CARROLLTON, Ala — The first one is always sweet.
First-year head coach John Gartman earned his initial victory as head coach of the Pickens Academy football team with a 27-0 decision against South Choctaw on Friday night.
The 31-year-old Gartman, who played at the University of Alabama, is in his first season at Pickens Academy after being the defensive coordinator at Morgan Academy for five years and Montgomery Macon-East the past three years.
John Morgan Owens rushed for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Owens scored on runs of 30 and 10 yards in the second quarter and on a 34-yard run in the third quarter.
Owens intercepted a pass and returned the ball 34 yards to the South Choctaw 32 to set up his 10-yard touchdown.
Pickens Academy (1-2) opened the scoring in the second quarter when Jacob Acker threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Estes.
Acker completed 4 of 5 passes for 87 yards and the touchdown.
Andrew House led the defense with seven tackles, Judson Smith had five tackles and two quarterback sacks, Owens had an interception, and Chase Britt and Joel Pratt each had a fumble recovery.
n Aliceville 22, Montevallo 14: At Aliceville, Ala., Eddie Hill earned his second win as a head coach in the Yellow Jackets” victory in their Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 3A, Region 4 game.
Marquise Mayhew scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter and on a 3-yard run in the third quarter for Aliceville (2-1, 2-0 region).
Marquise Colvin scored on a 5-yard run in the fourth for the Yellow Jackets, who led 6-0 at halftime and 14-0 entering the final quarter.
Jarvis Dancy threw two-point conversion passes to Mack Burden after Mayhew”s second touchdown and Colvin”s touchdown.
n Pickens County 51, Keith 28: At Orrville, Ala., Deion Curry ran for three touchdowns and passed for two to lead the Tornadoes to an AHSAA Class A, Region 4 victory.
Curry”s rushing touchdowns came on runs of 25 and 30 yards in the first quarter and 2 yards in the third quarter. Both of his touchdown passes were to LaJuan Doss for 36 and 15 yards.
Curry completed 10 of 16 passes for 123 yards.
Also for Pickens County (3-0, 2-0 region), Demarco Hall scored on a 10-yard run and Doss returned a fumble on a punt attempt for a touchdown.
James Adams had 105 rushing yards to lead the Tornadoes.
Curry had eight tackles (five solos), Hall intercepted a pass, and Steffon McCoy recovered a fumble for Pickens County.
n Lamar County 48, Phil Campbell 43: At Phil Campbell, Ala., Eric “Turbo” Hudson rushed for 134 yards, two touchdowns, and a two-point conversion and threw two touchdown passes and a two-point conversion pass to lead the Bulldogs to an AHSAA Class 2A, Region 8 win.
Lamar County (2-1, 2-0 region) opened the game with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Hudson to Kenneth Hill.
Hudson also threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Eric Smith to begin the second quarter scoring.
Hudson ran for a 31-yard touchdown and two-point conversion in the second quarter, and scored on a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter. He threw a two-point pass to Jacob McLemore after his final touchdown.
Kenneth Hill scored on a 55-yard run in the second quarter and returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Lamar County trailed 14-12 after the first quarter and 28-26 at halftime before outscoring Phil Campbell 14-8 in the third quarter and 8-7 in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs withstood the passing barrage of Phil Campbell”s Corey Alexander, who threw for 389 yards and five touchdowns.
However, Lamar County took a 40-36 lead in the third quarter when Tyler Sprouse intercepted a pass and returned it 94 yards for a touchdown.
Lemetrius Williams led the defense with 11 tackles, Sprouse had six tackles and an interception, and Hill had an interception to end the game.
n Marion County 42, South Lamar 35: At Millport, Ala., Ken Mitchell did all he could, but his effort wasn”t enough as the Stallions suffered an AHSAA Class A, Region 5 loss.
Mitchell had 144 yards rushing and 92 yards receiving and scored four touchdowns for South Lamar (1-2, 0-2 region).
Mitchell scored on runs of 9 and 2 yards in the third quarter, on a 69-yard pass on a screen play, and on a 48-yard run in the fourth quarter. His final touchdown helped tie the score at 35 with 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining.
Marion County, coached by former South Lamar coach Rusty Funk, scored the winning touchdown with 1:01 remaining on a 61-yard run by DeShawn Rebeshell.
South Lamar struck first when Jordan Smith threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Josh Elliott.
Smith completed 13 of 18 passes with an interception for 196 yards. He also rushed for 103 yards.
Hank Parker led the defense with seven solo tackles and two assisted tackles, and Mitchell had five solo tackles and two assists.
n Sulligent 28, Lexington 21: At Sulligent, Ala., fullback Ishmael Riggins rushed for three touchdowns to lead the Blue Devils to an AHSAA Class 2A, Region 8 victory.
Riggins scored in the first, second, and fourth quarters, while Wesley Parsons ran for a touchdown for the Blue Devils (2-1, 2-0 region) in the third quarter.
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