REFORM, Ala. — The Pickens County Tornadoes made a winner of Scott Marchant in his debut as head coach Friday night by doubling up Greensboro 48-24.
The victory helped Pickens County atone for a 26-21 loss to Greensboro in its season opener last season.
“It”s thrilling,” Marchant said of his getting his first win as a head coach. “It”s good to get that first one out of the way. I feel blessed. We”ve got a lot of good kids, a lot of good football players, and a great football staff helping me. I”m glad I could be a part of it.”
Pickens County led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and 42-0 at halftime.
Junior quarterback Deion Curry threw for three touchdowns and ran for two to lead the Tornadoes. He threw touchdown passes of 24 yards to senior Dominique Jones and 18 yards to sophomore LaJuan Doss in the first quarter and 21 yards to Jones in the second quarter. He scored on runs of 4 yards and 1 yard in the second quarter.
Curry completed 12 of 13 passes for 166 yards. He rushed six times for 30 yards.
Also for Pickens County, senior Keith Hall returned an interception 77 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and eighth-grader Devonte Simon scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter.
Jones caught three passes for 55 yards and rushed five times for 54 yards.
Curry also led the Tornadoes on defense with 10 tackles and a sack.
n Aliceville 6, American Christian 3: At Aliceville, Ala., Robin Tyra was also victorious in his debut as head coach of the Yellow Jackets on Friday.
“It was very big simply from the standpoint of what we put in over the summer,” Tyra said. “We worked hard in the summer to get this program headed in the right direction and just understanding that the work we put in is going to pay off. We”re still not where I want to be, but as far as a win this was big.”
Mack Burden scored the only touchdown of the game when he scored on a 13-yard run with 4 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
American Christian avoided a shutout when James Stark kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8:48 to go in the game.
“It felt good to be able to do that (keep them out of the end zone),” Tyra said.
Eric Wilder led Aliceville with 61 yards on five carries.
n Hamilton 40, Sulligent 38: At Sulligent, Ala., the exploits of Steven Stewart weren”t enough Thursday as the Blue Devils lost their season opener.
Stewart carried the ball 25 times for 140 yards and four touchdowns. He also added a two-point conversion, caught three passes for 62 yards, threw a pass for 34 yards, and had a kick return of 47 yards.
“He had a great game,” Sulligent coach Dwight Bowling said of Stewart. “He is going to be our workhorse and go-to guy. He is really athletic and made some great plays.”
Sulligent, last year”s Class 2A state runner-up, scored with 1 minute, 57 second left in the game to take a 38-34 lead. It lost in heartbreaking fashion as Hamilton scored the winning touchdown on a pass with 16 seconds remaining.
“They made some plays in their two-minute offense,” Bowling said.
Bowling said Sulligent used a good kickoff return and completed one pass to move to the Hamilton 25 with one second remaining. The Blue Devils threw a hail mary pass that Hamilton knocked down in the end zone.
“It was quite a high school football game,” Bowling said. “Overall the play was tremendous. There were very few penalties, and it was a well-played game by both teams. It is a shame somebody had to lose one like that.
“This will make our team better playing a team like Hamilton and having a chance to win. It showed us some mistakes we have to correct, but I think we”ll be OK.”
Parker Northington was 4-for-8 for 83 yards and a touchdown.
Sulligent rushed for 177 yards and threw for 132 yards.
The Blue Devils allowed 259 passing yards.
Sulligent will play at home Friday against Cleveland for its first region game.
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