THURSDAY PREPS: MA volleyball overcomes slow start to beat Trinity; Julian football topples Smiths; Billingsley falls
Montgomery Academy’s Addison Kitchens hits a return shot against Trinity in Thursday’s match at Captain Jack Court. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
The first set of the area opener between Trinity and Montgomery Academy looked a lot like you would expect from the two private school volleyball heavyweights.
But after Montgomery Academy secured the 26-24 victory, the Wildcats never seemed the same, falling behind early in each of the next two sets as the Eagles completed the sweep with wins of 25-17 and 25-16 at Trinity’s Captain Jack Court on Thursday night.
“One thing that I love about this team is they definitely step up to the challenge,” first-year Montgomery Academy coach Jada Coleman said. “Trinity had a huge student section. Good for them. I’d love to see a huge student section like that at MA when we have another home game. That’s something that either gets you fired up or backs you down. And I told them that we will not be a team that backs down from the challenge. When things got tight against Trinity, we have great senior leadership and they really stepped up.”
For the Eagles, Bennett Britt had 13 kills and five digs and Morgan Springer had 11 kills, a block, three aces and five digs to lead Montgomery Academy. Addison Kitchens added four kills, four blocks and three digs, Emilyn Trott had seven kills, three blocks, an ace and a dig, E.G. Hines had three kills and five digs, Rehmat Sidhu had a kill, an ace, five digs and 25 assists, Kathleen Johnston had three aces and 13 digs, Lizzie Campbell had two assists and 13 digs, Ella Gaines Thomas had a dig and an assist and Caroline Sullivan had a kill.
The difference in Thursday’s meeting were the experience of the five seniors who have played through three head coaches in the last three years.
“There is amazing senior leadership and (Hall of Fame coach) Julie Gordon built a great foundation here,” Coleman said. “Last year, Carly Falcione came in and held the girls to the same standard and I’m doing the same thing. They’ve had three different coaches, but all three of us hold the girls to the same expectations and we all want the same thing, which is to bring home a state championship in October. They’ve heard different voices but they’ve been coached to the same standard.”
Trinity, meanwhile, was coming off its first win of the season against Wetumpka on Tuesday as the Wildcats are putting together a lineup with just five returning players from a year ago.
“I think it’s a little bit of a learning curve,” Trinity coach Sarah Dubberley said. “I’ve got an eighth-grade setter and a super-heavy sophomore class that are drinking out of a fire hydrant, taking in a lot of information and a lot of correction. They’re responding well, building their volleyball IQ.”
The Wildcats battled Montgomery Academy to a 24-24 tie in the first set before losing the last two points and the set.
“You fought really well, probably surprised them a little bit,” Dubberley told her players after the first set. “How you respond after working that hard and having things not go your way will tell me a lot about what I can expect. We talked about responding to things not happening how you want them to and building that mental toughness.
“I didn’t feel like (the first set) was broken volleyball and I felt like the beginning of the second (set) and the beginning of the third, it looked a little more broken.”
Thursday’s match was the Class A Private Area 4 opener for both teams. Trinity (1-7, 0-1 in area play) will travel to Pike Road on Tuesday to play the Patriots and Auburn High in a tri-match, while Montgomery Academy (4-3, 1-0) will travel to Alabama Christian for an area match on Tuesday.
FOOTBALL
Percy Julian 25, Smiths Station 21
Percy Julian overcame a 15-point deficit to earn its first victory of 2026, defeating Smiths Station in a non-region game at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
The Phoenix (1-1) gave up two early scores as well as 256 yards rushing in the first half and trailed 21-6 at halftime.
But the Phoenix defense did not allow any more points while the offense put together key scoring drives to take the lead early in the fourth quarter.
That was followed by a somewhat bizarre ending with both teams making questionable decisions that affected the outcome.
Smiths Station opened the game with two impressive drives that ended with touchdown runs of 30 and 31 yard runs by Trevon Kee in the first quarter. The second score was set up by an onside kick, recovered by the Panthers at the Julian 48 yard line.
Julian got on the board with 9:28 left in the first half on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Winston to Ka’Darian Anderson to cut the lead to eight points with the extra-point try missed.
The Panthers answered back with a 23-yard interception return by Stathen Kienzle to push the lead to 21-6 with 3:53 left in the first half.
The Phoenix again got to within eight on a Winston pass to Jayden Jarrett with just over nine minutes remaining in the third period. The 5-yard play was followed by another missed extra-point try.
Winston added his third touchdown pass with 4:04 to go in the third, hitting JuJuan Johnson over the middle for 27 yards pulling Julian to within two at 21-19 with Antwane Montgomery adding the extra point.
The Phoenix took the lead with just six seconds gone in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jonathan Looney to Jeremiah Crawford. The two-point try failed but Julian had a 25-21 lead.
From there, both teams suffered from futility and the game came down to a couple of key decisions with Smiths Station choosing to go for a first down from its own 36-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. The Panthers were unable to convert but Julian failed to take advantage of good field position and gave the ball back to the Panthers on a failed fourth-down try.
Late in the quarter, Julian was backed up inside its 10-yard line and was set up to punt but Montgomery chose to attempt to run the ball out of his end zone only to be tackled inside the 5-yard line with just over a minute left in the game.
After a penalty put Smiths Station on the Julian 8-yard line, quarterback Hunter Whale attempted a screen pass that was intercepted by LaDarrin Foster, who raced 64 yards deep into Smiths territory with just under a minute left to secure the win.
Winston finished with 131 yards passing and three touchdowns and two interceptions. He missed on his first seven pass attempts but hit seven of the next eight tries, without an incompletion in the second half.
Kee finished with 257 yards and two scores on the ground to lead the Panthers. Luke Sexton added 79 yards rushing.
The win was the first for new Phoenix coach Fred Farrier.
The Phoenix opens Class 5A, Region 2 play next Friday at Pike Road. Smiths Station (0-2) plays Dothan.
Thorsby 52, Billingsley 22
BILLINGSLEY - Jaylen Cutler carried 10 times for 115 yards and a touchdown and added a reception for 20 yards but the Bears fell in their season opener at Mims Field on Thursday.
Quarterback Trent Coburn had 99 yards In total offense while Kyson Thomas added 65 yards with two rushing touchdowns for Billingsley. Dequavion Ray had four receptions for 46 yards.
Kyson Thomas and Caleb Massey each had six tackles while Trey Byrd added seven.
The Billingsley offense totaled 292 yards.
Billingsley (0-1) opens Class 1A, Region 4 play next Friday against Georgiana. Thorsby (2-0) opens 2A, Region 3 play at Aliceville.