CLASS 6A PLAYOFFS: Despite injuries, Pike Road moves in to quarters
Miles Khatri rumbles for yardage in Pike Road’s win over Bessemer City on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
PIKE ROAD -- Without two of its best players, there were plenty of questions about Pike Road’s ability to handle one-loss Bessemer City in the second round of the 6A state playoffs.
Miles Khatri heard the doubters, then went out and helped the Patriots reach the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year with a 28-6 win over the Purple Tigers on Friday.
“When they see Pike Road, they see all the star players we’ve got, but everybody out here is ready to compete and step up when their number is called,” Khatri said. “I’m proud of all these guys. We expected (Bessemer) to be a really tough team, physical, and they were. We knew it was going to be really hard but the doubt really fueled us and we came out and showed everybody that we can win.”
Pike Road (10-2) will face Saraland (11-0) in the quarterfinals, the same Saraland that has bounced the Patriots from the semifinals of the state playoffs in 2023 and 2024,
“It’s a nameless, faceless opponent,” Pike Road coach Granger Shook said. “Our boys believe in what we’re doing. Each round, the teams get tougher, so it doesn’t matter who you play in Round 3 or Round 4, they’re going to be dang good. I’m just excited that we get to play.”
The offense wasn’t at its best, but it was better than some might have expected with Braylon Outlaw and Jordan Holmes on the sideline. Outlaw, the University of Tennessee commitment who is fourth on the team in rushing, the second leading tackler behind Khatri and ranks second in interceptions behind Holmes, is nursing an injured ankle and hopes to return soon. Holmes, the dynamic playmaker who ranks second on the team in rushing, has 1,000 all-purpose yards and leads the team with five interceptions, may have a longer road to recovery as he nurses an injured knee.
“Our boys are resilient,” Shook said. “We’ve overcome adversity every year and we’ve overcome adversity this season. Football is a great teacher of life. Like I told the boys, I’ve never been more proud of a group of young men than this group, with everything they’ve had to overcome and they continue to buy in to the staff, they continue to execute and they continue to find ways to win.”
Into the void stepped Khatri, the University of West Virginia commitment, who had seven carries in Wildcat formation this year but without Holmes and Outlaw, it was Khatri’s turn to shine. He rushed 11 times for 58 yards, going 4-for-4 on fourth-down conversion runs in Wildcat formation. He even managed a couple of touchdowns in the first quarter.
“It was really fun,” Khatri said. “I like running the ball, I like hitting people and I like scoring touchdowns. That was pretty cool.”
His 4-yard carry put the finishing touches on a dominating first quarter that saw Pike Road jump out to a 21-0 lead. His 22-yard burst to the end zone for his first touchdown minutes earlier was a bit unexpected.
“It was pretty surprising,” he said. “I knew I could do it, but when I did it, I didn’t know a celebration to do. I was just kind of shocked.”
Though the Patriots struggled offensively the remainder of the game -- they were held without a first down in the second quarter and had just one in the fourth -- Khatri’s two scores and O’Mari Smith’s 24-yard touchdown reception from Gunner Gibbs for the first points of the game were more than enough against the overmatched Purple Tiger offense.
Gibbs completed 17 of 23 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown and Quinton Robinson finished as the game’s leading rusher with 65 yards on 12 carries, including a 37-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that gave the Patriots a 28-0 lead. But it Khatri who provided the much-needed offensive spark with two of the Patriots’ best playmakers standing on the sideline.
“He’s a football player,” Shook said. “It doesn’t matter what we ask that young man to do, he is going to do it to the best of his ability. He is just a top-notch young man and I’m glad he’s on our team.”