Falcons Lose Heartbreaker

October 30, 2021  
By Dean Harrell  
For East Alabama Sports Today  

Roundup: Westbrook scores late to spoil Donoho’s Senior Night; Ennis erupts for Ohatchee; Cleburne County, Hokes Bluff end season on good note

FRIDAY’S LOCAL GAMES
Alexandria 25, Piedmont 20
Ashville 33, Weaver 6
Cleburne County 55, Randolph County 6
Hokes Bluff 42, Sardis 14
Ohatchee 47, Munford 20
Westbrook Christian 37, Donoho 26

After getting back on the winning track against Talladega County Central last week, Donoho was eager to finish off their season with another victory at home on Senior Night. However, Westbrook Christian, also coming off of a victory last week, had something else in mind.

In a down-to-the-wire dog fight of a game, the Warriors forced two fumbles and scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to came out victorious, 37-26 Friday night at Lentz Field.

The game was won in the fourth quarter. With the Falcons holding a two-point lead with just over three minutes remaining, the Warriors (4-6) forced a fumble from Falcons quarterback Ridge Hopkins and recovered the ball. They carried their momentum to the offense and scored a touchdown on Karmichael Cattling’s 3-yard run with 2:27 to play to take the lead.

The Falcons mounted a rally, but Hopkins was sacked and fumbled again, setting up Cattling’s 2-yard touchdown with 14 seconds to play. Cattling rushed for a total of 83 yards and three touchdowns.

“That last drive was nerve wracking for all of us,” Cattling said. “We had to keep pushing forward to get the ball in the end zone. Our offensive line did a heck of a job tonight to help us move the ball well.”

Cattling’s backfield mate Samuel Keck ran all over the Falcons, racking up 175 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.

Westbrook’s defense was certainly to thank for setting up the game winning drive in the 4th quarter. After forcing 2 fumbles in the last 5 minutes of the game, the Warriors had the perfect opportunity to easily bring the ball into the end zone twice.

“Our guys came up big all night, especially on defense. They set us up to get into the end zone down the stretch,” said Warriors quarterback Mason Coley. “We relied on our run game tonight and it worked well.”

Despite the late turnovers, Donoho (2-8) was able to move the ball well. Hopkins finished his night completing 13 of 17 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns. Grant Steed caught two of the touchdown passes and had 66 yards in receptions.

Westbrook Christian 37, Donoho 26

D – Lucas Elliott 3 run (Grant Steed kick), 4:26 1Q
W – Samuel Keck 66 run (Layten Crawford kick), 8:11 2Q
W – Karmichael Cattling 42 run (Kinnedy Cranfield run), 5:41 2Q
D – Grant Steed 17 pass from Ridge Hopkins (run failed), 2:00 2Q
W – Layten Crawford 35 FG, 9:32 3Q
D – Logan Melton 28 pass from Ridge Hopkins (Grant Steed kick), 8:23 3Q
D – Grant Steed 21 pass from Ridge Hopkins (run failed), 4:17 3Q 
W – Samuel Keck 8 run (run failed), 11:37 4Q
W – Karmichael Cattling 3 run (run failed), 2:27 4Q
W – Karmichael Cattling 2 run (Layten Crawford kick), 0:14 4Q

OHATCHEE 47, MUNFORD 20: The Indians were doing a little scoreboard watching and got good news across the board.

In their game, Eli Ennis scored five touchdowns and Kyler Vice scored two as they closed out the regular season with a victory and a five-game winning streak.

With Piedmont’s loss to Alexandria, Ohatchee secured the No. 2 seed out of Region 5. The Indians (8-2) will host Geraldine in the first round of the playoffs next week.

“We did what we needed to do closing out the regular season and feel good about the progress we’re making,” acting coach Chris Findley said. “We took care of what we needed to but knew we would still need some help to be able to host the first round. We’re glad it worked out for us to be at home to start the playoffs.”

Vice scored Ohatchee’s first two touchdowns on runs of 39 and 10 yards. Ennis scored on a 5-yard run and a 38-yard scramble in the second quarter to give the Indians a 27-13 halftime lead and continued to find the end zone in the second half.

He scored on runs of 4 and 1 yards to put the Indians up 40-13, then he forced a fumble on defense and went 60 yards with the recovery for their final score of the night.

CLEBURNE COUNTY 55, RANDOLPH COUNTY 6: Tae Cantrell rushed for 110 yards, quarterback Kyler McGrinn passed for 155 yards and freshmen Dandrae O’Neal and Dylan McGrinn both scored long touchdowns on their only carries of the game as the Tigers won their season finale.

McGrinn completed 10 of 14 passes on his night. O’Neal had a 51-yarad touchdown run and Dylaan McGrinn had a 50-yard scoring run on their only carries of the game.

Cleburne County amassed 424 yards as a team while holding Randolph County to 150.

HOKES BLUFF 42, SARDIS 12: Jordan Bradley and Tucker Griffin both rushed for three touchdowns as the Eagles ended their season on a winning note. Tucker rushed for 198 yards on 28 carries, while Bradley rushed for 100 and passed for 100.

Tucker scored the first touchdown of the game on a 41-yard run midway through the first quarter. Sardis’ Kane Lawson returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards to get Sardis on the board, then Hokes Bluff scored the next four touchdowns to take control.

HB — Tucker Griffin 41 run (Leon Chen kick), 6:26 1Q
S — Kane Lawson 92 kickoff return (pass failed), 6:13 1Q
HB — Tucker Griffin 61 run (Leon Chen kick), 5:00 1Q
HB — Jordan Bradley 24 run (Leon Chen kick), 7:37 2Q
HB — Jordan Bradley 12 run (Leon Chen kick), 0:49 2Q
HB — Tucker Griffin 1 run (kick blocked), 5:44 3Q
S –Avery Carroll 3 run (pass failed), 3:57 4Q
HB — Jordan Bradley 9 run (Layton Horne pass from Conner Masters), 10:42 4Q