Vigor’s Dylan Jackson (8) is sacked by Montgomery Catholic’s Dylan Rogers (52) during Friday night’s Class 5A semifinals in Montgomery. (Stew Milne/Call News)
By ARTHUR L. MACK
MONTGOMERY — Vigor’s hopes of making a return to the Super 7 were dashed as No. 1-ranked Montgomery Catholic used three Jamarion Williams touchdowns to roll to a 21-7 win over the No. 5-ranked Wolves Friday night in the Class 5A semifinals.
The Knights (13-0), who have won 28 straight games, will face Moody in the state finals Thursday. Vigor finished 12-2.
Williams scored on a 55-yard screen pass and a pair of 1-yard runs from the Wildcat formation while Giovanni Hayner had 129 yards on 26 punishing runs, most of them coming through the middle of the Wolves’ vaunted defense, which came into the contest ranked first against the score in Class 5A.
“Our boys played hard and all the glory goes to them,” Montgomery Catholic coach Kirk Johnson said. “They showed up every day; they worked their butts off. I’m not the easiest coach to play for but every day they showed up and worked. Hat’s off to them.
“If you want to know the definition of resilience, it’s Giovanni Hayner. Last year, he had a guy in front of him (Jeremiah Cobb, who is now at Auburn) and had to sit behind him for two years. He finally gets a chance to play and gets hurt and then he had to take a backseat role. This year, he worked his butt off in the offseason and was a leader and tonight he got everything he deserves.”
Vigor was held to just five first downs. Dylan Jackson completed 6 of 14 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice and Carlos Benjamin was held to 36 yards on eight carries as the Wolves managed just 71 yards rushing against the massive Knights defensive line led by Dylan Rogers.
“We came across a good football team,” Vigor coach John McKenzie said. “I thought they had a bigger, stronger and faster phase than we did. They were a little bit bigger than what I anticipated and they were much stronger than I anticipated. I don’t think anybody expected us to be here but us, so we accomplished something that we didn’t set out to do.”
Williams’ 55-yard touchdown on a screen pass made it 7-0 in the first quarter.
“It was very important,” Williams said. “Coach had told us we could get on top or lay down. We kept our foot on their necks.”
Johnson said he wanted to get the early advantage.
“We knew we had to score early because Vigor was really good,” Johnson said. “We just wanted to get a quick score and keep everything in front of us and let them play another down and that’s what they did.”
Williams’ 1-yard TD run with 1:23 left in the half made it 14-0.
With time running out in the half, Jackson threw a 40-yard Hail Mary to Ke’viasz Malone for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7 with 1.5 seconds left before halftime.
But it didn’t faze Montgomery Catholic.
“I told them at halftime we had the lead and we’re going to keep it,” Johnson said.
McKenzie said his defense got tired.
“They ran about 50 plays in the first half and it kept our defense on the field,” McKenzie said. “Our defense has never had 50 plays in a game. They really wore our defense down tonight with their running game, which is something we’ve got to get better at.”
Williams scored his final touchdown with 10:23 left in the game.
“Their three down linemen kind of controlled our offense,” McKenzie said. “Anytime you’re playing eight people in coverage, it’s tough to throw. … But these guys, 83 days of practicing with them and they end up with a 12-2 record. I’m really proud of our seniors and I’m proud that we got to the semifinals.”
