RSS Feed
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sports Scene
That was a questions I was asked two years ago by the TV people broadcasting the championship games when Sweet Water and Leroy played for their championships. Now that we can throw Thomasville into that mix, making that many more people from this “poor, rural…country area” I guess the question might be asked again this year. It did not matter that each had to go on the road, each into a tough environment to be able to earn the right to go to Birmingham. Starting with the smallest school, Sweet Water, they had to go on the road to play an undefeated team that had knocked off Brantley the week before. Several folks felt that the Red Devils, riding high on the wave of beating Brantley, would make short work of Sweet Water. Well the Marengo-based Bulldogs must not have gotten the memo and they tore through Maplesville like a team possessed. The passing game wasn’t clicking. That didn’t matter. They simply ran the ball every single play of the second half and scored 28 points. Of course when you have the line they have and running backs like Anthony Landrum and Dominic Holt you can do that. Then the Leroy Bears had to travel all the way across the state to take on top-ranked Houston Academy. The Raiders, located in Dothan, had already stared making plans to be in the Steel City, with the game against the Bears being an after-thought. Once again the inter-office paperwork never made its way across the Tombigbee River. Leroy took their huge offensive line and power backs and ran all over Houston Academy. Then their athletic defense shut down a prolific offense and held them to under 150 yards of total offense. They turned the Raiders away at the Leroy 10-yard line late and the offense proceeded to run off 19 plays, covering 90 yards and eating up 10 minutes of the fourth quarter. That is the perfect definition of ballcontrol. Last, but not least, the Thomasville Tigers took advantage of turnovers to jump out to an early lead, then saw that lead evaporate. But like they have done so many times this season, they never got rattled and they never quit. They never let up even though they had six turnovers of their own. That is because they forced eight turnovers, and in fact used one of those to regain the lead for good in the second half. Then the defense made a heart-stopping play as Andalusia was turned away at the Tiger 2-yard line. Following that stop, the offense drove 98-yards to score the game-clinching touchdown. Another late touchdown iced it and the Tigers joined the other two area squads in making plans for Birmingham. Sometimes things look like fate, this just feels like fate. Who knows what the outcomes will be this Thursday and Saturday. But there is one thing that is true. None of the three teams there representing Southwest Alabama will lay down. Guntersville, Woodland and Cedar Bluff will know they have been in a game. Back to the question I was asked two years ago about folks driving in Birmingham, my answer was this…”simple, same as they would on dirt roads, except these are paved.” Good luck teams and the last person out of town make sure to leave the porch light on.
That’s all folks……
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
