Cubs Win Wild One

Alexandria, AL – Alexandria holds off late Southside rally, wins game with 101 combined points, 15 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards to claim at least third in region; Cubs’ Ross has 281 yards rushing, 5 TDs

By Al Muskewitz


Antonio Ross had another one of the those games they have come to expect in Alexandria. He had nearly 300 yards of offense and scored five touchdowns as the Valley Cubs outscored Southside 54-47 Friday night to clinch at least third place in the Class 5A Region 6 standings.

He rushed for 281 yards on 31 carries that easily could’ve been 40, but his biggest touch of the night garnered neither yards or points for the Valley Cubs. It was his recovery of an onsides kick in the final two minutes of the game that basically thwarted Southside’s comeback and secured the victory.

The Valley Cubs (4-4) used a big second half to open a 21-point lead with 4:39 to play, but Southside refused to yield, eventually putting Ross in a position to win the game with his hands rather than his legs.

The Panthers (5-3) had already recovered one onsides kick during their rally to set up the touchdown that got them back to within seven on Gauge Nesmith’s fifth touchdown pass of the game and were trying another with 1:38 to play when Ross fell on the squib to give the Cubs a chance to run out the clock.

Alexandria coach Todd Ginn didn’t hesitate in calling it Ross’ biggest play of the game.

“I just knew we needed the ball,” Ross said. “They were going to do an onsides kick and I know they always need a good bounce to go get it. I just knew before the ball bounces you’ve got to fall on it and if it doesn’t bounce you’ve got it.

“If I didn’t get it, that would have haunted me. I would have been mad at myself for a long time. I don’t forget mistakes at all. If I would have missed it, it would have messed me up, the coaches would have been mad and I’d feel like I would have let everyone down on that.”

As it was, the Cubs were able to run the clock all the way down inside 10 seconds. It left Southside with one last play, a Hail Mary pass from midfield toward the end zone into a crowd that fell incomplete. The Panthers had completed two passes in the game, including their last touchdown, that came off balls batted by Alexandria defenders.

Everything Ross did up to the point of his kick recovery was dynamite. He scored the Valley Cubs’ first four touchdowns – and five of their first six — on runs of 49, 9, 9, 3 and 61 yards. T.K. Downie had two long touchdowns – a 26-yard pass from Ty Barker and a 62-yard run – and Ty Brown scored what proved to be the winning touchdown on an eight-yard run with 4:39 to play.

The game’s outcome sets up the possibility of a three-way tie for second in the region among Alexandria, Southside and Moody if Southside beats Moody next week. The tiebreaker for playoff seedings would fall to total wins by the non-region opponents they’ve beaten.

Alexandria would have no tiebreaker points unless they expectedly beat Talladega next week and Talladega beats Saks for its only win the final week of the regular season. The Cubs would, however, have the head-to-head tiebreaker on Southside.

There’s a scenario where Southside could grab the 2-seed and a first-round home game if it beats Moody next week and Etowah in its final regular-season game. In that case, Alexandria would be the 4-seed.

“I don’t really worry about it, to be honest,” Ginn said. “I’d imagine it probably puts us about third. We’ll look at the scenarios, but losing those two games (to Clay Central and Jacksonville) any tiebreaker is going to be tough on us unless it’s a head-to-head.”

Until the Valley Cubs started pulling away, the game was a back-and-forth affair that featured five lead changes from the start of the second quarter through the first four minutes of the third.

Alexandria trailed at halftime 27-21, but one defensive adjustment changed their fortunes. They decided to send more rushers than Southside could block, eventually forcing the Panthers to keep running back Mason Teague in the backfield to give Nesmith more protection.

The Cubs put together two time-consuming touchdown drives in the third quarter to take and extend the lead, while holding the Panthers to eight offensive snaps.

“We knew we were doing things offensively that were giving them fits already and it was just about getting off the field defensively,” Ginn said. “We made a change to really put pressure. The first half they put us in some binds, we were having trouble getting off the field, but the second half we cleaned it up and I thought we dominated the game from the second half ’til about four minutes left.”

Brown appeared to seal the win when he rumbled in from eight yards out to make it 54-33 with 4:39 to play. But the Panthers had other ideas.

Nesmith completed four of five passes for 80 yards on the ensuing drive, cutting the deficit to 54-40 with 3:08 left. The Southside quarterback completed 17 of 27 passes for 296 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 141 yards.

“Our kids are gritty kids,” Southside coach Miles Holcomb said. “They have a lot of resolve.”

The Panthers recovered the onsides kick after separating Damarcus Williams from the ball . Nesmith went 3-for-4 to cover the necessary 29 yards to make it 54-47.

The Cubs were hit with a major penalty on the touchdown, assessed on the kickoff. That meant the Panthers would have an even shorter field to work for their potential tying touchdown if they recovered. That’s when Ross went to where they expected the onsides kick would go and he covered it to secure the game.

Alexandria 54, Southside 47

S – Mason Teague 17 run (Abudllah Allabassi kick), 9:30 1Q
A – Antonio Ross 49 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 9:14 1Q
S – Gauge Nesmith 3 run (kick failed), 4:56 1Q
A – Antonio Ross 9 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 10:56 2Q
S – Bennett Reeves 20 pass from Gauge Nesmith (Abdullah Allabassi kick), 9:02 2Q
A – Antonio Ross 9 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 4:47 2Q
S – Cody Roberts 22 pass from Gauge Nesmith (Abdullah Allabassi kick), 0:28 2Q
A – Antonio Ross 3 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 7:36 3Q
A – T.K. Downie 26 pass from Ty Barker (Cleat Forrest kick), 1:34 3Q
A – Antonio Ross 61 run (Cleat Forrest kick), 11:45 4Q
S – Jordan Bryan 24 pass from Gauge Nesmith (pass failed), 10:07 4Q
A – T.K. Downie 62 run (kick blocked), 8:28 4Q
A – Ty Brown 8 run (kick failed), 4:39 4Q
S – Scotty Motes 30 pass from Gauge Nesmith (Abdullah Allabassi kick), 3:08 4Q
S – Cayden McMichael 21 pass from Gauge Nesmith (Abdullah Allabassi kick), 1:38 4Q