Piedmont, AL – Big-play player’s big plays, stout defense help Piedmont blow it open in region victory over Ohatchee.
By Shannon Fagan
WEIS Sports Director
Even with a 19-point halftime lead on Friday night, Piedmont head football coach Jonathan Miller knew the Ohatchee Indians could make it a game with their quick-strike ability.
That’s why he wanted the Bulldogs to “step on their throat” with the opening possession of the third quarter.
Enter Piedmont senior Rollie Pinto and his quick-strike ability. On the first play from scrimmage in the third, Pinto took a handoff, reversed field and jetted down the sideline for a 59-yard touchdown.
He even caught the ensuing 2-point conversion pass.
Then Pinto put the dagger in the Indians with a 73-yard punt return for a score with 9:10 remaining in the third to put the Bulldogs up by 33.
Ohatchee finally found a spark on a Nathan Jones 50-yard fumble return for its first score, but it was too little too late in a 46-20 Piedmont victory in Class 3A Region 6 action.
Pinto, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Piedmont’s loss to Ohatchee last season, showed his improvisational skills.
“The (touchdown) play (in the third quarter) was supposed to go right, and the guy grabbed me by the jersey,” Pinto said. “I looked to the left, and there was nobody there.
“I sprinted as hard as I could to the sideline on the left side, and I was gone from there.”
On the punt return, Pinto said, teammate Elijah Young laid “a big block.”
“I couldn’t have done it without him,” Pinto said. “He laid a big block, and I said, ‘Oh man, I can get past everybody if he lays that block.’
“He hammered him.”
Piedmont (3-0, 2-0) hammered the Indians in the first half. A pair of Hayes Gunn touchdowns from a yard and four yards gave the Bulldogs a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Quarterback Cole Wilson found Ishmael Bethel on a fourth-down play in the closing seconds of the first half for an 18-yard touchdown to provide Piedmont a 19-0 advantage at halftime.
That set the stage for Pinto’s big plays that put Piedmont up 33-0.
Miller said he was proud of the Bulldog defense for holding Ohatchee (1-2, 0-2) scoreless as long as the Bulldogs did. The Indians had scored 76 and 42 points in their first two games of the season.
“I think the big thing was we were able to stop the run,” Miller said. “We didn’t have to commit too many to the box to stop the run. That allowed us to stay outside and play some more coverage.
“On defense, it always starts with that. Can you stop the run? We did a great job with that tonight. I thought all of our front seven played extremely well tonight.”
Linebacker Kale Austin cited “a good week of practice.”
“Our D-line was lights out tonight,” he said. “Linebackers fit where they needed to go. Safeties and corners were covering the people they needed to.
It was just a team effort.”
Ohatchee finally found a much-needed spark with 5:07 left in the third quarter on Nate Jones’ fumble return for a score. The Indians scored twice more in the fourth, on a 19-yard Jake Roberson-to-Jones touchdown and Roberson’s 41-yard touchdown toss to Brayden Collins at 8:31.
On a trick play following their last touchdown Collins connected with Roberson on a 2-point conversion pass to make it a 40-20 game.
Braden Estes scored Piedmont’s final touchdown with 4:23 to go.
“We have the ability to make some plays, and we finally just happened to make a few in that second half, but right now we’re not a very good football team,” Ohatchee head coach Chris Findley said. “We have a whole lot of work to do, a lot of drastic changes to make.
“They were just more physical than we were. They whupped us up front and whupped us on the edge when we tried to run it or throw it to the edge. I felt like they wanted it more. They were more aggressive.”
Gunn led the Bulldog ground game with 108 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Pinto posted 73 yards on four totes. He also caught three passes for 28 yards.
Wilson completed nine of 10 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Bethel finished with three catches for 59 yards and a score.
Roberson topped Ohatchee by completing 16 of 28 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns.
Piedmont has an off week this coming Friday. The Bulldogs travel to Westbrook Christian on Sept. 20. Ohatchee travels to J.B. Pennington this Friday.
“We can’t be complacent,” Pinto said. “We can’t just go into next week and loaf around just because it’s an off week. We’ve still got to get better and prepare for Westbrook. They’re a good team. We’ve got to stay focused.”
