Jacksonville, AL – Sinclair shows Ogle has another prolific target as Jacksonville rolls to second victory over rival Alexandria in as many years, 45-21.
THURSDAY, Aug. 31
Southside 37, Hokes Bluff 12
FRIDAY, Sept. 1
Jacksonville 45, Alexandria 21
Andalusia 39, Anniston 0
Central-Clay 30, Benjamin Russell 13
Cleburne County 20, Northside 16
Pleasant Valley 40, Donoho 0
Glencoe 24, Weaver 20
Handley 55, St.James 27
Jacksonville Christian 27, Tabernacle 8
Lincoln 40, Ashville 26
Ohatchee 26, Wellborn 7
Oxford 35, Huntsville 6
Cherokee County 26, Piedmont 7
Wadley 49, Ranburne 21
Randolph County 41, Woodland 0
Sylvania 49, Saks 14
Coosa Christian 21, Spring Garden 6
Oak Grove 22, White Plains 14
Open: Munford, Talladega.
By Joe Medley
Ky’dric Fisher’s biggest challenge doesn’t come from fill-in-the-blank defensive back who lines up across from him.
The senior Jacksonville receiver’s biggest challenge comes from within his own team, his own position group.
Fisher and Damonte Sinclar caught two touchdown passes apiece as Jacksonville handled rival Alexandria 49-21 in the the first game in the renovated Golden Eagle Stadium.
Jacksonville (2-0) beat Alexandria (0-2) for the second year in a row, marking the first time the Golden Eagles achieved that since 2013 and 2014. Alexandria holds a 53-30-4 lead in the all-time series.
As Jacksonville quarterback and Troy commit Jim Ogle sizes up another prolific target, Sinclair has put Fisher on notice.
“I broke a school record last year, and he tells me he’s going to break it,” Fisher said. “I want him to.”
Fisher caught 17 touchdown passes and finished with 1,242 receiving yards in 2022, emerging as Ogle’s top target. He earned first-team all-state honors, as selected by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.
Sinclair is punishing teams that key on Fisher this season and did as the two receivers finished in a near statistical dead heat Friday. Fisher caught eight passes for 192 yards, including touchdowns of 34 and 82 yards. Sinclair caught nine passes for 189 yards, with touchdowns of 12 and 11 yards.
“Everybody knows about seven (Fisher’s jersey number) and how great of a player he is,” Sinclair said. “He’s a great football player, but I can make some plays, too.
“We’ve talked about it and we cleared some things up, and I’ve just been able to make some big plays.”
Ogle hit on 19 of 26 passes for 404 yards and five touchdowns, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Bonner.
Ogle called Sinclair’s emergence as a target “huge.”
“It takes a lot of pressure off of that guy, number seven,” Ogle said. “Not many people are going to be able to play as much to him, because they’ve got to worry about this guy (Sinclair), and we’ve got Imoree (Young), who played well for us.
“It makes it a lot easier on me.”
Jacksonville also got 108 rushing yards, including 68 with a 2-yard touchdown run from Xzavier English, and John Ducar hit a 32-yard field goal while helping Jacksonville build a 31-0 lead by halftime.
“I’m proud of how we came out and established ourselves early on and built a good lead,” Jacksonville coach Clint Smith said. “That was good, and we got to play a lot of young guys at the end.
“We still made a few mistakes and let it get a little sloppy in the second half. Whether we build a big lead or whatever, we have to continue playing at the same level.”
On the visiting sideline, Alexandria suffered another difficult night a week after losing its season-opener at reigning Class 4A runner up Cherokee County, 48-14. A difficult night followed a difficult week, which saw returning starting quarterback Ty Barker, among others, leave the team.
Freshman Cole Wheeler started at quarterback and had good moments. He completed seven of 14 passes for 147 and two touchdowns … 37 yards to Cooper Bridges and 47 yards to Ty Brown.
“I thought Wheeler played really well,” Alexandria coach Todd Ginn said. “I told everybody, the future is bright. We’re going to get better as the year progresses.”
Brown added a rushing touchdown, and Elijah Hunter rushed for 108 yards.
“Jacksonville has got a good team,” Ginn said. “We had an eighth- and ninth-grader in the secondary tonight, and I thought they played well. Ogle is a really special player who can really pick you apart, and I’m really glad to see him go.”
