Montgomery Academy dominates Alabama Christian to stay perfect

ACA’s Ethan Dabney is tackled by Hubb Vinson (77) and Hays Marks in MA’s win Friday at McLemore Field. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Alabama Christian had fought Montgomery Academy evenly for a quarter, but now needed a touchdown to pull back into the game early in the second quarter.

What the Eagles found instead was William Marks, whose 45-yard interception return for a touchdown broke open the floodgates in a 56-7 rout at McLemore Field on Friday night in the Class A Private Region 2 opener for both teams.

Montgomery Academy quarterback Reid McBride had put the Eagles up 20-7 on the second play of the second quarter and ACA quarterback Mason Henry was trying to answer after driving his team to midfield in three plays. But instead of finding his receiver, his pass connected with Marks, the senior defensive back for the Eagles.

“I was just trusting my coaches to put me in the right position,” Marks said. “We were in a coverage where I was supposed to jump short routes early in the game. That one worked out well. The quarterback kind of threw it behind me so I had to make an adjustment. I was able to haul it in and take it to the end zone.”  

The touchdown, along with a two-point conversion pass from Reid McBride to Jarrett Friendly, put Montgomery Academy on top 28-7. Alabama Christian never threatened again, rarely crossing midfield and managing just 57 total yards the rest of the game.

“At first, we really weren’t settled in,” Montgomery Academy coach Ethan McBride said. “It kind of took us a second. But I thought that (interception return) really got us settled into our game and from there, I thought the defense played really well. The offense played great from the start. The offense was lights out.”

The offense clicked from the opening drive when Reid McBride connected with Friendly for a 13-yard touchdown pass. A hook and lateral from Marks to Ali Nelson resulted in a 27-yard touchdown play and Montgomery Academy added touchdown plays by Friendly and Nelson in the second quarter for a 35-7 lead.

Friendly added a 48-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter and Braden Gordon and JaBarie Burton added rushing touchdowns in the fourth.

What had been a contested rivalry in the recent past -- ACA won three straight in 2021-23 and made it four of five with a 2017 win -- wasn’t much of a region opener.

“For us, quite simply, it’s a region game and region games are different,” McBride said. “Nothing against non-region games, those things are awesome, but when we play a region game, we need to raise our level and I thought our guys did that.”

Reid McBride completed 13 of 13 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns, with Friendly catching seven passes for 125 yards and three touchdowns and Nelson catching three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Braden Gordon led Montgomery Academy with eight tackles and a sack, with Marks adding seven tackles and an interception, Knox Morrison contributing six tackles and a sack and Will Kitchens making six tackles and breaking up a pass.

“We just want to make every game the same,” Marks said. “Don’t do too much, don’t do too little before any game. We treat every team the same. They have a good team so we had to stay focused throughout the week. It’s our first region game so we had to stay focused and use all of that focus to play well.”  

For Alabama Christian, Keenan McCarthy had nine tackles, including four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Levi Summers had seven tackles and Aidan Whiten had six. Ethan Dabney had six receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown and Beau Gainey had three receptions for 26 yards. 

Montgomery Academy (3-0) will take a week off before playing host to St. James in a region matchup on Sept. 18. Alabama Christian (1-2) will play host to Trinity next Friday in a region matchup at Faulkner’s John Mark Stallings Field on Friday.