AISA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Chambers Academy continues dominance in defeat of Lowndes; Abbeville Christian wins AA title
Chambers Academy running back Jack Nelms tries to avoid Lowndes Academy tacklers during the Class AAA state championship game at Cramton Bowl on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The new dominant face of the Alabama Independent School Association wears blue and sports three state championship rings in the last three years.
“You just kind of feel like this is what you want your program to be,” Chambers Academy coach Jason Allen said. “You work hard to achieve things but you never know if you’re going to win any championships.”
Allen’s team churned out 292 yards on the ground and its defense dominated Lowndes Academy in a 32-14 victory in the AISA Class AAA championship game at Cramton Bowl on Thursday night.
“It was a heck of a night for our team and our program,” Allen said. “We capped it off with a state championship. I couldn’t be more proud of this team and these kids. They’ve been a heck of a group to coach. We’ve talked all summer, since we won last year, that we wanted to three-peat.”
With several larger programs leaving the private school organization, Chambers has stepped into the void with a program that hasn’t lost an AISA game since early in the 2023 season and is the standard for other AISA programs, winning 35 consecutive games against in-state competition.
The Rebels held a potent Lowndes offense to 80 rushing yards, similar to the regular season meeting between the two teams, a 27-0 Chambers victory on Sept. 26.
“We thought we could throw the ball (this time), but we didn’t do a very good job of that to start with,” Lowndes coach James “Speed” Sampley said. “I probably overthought that and that’s my fault. We probably should have run it and given the ball to Jeremy (Hardy) as many times as we could.”
Hardy, one of AISA’s top running backs, managed 84 yards on 11 carries, accounting for both of the Rebels’ touchdowns with a 45-yard halfback pass to Ford Walker in the first quarter and a 29-yard run with 4:03 remaining for the game’s final points.
In between those two scores, the Lowndes offense managed just four first downs, struggling to find any consistency against the Chambers defense. Despite the struggles, Lowndes had the ball and trailed just 16-8 in the third quarter, but were held to one first down and minus 9 yards in the third quarter.
“I have a ton of respect for Lowndes,” Allen said. “They are a program very much like us. Their kids are relentless, they never quit and play their tail off. And I have a ton of respect for Coach Sampley. He’s been a good friend of mine a long time and he’s an excellent coach. It was just our time tonight.”
Chambers, meanwhile, had starting quarterback Hunter Andrews sidelined with an ankle injury less than four minutes into the game. In his place stepped eighth grader Cohen Hand, who promply ran 11 yards for a touchdown two plays later to break a scoreless tie.
“I didn’t bat an eye,” Allen said. “That kid, he’s tough. He’s prepared all year. His older brother, who was our quarterback, went down two weeks before the season with a torn ACL. It was a real struggle to figure out what we were going to do without him. Hunter Andrews came on (and) did a great job with our team. Then he goes down in the first quarter with an ankle injury. But I knew No. 11 (Hand), when he came in, he’s not scared of any moments.”
When Andrews returned in the third quarter, the Chambers offense resumed its march to the end zone, extending the lead with a pair of Peyton Yerta touchdown runs to give the program its fifth state championship, all in the last eight years.
“We love to work,” senior Eli Whorton said. “They always tell our class, ‘you’re going to be something special, you’ve got to get in the weight room and do what’s necessary to win games’ and that’s what we did this summer.”
For Lowndes (10-3), it was their fifth consecutive trip to the state finals. The Rebels won a state championship under Sampley in 1997 in his first coaching stint at the school and now have three championship game appearances in six years under the veteran coach.
“They come to work every day,” Sampley said of his players. “They had the same coach (Shane Moye) for a really long time and I came in this year and they had to buy in to what we were doing. They worked really hard through the summer, they worked hard through the fall. I know people love all kinds of sports, but this sport teaches more about life than anything else. You have to sacrifice for your buddies and when things don’t go your way, you’ve got to keep on going. It’ll make them better men in the long run.”
Abbeville Christian topples South Choctaw for Class AA title
Ahmod Billins must have thought he was part of a video game.
The Abbeville Christian senior found open receivers all night, throwing for 286 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Generals to a 50-28 win over South Choctaw in the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA championship at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
“I’ve said before, I don’t feel like anybody can guard our receivers,” Billins said. “Put the ball in their hands, they make plays for me. We had seen in previous games (South Choctaw) played a lot of ‘cover four,’ but coming out tonight they played ‘cover two.’ When I saw that, I didn’t feel like the two safeties could guard four of my receivers and I picked them apart.”
Billins’ second pass attempt found Andrew Condrey, who stepped out at the 1-yard line to set up a touchdown on the next play. Most of the pass attempts after that, however, were to uncovered receivers. Shi Crawford scored on touchdown receptions of 49 and 28 yards and Jayden Buckhannon reeled in another for a 66-yard touchdown play to help the Generals keep even with South Choctaw at 20-20.
Billins, a Missouri commitment, completed 10 of 14 passes for 286 yards, adding a 40-yard touchdown toss to Crawford in the fourth quarter.
“It was a relief,” said Billins of the passes to uncovered receivers. “Now I’ve just got to let it go. They’re going to be ready.”
It was the third state championship for Abbeville (11-1), who won titles in 2014 and 2015. It was the first loss in a championship game for Hall of Fame coach Stacy Luker, who won titles at Sweet Water, Clake County and last year at South Choctaw.
“In the ideal world, you go man to man and zero those suckers out, but we couldn’t do that,” Luker said. “What you want to do when he starts to scramble is have people that’s going to stick and plaster those guys. Being in a zone, we really couldn’t do that. One or two of our guys could have matched up man to man, but not across the board. The quarterback is really good.”
The Rebels (9-4) still had a chance until Buckhannon scooped up a fumble and raced 96 yards late in the first half to give the Abbeville a 34-20 lead.
“I wouldn’t say it was just me,” Buckhannon said. “Riddge Crawford did all the work. I just finished the job.”
He finished off South Choctaw as well, whose run-oriented offense could not play from behind.
“I told our boys that it would be a heavyweight fight,” first-year Abbeville coach Stefan Gainey said. “South Choctaw did just that. We responded, South Choctaw turned around and responded back. I’m so proud of my team that they had enough to go for four quarters.”