THURSDAY PREPS: Ben Russell hands Park Crossing first loss; Holtville tops Trinity in flag football
Benjamin Russell quarterback Kingston Preyear is chased by Martise Adar in Thursday’s matchup between the Wildcats and Park Crossing at Cramton Bowl. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
Quarterback Kingston Preyear passed for 189 yards and a touchdown to lead Benjamin Russell to a 40-14 win over Park Crossing in the opener of Class 5A Region 2 play at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
The Wildcats (1-1, 1-0) scored the first 24 points and led by that margin midway through the third quarter before Park Crossing put together back-to-back touchdowns to pull within 10 at the nine-minute mark of the fourth period.
Quarterback Qua Walker threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Scott with 21 seconds remaining in the third quarter and an 85-yard strike from Kirsten Perryman to Kyle Bell cut the Ben Russell lead to 10 points in the fourth.
But the Wildcats scored the final 16 points that included a safety on a bad snap by the Thunderbirds on a punt attempt with 3:45 left in the game.
Eric Young, Chase Garner and Joshua Harriell each had touchdown runs for Benjamin Russell.
Preyear, an Alabama commit, was 17 of 24 passing with a touchdown pass to Evin Jackson for 18 yards.
Perryman had 166 yards passing including a touchdown for Park Crossing.
The Thunderbirds (2-1, 0-1) travel to Pike Road next Friday while Benjamin Russell returns home to face Stanhope Elmore.
Trinity quarterback Marie Yelverton attempts to avoid the stop by Holtville Teddi Holland in Thursday’s game at Ragsdale-Boykin Field. (Tim Gayle)
FLAG FOOTBALL
Holtville 31, Trinity 13
Trinity quarterbacks threw six interceptions, helping Holtville remain undefeated in a 31-13 win over the Wildcats at Ragsdale-Boykin Field.
Despite a struggling offense that didn’t pick up its initial first down until late in the first half, Trinity managed to take a 13-12 lead on the final play of the first half, but interceptions on two of its next three possessions created too big of a deficit to overcome.
“After our first drive with them, they were tough,” Holtville coach Slade Holley said. “Their defense was very solid and their offense was very good. I told our girls they are going to be fundamentally sound girls and they were. They played really hard the whole time and we played well.”
The Bulldogs used a 6-yard interception return by Teddi Holland to the Trinity 8-yard line to set up Baxie Goff’s 3-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead. On the next play, Laylin Graham intercepted Marie Yelverton’s pass and returned it for a touchdown and a 12-0 lead late in the first quarter.
The Wildcats rallied, however, with an interception return for a touchdown by Rebi McLemore and an 8-yard touchdown catch by Alexis Kamburis on the final play of the first half that was deflected by Graham into Kamburis’ hands in the end zone.
The conversion attempt failed but the Wildcats led 13-12.
From there, the Wildcats struggled to put together any offensive rhythm, while the Bulldogs countered with the running of Goff.
Goff finished with 110 yards on 21 carries, scoring on runs of 19 and 2 yards in the second half to extend Holtville’s lead to 24-13. Kali Ingram, who completed 7 of 15 passes for 52 yards with a pair of interceptions, found Anna Lawrence behind the Trinity defense on a 26-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to finish off the Wildcats.
Defensively, Holland had eight flag pulls and an interception, Graham had four stops and an interception and Hailey Phelps had three interceptions. Kalyn Savage also had an intereption.
For Trinity, Yelverton completed 7 of 23 passes for 40 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted five times. Kamburis completed 5 of 7 passes with one interception and also had the touchdown reception.
Defensively, Rebi McLemore had 12 stops and an interception return for a touchdown, Iris Tuley had seven flag pulls and Sadie McLemore had four. Sarah Avant also had a 61-yard interception return.
Holtville (2-0) will face Marbury at home in its next game on Wednesday, while Trinity (0-1) will travel to Selma to play Ellwood Christian in an area game.