HISTORIC MEETING: Montgomery Academy to play first game at Cramton Bowl against JAG on Friday
Ethan McBride and the Montgomery Academy Eagles will play in Cramton Bowl for the first time in school history on Friday against JAG. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
It’s a game that circled on the calendar, as much for its venue as it is for the historic nature of Montgomery Academy’s first-ever meeting with Class 6A JAG on Friday night at Cramton Bowl.
“Cramton Bowl is cool for everybody,” Montgomery Academy coach Ethan McBride said. “Whether it’s your home field or, for us, a bunch of kids that have wanted to do it and have never been able to get on the field.”
Rarely have the five large public schools in the city ever played smaller classification teams, especially from this area. Alabama Christian was the only other Capital City Conference team to play one of those teams, facing Sidney Lanier at Cramton Bowl in a 41-6 loss in 2015 when the two teams were briefly placed together in a 5A region.
Catholic also played Pike Road in the 2020 Kickoff Classic at Cramton Bowl, losing 63-34, and remains the only CCC team to play a 7A opponent, losing last year at Vestavia Hills 40-13.
The Montgomery teams have played smaller community teams, such as Lanier matchups with Dadeville in the 1920s or Luverne in the 1940s or Robert E. Lee matchups with B.B. Comer in the mid-1950s or with Lowndes Academy in 1969. But it’s rare for the big-classification schools to play a small-classification team from the local community. Jeff Davis fielded its first team in 1968 and played a watered-down startup schedule that included Montgomery County High (a 75-6 win). G.W. Carver played St. Jude in 1969 but it was at Hornet Stadium, not Cramton Bowl.
Neither JAG nor Percy Julian have played smaller local teams in their four-year history before the Jaguars’ game against Montgomery Academy on Friday.
“I’ve wanted to do this game for years and this is the first time I’ve really gotten to create the schedule,” said McBride, who made the call to JAG coach Delancey Tolliver. “The first time (in a different alignment), a lot of our non-region games were rivalry games so those are your opponents. This time around, all of our rivalry teams are in our region so we needed to fill a lot of non-region games. So they were one of the first people I called and Coach Tolliver was like, yeah, I think that would be awesome.
“I’m sure they’re fired up to look at film and see (a non-region opponent). We’re good but we’re not Central-Phenix City.”
For JAG (1-3), it’s been another disappointing season to this point, with the fourth-year program winning just four of irs 34 contests. Friday’s game provides an opportunity for the Jaguars to take a positive step in a rebuilding effort. For Montgomery Academy (4-0), it’s an opportunity to prove the program can play with players from any classification.
“I’m excited,” said Montgomery Academy two-way standout Braden Gordon, the city’s top recruit who is committed to Georgia Tech. “Bigger school, better competition. This shows what we’re about, that we can compete with better teams.
“I just want to go show what I can do. I just want to prove to everybody that don’t believe what I am that I am. Just go out there and win and compete, try to help my team get the ‘W’ in whatever way that is -- defensively, offensively or both.”
Teammate and fellow senior Jarrett Friendly, who averages 21.2 yards per catch over the first four games, feels the same way.
“They’re a very athletic team -- big, strong interior guys,” Friendly said. “I think it’s going to be a great matchup between us. This is an opportunity to show my skill set. People say you’re going against these little guys, these little DBs, you’re not going up against any real talent because you’re in Single-A, so I think this is a great opportunity.”
Ethan McBride said his players had a little more “pep in their step” in Monday’s practice. His quarterback, junior Reid McBride, said the players were trying to treat this week like any other.
“It’s just another game,” Reid McBride said. “Obviously, we’re playing in a big place against a 6A school now that was 7A. They’ve got some unbelievable athletes over there. We’ve got to block out all that outside noise and understand this game doesn’t determine our playoffs but obviously we understand the implications and the magnitude of the game.”
Ethan McBride has a method to his non-region scheduling and JAG provided an opportunity to play larger offensive and defensive linemen the Eagles don’t see in region play. He also believes the matchup is a great community builder for two programs that are less than a mile apart.
“I have had football alumni that have been a part of our program a long time, that played under Coach (John) Tatum, and now are here as dads and they are so fired up about this game and the opportunity,” Ethan McBride said. “We’ve got a lot of parents and grandparents that went to Jeff Davis, so it’s a cool thing for them to see the school their children or grandchildren are at going up against the school they played for.
“I live in this community. MA and JAG, we are the Midtown area of Montgomery and we need to be doing things together, our community needs to be doing things together and our city needs to be doing things together. I just think football provides a great avenue for those types of things to occur.”
Reid McBride, whose father Rick played on Tatum’s best teams from the mid-1980s, is trying to prepare like it’s any other week but clearly it’s not.
“We’re playing in Cramton Bowl, so that’ll give you a taste of what it’s like if we were able to play for a state championship,” Reid McBride said. “Not only are you getting that, but you’re getting a team that’s huge -- so many coaches, so many fans, so many players, so many athletes. This is going to be like a state championship-level game.
“A bunch of people, I’ve heard, are coming to this game because it’s interesting to see a team from the smallest division -- private school Single-A -- playing 6A. We’re excited and ready to play against a team of this magnitude.”