BRUTAL NIGHT: Montgomery Academy dominates JAG in historic meeting
Montgomery Academy’s Jarrett Friendly wins the battle for a pass against JAG’s Mason Rogers (21) and Angelo Andrews in Friday’s matchup at Cramton Bowl. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
It was historic. And brutal, too.
Single A Private Montgomery Academy unleashed perfection on Class 6A JAG on Friday night, generating offense that was productive, defense that could withstand any challenge and mistakes into scoring opportunities on the way to a 47-0 beating of the Jaguars in front of approximately 4,000 fans at Cramton Bowl.
Friday’s win marked the first trip for Montgomery Academy to the 104-year-old stadium and a rare opportunity for one of the city’s private schools to tangle with one of the state’s largest programs.
The Eagles scored on all six possessions in the first half to storm out to a shocking 40-0 lead. Reid McBride completed 12 of 13 passes for 198 yards in the first half, throwing three touchdown passes to Jarrett Friendly and two to Braden Gordon to take JAG out of whatever game plan it might have had.
“As far as like a perfect storm, that was a perfect storm,” Montgomery Academy coach Ethan McBride said. “Let’s be real, you can play this game again and it might not come out like that. My concern coming into this game was our ability defensively to handle an offensive line (that was much larger). When we got out here for warmups, I said, ‘They’re even bigger.’ They’ve got a couple of running backs that run with great physicality.
“I was really, really, really proud of the way our guys played, especially up front on the D-line and on the O-line. You see Jarrett and you see Braden and you see Reid and those guys get a lot of credit, but that offensive line and that defensive line came to play tonight and went to war against people that, without a doubt, were outweighing them 50-60 pounds.”
It was the seventh worst margin of defeat for the fourth-year program, including three losses to Central-Phenix City, two to Auburn High and one to Hewitt-Trussville, all considered among the top programs in the state’s largest classification.
Montgomery Academy can now add its name to the list.
Among those losses, only a 54-0 loss to Hewitt-Trussville and a 56-0 loss to Auburn, both in 2025, are larger margins of defeat for the 6A Jaguars at Cramton Bowl.
“I think it says we’re competing for the best in the city, not just 6A Carver, JAG, Percy Julian, it’s MA too,” Friendly said. “I think that really put us on the map.”
Friendly helped add his name to any maps that didn’t already know about the senior receiver. He lined up at quarterback and threw a 26-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage, ran 53 yards for a touchdown on the third play, hauled in four touchdown passes and added a sack late in the first half on defense.
“I don’t see how I could have scripted a better performance,” Friendly said. “Maybe I could have blocked better than I did, but other than that, I think our team played great and I played great.”
After Friendly’s first touchdown, a slow reacting Kingston Young on the ensuing kickoff didn’t cover the ball and Kingston Nelson recovered for the Eagles, setting up McBride’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Gordon on the next play.
It was one of two fumbled kickoffs by the Jaguars, along with a fumble out of the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter that prevented JAG from getting on the scoreboard.
“Definitely not how you draw it up,” McBride said. “I love our special teams and Coach (Ben Kissinger) does an amazing job but we were definitely not thinking let’s kick it deep and see if they fumble. But hats off to our guys for the way that they practice, the way they pursue and the way they train that they got their butts down the field and got the ball.
We’ve got a group of guys that when the lights are brighr and the moments are big, they’re like, let’s go, that’s when I play my best. As a coach, that makes your job real easy.”
Friendly’s start at quarterback in the shotgun resulted in a touchdown in 64 seconds as the senior sprinted up the middle 53 yards to the end zone for a 6-0 lead.
“It definitely caught them off guard,” Gordon said. “They weren’t expecting that. No one was expecting that. That’s a new package we just put in this week. He looked good out there.”
“I don’t think they expected that,” Friendly added. “I kind of (surprised myself) because I expected their linebackers to roll in harder than what they did. So when I bust through there and I saw only the safety’s left, I was like, I’ve got to go get him.”
McBride entered at quarterback and was nearly flawless, missing only on a pass in the back of the end zone for Friendly and a late pass to Nelson that popped off his shoulder pads and was intercepted by Young. McBride finished 14 of 16 for 223 yards, throwing touchdown passes of 6, 7, 25 and 13 yards to Friendly, who finished with 107 yards on six receptions.
“Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games and that’s what (Friendly) did,” Gordon said. “That’s what we always expect him to do. It isn’t a surprise to me.”
Gordon had 71 yards on four receptions, including a remarkable 25-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter where he caught a crossing pattern from McBride, turned up the sideline and stiff-armed Zyan Meadows on the way to the end zone.
“I was not expecting it to be like that,” Gordon said. “I didn’t know I stiff-armed him. I didn’t know it was that bad until one of my teammates told me so. I just celebrated after we scored. I was just happy we scored.”
Ridgeway Britt recovered the opening kickoff of the second half after Young had trouble fielding it, setting Montgomery Academy up at the JAG 13-yard line. McBride threw to Friendly for a touchdown and a 47-0 lead 77 seconds into the second half to complete one of the most shocking displays of football in the city’s history.
JAG (1-4) was held to four first downs and 48 rushing yards, with 46 of that coming on a Christian Jackson run to open the fourth quarter. The Jaguars totaled just 109 yards.
“I couldn’t say every team we’ve ever had would have been able to come in here and not flinch with a massive loud band and going up against an opponent that had great physicality and great speed,” McBride said. “I was really proud of the way our guys came out and said just another day, just another game.
“There’s reasons for that. We play seven-on-sevens in the summer where we do play larger schools and beat them -- no pads, so it’s different -- and our basketball team consistently schedules large schools. So we’ve made it a point to our guys that we don’t really care the size of the school. I coached at the 6A level and understand the talent level but I think we have some talent that would step on the field for any team in this entire state and would start for them.”
Montgomery Academy (5-0) travels to Prattville next Thursday to play Prattville Christian Academy. JAG is back at Cramton Bowl to face G.W. Carver on Friday.