside the red zone.”
Pryor’s 18-yard touchdown reception with 2:45 left in the first quarter gave Baker a 7-0 lead but the Wolves took advantage of a Hornets fumble and answered with Jackson’s 26-yard touchdown catch with six seconds left in the first quarter to make it 7-6.
Baker extended its lead with Wood’s 2-yard run to cap a six-play, 77-yard drive and had a chance to pad it as time was running out in the first half when it got to Vigor’s 1 because of an offsides penalty on a field goal attempt. Instead of going for three, Scott put his offense back on the field but the Wolves stopped Wood for no gain as time expired.
Jones’ 13-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter put the Hornets up 21-6. Vigor’s final score came with 3:41 left in the game with Dunn connected with Jackson on a 12-yard touchdown pass.
The Wolves had one more drive when they recovered Wood’s fumble at Baker’s 46 but Carmelo Taylor intercepted Dunn with less than three minutes left.
St. Paul’s 28,
Spanish Fort 24
