Sports
Wildcats, Rebels set for championship battle
By Griffin Pritchard
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Edgewood Academy’s defense, led by Tanner Drennan (44) and T.J. Gibson (24) stuff Clarke County’s Brett Bradford during the first round of the AISA playoffs. During the regular season, Edgewood’s defense gave up less than 70 total points and have allowed 29 in two playoff wins. Herald Photo/Griffin Pritchard
It has been 10 weeks since the Edgewood Academy Wildcats won their first region game of the 2008 season, a 28-13 victory over Lowndes Academy in Hayneville.
After two weeks of playoffs, however, the Rebels are looking to avenge that loss and claim the Alabama Independent School Association's Class AA championship.
“That game was the second regular season game,” said Art Sullivan, coach of the Lowndes Academy Rebels.
“A lot has changed since then. I know that Edgewood has gotten better, and I know that we have gotten a lot better. Friday is going to be like a new game. Especially when you are shooting for all the marbles.”
Lowndes played for the Class AA championship in 2006 and lost to Southern Academy.
Edgewood last played for a state championship in 2004, but lost to Bessemer Academy in the Class AAA final after blowing a 21-point lead.
“That game is always on my mind,” said Bobby Carr, coach of the Wildcats. “We played right before Thanksgiving so every year I’m thinking of that game. I hope Friday we can come away with some new memories.”
Edgewood and Lowndes will match-up in the Class AA game Friday at 1 p.m. inside Troy University’s Movie Gallery Stadium.
Edgewood’s road to Troy kept them in Elmore for back-to-back victories over Clarke Prep and Shelby, who upset defending Class AA champions Southern. Lowndes knocked off Pickens and then upset No.1 ranked Monroe in overtime.
“They are flying high right now after that upset of Monroe,” said Carr. “We learned our lesson last week about playing teams we’ve already beaten. We learned that we need to get our focus where it needs to be. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for us in the state championship. Edgewood’s never won a state championship and all year long all that we’ve talked about is finishing the job. That’s what we’ve done so far.”
Edgewood, however, struggled with mental mistakes against semifinal opponent Shelby. Despite the 28-7 victory, the Wildcats put the ball on the ground two times and committed more than 100 yards in penalties.
“That’s something we’ve got to correct,” said Carr. “We’ve got to cut that back. We fumbled once on the 1-foot line and once inside the 20 and we were going into score both times.”
Against the Vols of Monroe, Sullivan pointed out that his Rebels were focused and not looking ahead.
“Monroe was a hard-hitting game,” said Sullivan. “We were focused on containing their speed. We didn’t give them that big play and that’s what they live off of.”
The Rebels jumped on the Volunteers early, capitalizing on a bad punt and an offensive surge to push ahead 14-0. Monroe tied the game at 21-21 but the Rebels kept them out of the end zone on a third and fourth down from the 1-yard line. Lowndes won the game on third down with a Bozeman dive into the end zone.
“Lowndes is a good team,” said Carr. “They have a good tradition. They are well coached and we respect them.”
Sullivan and the Rebels keep their offensive strategy simple.
“We are basically a running team,” said Sullivan. “We like to run inside a lot.”
Lowndes offense is fueled by two runningbacks Tyler Bozeman and Brandon Pate. Pate finished with 37 yards against the Vols while Bozeman finished with 172.
“We can interchange them. They are just sort of even,” said Sullivan. “We like to run inside because we don’t have a lot of speed.”
Edgewood, however, is the opposite.
Led by senior runningback Cody Lee and junior tight end Dillon NesSmith, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents by an average of 39-8. The Wildcats defense, which is anchored by seniors Tanner Drennan and Jordan Powell have pitched three shutouts and held five of their 12 opponents to less than 10 points.
“It just seems that each week we are doing something that we haven’t done before at this school,” said Carr. “Like last week when we beat Shelby, that was the first time Edgewood had 12 wins in a season.”
One area where Lowndes does have a slight advantage is that the juniors and seniors this year have played a championship game inside of Troy’s Movie Gallery Stadium. The Gallery is a turf field and is easily the largest stadium either school has competed in this season.
“We were down there two years ago to play Southern,” said Sullivan. “And a lot of the kids on the team remember what it’s like. We are going down Thursday to let them run around on the field and get the big-stadium-awe out of their system.”
Carr and the Wildcats are also going down Thursday following a morning pep rally at the school.
“We are going to practice on their field Thursday and spend the night down there,” said Carr. “This is going to be a good experience for the kids. It’s something that they will never forget. I just that we come out focused and take care of business like we’ve done the past 12 weeks.”
For both the Rebels and the Wildcats a trip to the AISA Tripleheader seemed unlikely following the 2007 seasons. Lowndes finished 6-5 a year ago.
“We had a big win over Meadowview last year and were just in an eyelash of 9-3 or better,” said Sullivan. “We’re sort of a no-name team. We don’t have many all-stars. But I felt like the kids we have and with their work habits had a chance to win a few games this year.”
The Wildcats ” then a member of Class AAA ” posted an abysmal 3-7 record.
“I’ve never seen a team come together the way this one has,” said Carr. “Not one player had an individual goal this year. Collectively the goal was to win a state championship and turn this thing around.”
Kickoff for Friday’s game is scheduled for 1 p.m., and will be played at Troy’s Movie Gallery Stadium.
