SEASON OPENER: Montgomery Academy pulls away to beat Tallassee
Tallassee’s Hudson Timmerman is taken down by Montgomery Academy’s Ridgeway Britt and Will Kitchens (9) in the Eagles’ win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Tallassee struggled to find any offensive rhythm against the Montgomery Academy defense in the 2026 opener at McLemore Field and it was only a matter of time before the Eagles’ big-play offensive stars took over in a 34-7 victory on Friday night.
“That’s a dang good football team right there,” said Tallassee coach Eric Folmar, making his coaching debut for the Tigers. “I just told a bunch of people that may be the best team we see all year. And when you come out and don’t execute the way we didn’t execute and you get out physicaled and you get out efforted, that’s the result you get. But it’s a learning experience for our guys.”
Montgomery Academy scored twice in the first quarter for a 13-0 lead, but both teams were struggling to find any offensive rhythm. The second quarter was a different story, however, as the Eagles spread the ball around to their big-play specialists who accounted for eight first downs on 10 plays that led to two touchdowns and a 27-point halftime lead.
“It was definitely about getting a rhythm,” Montgomery Academy quarterback Reid McBride said. “I walked over to the sideline and I was like, ‘Guys, it’s on me. We’ve got to get this energy up.’ We started running the ball to get the ball rolling. Ultimately, we started getting the ball rolling right, was able to connect with Jarrett (Friendly) for a touchdown, able to start breaking up the passing plays with deeper plays. Up front, our guys stepped it up, for sure.”
The Eagles went back to a tried-and-true formula that included the running and passing of McBride and the running and receiving of Braden Gordon, but mixed in some jet sweeps by Friendly and some running by tailback Ali Nelson to pile up 16 first downs and 442 total yards before turning the game over to the reserves in the fourth quarter after building a 34-0 lead.
“You’re always trying to find rhythm,” Montgomery Academy coach Ethan McBride said. “It’s one thing to try and have rhythm in a practice, it’s totally different in a game. We’ve got a lot of guys we’re trying to get the ball to and we’re trying to find out how to most effectively use them. We got to use Jarrett on a lot of jet sweeps tonight, which was great to get him out on the perimeter.”
Reid McBride completed 13 of 18 passes for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns while rushing for 34 more yards on four carries. Friendly had six receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown, while Gordon rushed for 63 yards on four carries and caught three passes for 45 yards and a touchdown.
As if that wasn’t enough, sophomore tailback Ali Nelson earned his first start and carried the ball 14 times for 96 yards and three touchdowns.
“Ali is unbelievable,” Reid McBride said. “He’s the quickest guy on the field, like a little bug. He just squirts around, it’s so hard to tackle him. You never know where he’s going. It’s unreal, his vision.”
Nelson stole a lot of the spotlight from his older brother, senior Kingston Nelson, who added 59 yards on three receptions.
“Obviously, Ali’s had a great offseason,” Ethan McBride said. “We knew how good he was last year, but last year he was a sophomore and weighed a buck sixty. This year, he’s a junior and weighs 180 and you can tell that level of physicality is amped up. He’s just added to his skill set and that shows.”
Add the Nelson brothers to Gordon, Friendly and Reid McBride and it was a formula that tested the defensive ability of the Tigers.
“They’ve certainly got some matchup problems for sure,” Folmar said. “They’ve got four or five guys that are going to be tough for anybody in the state to match up with. It’s really just about the execution of things. I think we got a little tired, I think we faced a little adversity and I don’t think we responded the right way to it. We’ll grow from this.”
Defensively, Will Kitchens led the Eagles with 10 tackles, including a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Gordon added seven tackles, three tackles for loss and a quarterback pressure, William Marks had six tackles, Hays Marks had five tackles and a tackle for loss, Friendly had four tackles and a quarterback pressure and Liam Baker had four tackles and a tackle for loss.
“On defense, we were lights out from the start,” Reid McBride said. “A turnover on the first play. While that was special teams, it was technically defense. We forced a bunch of negative plays on defense.”
Montgomery Academy (1-0) travels to Catholic for a non-region matchup next week, while Tallassee (0-1) returns home to play Wetumpka at J.E. “Hot” O’Brien Stadium next week.