PREP OPENERS: Trinity holds off Bibb County for win; Central-Phenix City flag football dominates Catholic in Kickoff Classic
Trinity’s Patton Mitchell avoids the tackle of Bibb County’s Barrett Hughey in. the Wildcats’ win on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
Trinity built a 26-point lead early in the second half, then withstood a furious Bibb County rally, fighting off the oppressive heat, recurring leg cramps and the resilient Choctaws for a 26-16 win in the season opener at Ragsdale-Boykin Field on Thursday night.
A larger, deeper Bibb County team was manhandled in the first half as the Wildcats put together an impressive game plan on both sides of the ball to take a 20-0 halftime lead. The second half, however, was another story as Bibb County rallied for a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to turn the final period into one of survival for the undersized Wildcats.
“We had a chance to put them away and just didn’t put them away,” Trinity coach Brian Seymore said. “We just didn’t execute. We’ve just got to have other guys step up when we’ve got guys playing both ways. It’s little things. We had a breakdown on special teams and several times had to waste timeouts on special teams because we didn’t have the right personnel in the game. It’s little things, but it’s things you can work on
“I’m proud of the kids’ effort. You play a real big school and they’re definitely well coached and competitive. Early, I thought we played tremendously well, had a good game plan. In the second half, we had to go back to some fundamental stuff.”
Bibb County, coming off of last year’s 7-4 season, had a larger roster both in size and numbers and had some succcess wearing down the Wildcats in the second half. Trinity, 9-3 a year ago, used several big plays to grab a surprising lead before the larger Choctaws began to wear down the Wildcat defense in the second half.
“We have a lot less numbers than we usually do,” Trinity junior linebacker William Hughes said. “We don’t have too much depth right now. All of our starters have to fight through, we can’t stop playing, we’ve got to keep going.
“They have a way bigger team, a lot more depth than us, but it’s like Coach said in the locker room, he thinks we have more heart.”
It was Hughes who turned in perhaps the Wildcat defense’s biggest play after the Choctaws had scored twice to trim the deficit to 10 points, got the ball back to start the fourth quarter and moved to a third down at the Trinity 11-yard line with a little more than nine minutes remaining. Hughes came slicing through and dropped Bibb County tailback Tre Taylor for a 3-yard loss. Up until that play, Bibb County had averaged seven yards per play on 21 second-half plays, putting the Wildcats’ defense on its heels.
Brayden Cash’s fourth-down pass was underthrown and the Wildcats took over on downs, holding the Choctaws scoreless in the fourth quarter.
“Give credit to Coach, he called a good blitz,” Hughes said. “The guy ran right to me. As soon as I made the tackle, I started cramping up again and couldn’t really get up.”
Trinity took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on a John Michael Cox 3-yard run, then broke open the game with three big plays from quarterback Patton Mitchell. His first was a 59-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Boswell, who was all alone behind the Choctaw defense on the second play of the second quarter.
“We’ve been working on that play all summer,” Mitchell said. “That’s been a staple that we’ve been running since I was a freshman. I knew that play and me and Brandon have had a connection since we were in the seventh grade. And I will say our line was the best protection ever. I had no sacks, no hurries, no nothing. I give credit to all those big boys.”
Mitchell would set up his quarterback sneak for a touchdown later in the quarter with a 21-yard scramble on a fourth-and-11 play, then put the Wildcats up 26-0 with a 39-yard run to set up his 2-yard scoring run two plays later.
“I followed Baylor Cox,” Mitchell said. “I saw him pulling and I followed him and he took me all the way down there.”
The junior completed 4 of 11 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown but was more effective as a runner, rushing for 94 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.
Every score was important to hold off the Choctaws in the second half.
“Our motto is don’t take our foot off the pedal,” Mitchell said, “but I think we did that for a second there and got complacent. We figured out real quick that ain’t going to work.
“We knew they would be a little bigger and have more people, but just like William said, we’ve got more heart. We’ve got good team chemistry. I’d say it’s the best in the state. We love each other, we’re going to have each other’s back and we’re going to fight for each other.”
Trinity (1-0) will remain home next week to play Reeltown. Bibb County (0-1) returns home to play Gordo next week.
Catholic’s Hayden Fitts launches a pass in Thursday’s AHSAA Kickoff Classic in Phenix City. Central-Phenix City won, 38-0. (Courtesy AHSAA/David Holtsford)
KICKOFF CLASSIC FLAG FOOTBALL: Central-Phenix City 38 , Catholic 0
PHENIX CITY - Central sprinted to a 26-0 halftime lead with the highlight being a Savannah Sevier 78-yard Pick 6 to lead the defending national champion Central-Phenix City to a 38-0 win over Catholic in Thursday’s 21st AHSAA Kickoff Classic at Garrett-Harrison Stadium.
Quarterback Deanna Amos passed for two touchdowns and added a run for a score helping the Red Devils (1-0) increase their winning streak to 58 games.
Catholic (0-1) was held to 136 total yards at the first half and 26 in the second. The Knights were led by quarterback Hayden Fitts completing 14 of 20 passing for 116 yards. But the Knights suffered three interceptions to stop drives in the first 24 minutes.
Maggie McNeeley had seven catches for 47 yards for Catholic.
The Knights will play Monday in their home opener against Auburn.