Getting it Done

Calhoun County, AL – With its season on the line, Cedar Bluff grabs Class 1A playoff berth with 34-0 shutout of Donoho

By Brant Locklier

It was homecoming at Donoho, but there was no dancing in the streets for the Falcons as Cedar Bluff came to town fighting for their playoff lives and dominated 34-0.

The Tigers (4-6) started the season ranked and were sitting at 3-1 when the bottom fell out, as injuries and other adversity created problems that led to a five-game losing streak coming into the last week of the season.

Those losses dropped them into a three-way tie for fourth place with Decatur Heritage and Gaylesville in Class 1A Region 7. Decatur Heritage had the tie-breaker and had to be upset by Colbert Heights in its last game to give Cedar Bluff a chance to get in the playoffs with a win at Donoho.

Colbert Heights pulled the 20-13 upset Thursday night and all of a sudden, the Tigers had new life in a season they thought was probably over. They got several players back from injuries for the Donoho game and they came in on a mission.

“It has been a disappointing season for us, we have had to play several ranked teams and we have had injuries and are still not well, but we played our best game of the season tonight and we have a chance, now,” Cedar Bluff coach Alan Beckett said. “It makes that grind we had that started in August and 10 regular-season games worth it. We will now play undefeated Meek, but we got a chance now.”

Donoho, meanwhile, had already clinched a playoff spot and was celebrating homecoming while trying to work through their injuries. The Falcons (4-5) will enter the 1A playoffs next Friday at Lynn. Thus, it was a team that had to win playing a team that was going to be playing next week no matter what happened Friday.

The Falcons were 3-15 the last two years and have won  four games this year under head coach Jeremy Satcher. The first-year head coach held the team together after a 1-3 start and rallied it to a playoff spot.

The first half belonged totally to Cedar Bluff as it controlled the time of possession 18 minutes to 6. The Tigers took the opening kickoff 68 yards in 13 plays and scored when quarterback Kaden Pack threw a 24 -ard fourth-down pass to  Aden Green.

The ensuing kickoff was recovered at the Donoho 30 and the Tigers had the ball again. This drive was snuffed out at the 30 and the Donoho offense came on the field for the first time with 2:52 to go in the first quarter.

Four plays later, due to a penalty, the Falcons had to punt. They got a short second quarter drive going from their own 14, but were stopped on downs in Tiger territory.

The Falcons forced two fumbles inside their own red zone to keep the score at 7-0 as the teams went to half. Donoho only had 18 first-half offensive plays while Cedar Bluff ran 35.

The Tigers erupted in the second half scoring on their first possession on a 22-yard run by Kale Browning, who had 125 yards rushing on the night. Moments late Logan Hampton blocked a Donoho punt and recovered for a touchdown.

“We have injuries, but we have to have people step up and match-up physically and we did not do that tonight,” Satcher said. “We‘ve got to go out and get better this week in practice.”

Hunter Jenkins erupted for touchdowns of 75 and 50 yards and had a 73-yard run called back to finish off the scoring in the second half. Jenkins had 203 yards rushing on 20 carries. The Tigers had 356 yards rushing as a team on 47 carries.

“What a night Jenkins had, he would have had over 300 yards without the penalties,” Browning said.

“Our line was just blocking great tonight and everybody was executing,” said Jenkins.

Cover photo by B.J. Franklin

CB- Aden Green 25 pass from Kaden Pack (Carter Dillingham kick), 5:10 1Q
CB- Kale Browning 22 run (Carter Dillingham kick), 7:16 3Q
CB – Logan Hampton blocked punt recovered in end zone (Carter Dillingham kick), 6:14 3Q
CB – Hunter Jenkins 75 run (kick failed), 2:31 3Q
CB – Hunter Jenkins 50 run (Carter Dillingham kick), 6:14 4Q