Big rematches set: Vigor vs. Williamson, Jackson vs. St. Michael

 

 

By ARTHUR L. MACK

PRICHARD — Vigor’s defense throttled No. 5 Central-Clay County’s running game while Sammy Dunn and Demetrius Johnson made crucial plays with their legs as the No. 2 Wolves earned a 14-0 win in the Class 5A quarterfinals at Wolfpack Stadium Friday night.

Johnson rushed 17 times for 92 yards while Dunn rushed 14 times for 89 yards, many of the yards coming after he was unable to find receivers.

Dunn, who was 9-of-19 passing for 105 yards, threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Zy Wilson and Collin Stabler added a 6-yard touchdown run Vigor (11-2) set up a rematch with No. 1-ranked Williamson (12-0) in the semifinals next Friday at Williamson. The Lions edged the Wolves 22-14 in overtime in the regular season.

“I don’t care what kind of win it was, Vigor shut out one of the top programs in the state and we did it with a really good defense,” Wolves coach Renardo Jackson said. “We believed in ourselves and we’re excited for the opportunity to play next week. It wasn’t a pretty performance by our offense but it’s just a reflection of our offseason program. We feel like we outwork anybody in the state of Alabama and (Dunn) willed us to win offensively. I’m really proud of him.”

The Volunteers (11-2), coached by the state’s all-time winningest coach in Danny Horn, got just 54 yards on 15 carries from normally reliable Taylor Boyd and J.T. Wilkerson was 3-of-18 passing for 55 yards and was sacked four times.

“We had several opportunities from an offensive standpoint but we didn’t cash in, especially in the first half,” Horn said. “I always said you can’t win games in the first half but you sure can lose them.”

The Wolves led 7-0 in the second quarter when Dunn found Wilson in the end zone and Stabler’s 6-yard TD run with 1:16 left sealed the win.

 

Jackson 50,

W.S. Neal 7

 

JACKSON –  E.J. Crowell ran for 133 yards and five touchdowns on just 10 carries in the first half as the No. 2 Aggies throttled the Eagles in the Class 4A semifinals.

Crowell, a five-star Alabama commit, scored on runs of 16, 67, 24 and 16 yards and 1 yard.

Quarterback and South Carolina commit Landon Duckworth completed 7 of 12 passes for 115 yards with a 20-yard touchdown pass to De’corius Jackson and ran 2 yards for another score.

The victory set up a rematch between Jackson (11-2) and No. 1 St. Michael (13-0) in the Class 4A semifinals next Friday night in Fairhope. The Cardinals beat the Aggies 49-39 in the regular season.

Jackson’s defense held Neal to 137 yards of total offense. Aaden Martin had an interception, Donnivan Bozeman had a blocked punt, and Jaiden McDonald and Tristan Love recovered fumbled kickoffs.

Bozeman, the Aggies’ defensive end, gave insight on how the defense consistently holds teams to low scores even in big matchups.

“Work hard every week and come with intensity,” Bozeman said. “You got to practice like you’re in the game already. We play as a whole and together, do everything we need to do and act how we need to act.”

Jackson coach Cody Flournoy said defending state champs are playing up to their ability.

“You see it all the time where one guy makes a play, then another guy makes a play, then another,” he said. “We’re pumped up about our kickoff. We’ve found a little something that we like and haven’t been doing all year, so they weren’t ready for that. We recovered several balls and put the game out of reach early. It’s a good time to be playing good.”

Flournoy said his team will be ready for the rematch with St. Michael.

“I think losing to them helped us,” he said. “You never want to lose and we wanted to host that game here but we aren’t taking them lightly. Everybody knows what is at stake. I’ve been saying this about our team — they’re experienced, championship built and know what it takes to win a ring. We have a veteran team with 22 seniors that are all making plays.”

— Logan Gatlin