UMS-Wright won a back-and-forth game 20-19 over Williamson on Thursday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. With the win, the Bulldogs secured a spot in the playoffs for the 30th consecutive year dating back to the 1994 season. This is the 2nd longest streak in the state, behind only Class 2A Luverne who qualified for the 41st consecutive season.
UMS-Wright will travel to Central Clay County for their first round game. The Volunteers are undefeated at 10-0 and have outscored their opponents this season 400-73. The game will feature the two winningest coaches in Alabama high school football history.
Terry Curtis has 354 career wins, while Central Clay's Danny Horn is at 351 wins. The Bulldogs are in the top half of the bracket. Here's their path for the first 3 weeks:
Region 1 Scores from 11/2
UMS-Wright 20 - Williamson 19
Gulf Shores 43 - B. C. Rain 21
Faith Academy 21 - Leflore 6
Citronelle 35 - Elberta 24
Vigor 46 - Sidney Lanier 8
Final Region 1 Standings
| TEAM |
RECORD |
| GULF SHORES |
8-0 |
| FAITH ACADEMY |
6-2 |
| B. C. RAIN |
5-3 |
| UMS-WRIGHT |
5-3 |
| VIGOR |
5-3 |
| CITRONELLE |
4-4 |
| WILLIAMSON |
2-6 |
| ELBERTA |
1-7 |
| LEFLORE |
0-8 |
Region 1 in the Playoffs
R1 #1 Gulf Shores vs R4 #4 Beauregard
R1 #2 Faith Academy vs R4 #3 Elmore County
R1 #3 B. C. Rain at R4 #2 Valley
R1 #4 UMS-Wright at R4 #1 Central Clay County
Game Recap
1st Quarter
UMS-Wright started their first possession at the Williamson 46 yard line.
Joe Lott completed the first of his season high 14 passes on a 2nd down play to
Denton Elliott. Lott would convert a 4th & 1 with a 3 yard run. The Bulldogs couldn't pick up another first down and
Kingston Phan's 34 yard field goal attempt was no good.
The Bulldog defense held Williamson to a single first down on their first possession.
Caplyn Reed's sack on first down put them behind the chains, but the Lions completed a 14-yard pass on 3rd & 7 to move the chains. A holding penalty on first down was too much to overcome and they punted the ball back to the Bulldogs.
Starting at their own 34, the Bulldogs went 3 & out, but Williamson followed suit after another holding penalty and a procedure penalty. The Bulldogs had the ball again as the first quarter ended.
End 1st Quarter
UMS-Wright 0
Williamson 0
2nd Quarter
On the first play of the quarter, Lott connected with
Ty Yance for a first down on 3rd & 9. Another Lott completion to Elliott gave the Bulldogs a 3rd & 1, but Lott lost 5 yards on the next play. UMS-Wright converted their second 4th down in as many possessions as Lott's pass to
Rowen McMahan gained 23 yards, giving the Bulldogs a first and goal at the 7-yard line. A procedure penalty on 2nd down moved the ball back to the 10, and Lott hit
Camden Taylor in the back of the end zone for the Bulldogs' first score of the night. Phan's PAT was good and the Bulldogs were up 7-0.
Williamson started on their own 27 but moved the ball 73 yards for the touchdown on 5 plays. A pass interference call against the Bulldogs on 1st down moved the ball out to the 42-yard line, and the Lions scored on a 50 yard breakaway touchdown run on a 4th & 2 at midfield to tie the game 7-7.
The Bulldogs were 3 & out again, and Williamson struck quickly covering 84 yards in 2 plays. After an 11 yard run on their first play, the Lions connected on a 72 yard touchdown pass to take the lead. The PAT was no good.
UMS-Wright would answer late in the half in dramatic fashion. Lott completed two passes in the two minute drill, one to Elliott for 11 yards and the other to
James Hollon for 19 yards. With 24 seconds left in the half, Coach Curtis dialed up a double pass trick play and
Rowen McMahan hit
Thomas Portacci for a 29 yard touchdown giving the Bulldogs a 14-13 lead heading into the half.
Halftime
UMS-Wright 14
Williamson 13
3rd Quarter
Williamson started the second half with the ball, and put together a nice drive picking up 3 first downs. The Bulldog defense snuffed it out on a 3rd down sack from
Caplyn Reed and forced the Lions to punt. Lott completed another pass to Yance on 2nd down for 7 yards, but couldn't convert on 3rd and 3. Williamson took over at their own 35 after the punt, and converted a 3rd and 8 to move the chains. After another first down, the Bulldog defense stood tall once again as
James Scott broke up a pass on 4th and 4.
The Bulldog offense couldn't get going and punted after another 3 and out. On the final play of the 3rd quarter, Williamson returned the UMS-W punt 80 yards for a touchdown and retook the lead. Their 2 point conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
End 3rd Quarter
Williamson 19
UMS-Wright 14
4th Quarter
UMS-Wright picked up a first down on a 12 yard completion from Lott to Elliott, but Lott's run on 4th & 1 came up short. The defense forced another 3 and out highlighted by a
C.J. Stewart sack on 2nd down and a
Joe Lott pass break up on 3rd down. The Bulldogs appeared to grab the momentum with a blocked punt on 4th down, but the play was ruled dead after an illegal substitution penalty on Williamson. After receiving the punt, UMS-Wright fumbled on the first play of the possession, giving the Lions the ball at the Bulldog 24 yard line.
Perry Hand's backfield pressure on the Williamson QB forced a 3rd down incompletion, and Williamson lined up for a field goal.
Jeff Holston blocked the field goal and UMS-W took over at their own 30 yard line.
Joe Lott went to work completing passes to
Rowen McMahan for 10 yards and
Camden Taylor for 22 yards. On a 2nd and 4 play, Lott hit McMahon behind the defense for the go ahead touchdown. The 2 point conversion attempt was no good, but the Bulldogs had a 20-19 lead with just over 4:00 remaining in the game.
The defense needed one more stop to close out the game, and
Caplyn Reed's sack on 3rd down forced the Lions to punt from deep in their own territory. The Bulldogs picked up the only first down they needed to put the game away on an 11 yard completion from Lott to
William Taylor. Lott took a knee in victory formation and the Bulldogs escaped Ladd Stadium with a win to secure a place in the playoffs.
Final
UMS-Wright 20
Williamson 19
Plays of the Game
Defense:
Caplyn Reed's sack on 3rd and 8 late in the 4th quarter ended the Lions hopes for a late touchdown. Reed finished the game with 3 sacks.
Offense: Rowen McMahon's 29 yard touchdown pass to
Thomas Portacci just before halftime put the Bulldogs up 14-13. McMahon had a passing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in the game.
Team Totals
Total Plays
UMS-W 49
Williamson 46
Total Yards
UMS-W 250
Williamson 229
Rushing Yards
UMS-W 27
Williamson 72
Passing Yards
UMS-W 223
Williamson 157
First Downs
UMS-W 10
Williamson 6
Third Downs
UMS-W 1-10 (10%)
Williamson 3-11 (27%)
Turnovers
UMS-W 1
Williamson 0
Penalties
UMS-W 4 for 40 yards
Williamson 10 for 80 yards
Stat Leaders
Rushing
Joe Lott: 14 Carries - 14 yds
James Hollon: 7 Carries - 10 yds
Passing
Joe Lott: 14 for 19 - 192 yds - 2 TD
Rowen McMahan: 1 for 1 - 31 yds - TD
Receiving
Rowen McMahan: 3 receptions - 67 yds - TD
Denton Elliott: 5 reception - 45 yds
Camden Taylor: 2 receptions - 31 yds - TD
Thomas Portacci: 1 reception - 31 yds - TD
Ty Yance: 2 receptions - 20 yds
James Hollon: 1 reception - 18 yds
William Taylor: 1 reception - 11 yds
Defense
Caplyn Reed: 10 tackles - 3 Sacks
Jeff Holston: 12 tackles - Block
Perry Hand: 8 tackles
William Tanner: 7 tackles - TFL
C.J. Stewart: 6 tackles - Sack
McNeil Mostellar: 5 tackles
Luke Lambert: 5 tackles
Special Teams
Kingston Phan: 2 for 2 PAT / 0 for 1 FG
William Taylor: 4 punts - 37 yd Avg.
From the Coaches
Coach Dean on the Offense:
Thursday night at Ladd was a night of ups and downs. We knew with the front 7 that Williamson had, yards on the ground would be hard to come by. That forced us to turn to our passing game. It was great to see our guys step up and make plays with the season on the line. Joe Lott was really good at reading the secondary and distributing the ball to the open receiver. The protection held up and gave him time to throw it. Will Taylor and James Hollon did a good job on the edges in our sprint out game. Camden Taylor, Denton Elliott and Thomas Portacci came up big with some key receptions. Rowen McMahan was the one who made 2 crucial plays to keep the season rolling. He threw a TD pass to Thomas Portacci in the first half, and caught the game winning pass with under 5 minutes to go. The way we won that game should go a long way in our confidence moving forward. This week will be another great challenge, and the plan this week will be like every other week. Eliminate mistakes and make plays when we get a chance to do so.
Coach Koziol on the Defense:
It was great to get that win Thursday night and get our team into the playoffs. Defensively, we gave up 2 scores, and they were both errors on our part. We misfit a Wildcat run for a long touchdown, and we also misplayed a pass where we had 2 defenders in position to break it up. Besides those plays, I felt like we played well. We have to correct those mistakes and eliminate explosive plays to make offenses earn their yards and points.
We had some big stops - especially in the 4th quarter - that kept us in the game. Pressures and sacks, pass breakups and a blocked field goal in the 4th quarter were huge plays to keep the score at 19-14. I thought Jeff Holston, Caplyn Reed, C. J. Stewart, James Scott, Perry Hand, Joe Lott, McNeil Mostellar and William Tanner all made plays in the 2nd half that affected the outcome of the game. It was great to see all of them step up and help our team earn the victory.
Next Up:
The Bulldogs travel to Lineville, AL for their first round playoff game against Central Clay County - Friday 7:00 PM
