Selma’s offense stands up, Lions still keep win streak alive

By George L. Jones

The Selma Times-Journal

Selma did something no other team has done against Prattville all season – it scored three touchdowns.

The Saints (4-5, 2-5 6A Region 4) put together three scoring drives of three minutes or less. Still, that wasn’t enough to stop the No. 1 Lions’ winning streak, which now stands at 24 games.

Prattville (9-0, 7-0) scored three touchdowns as a result of special teams plays and won 52-21. The Lions extended a region win streak that dates back to 2003.

“Special teams is something we work on all the time,” Prattville coach Bill Clark said. “It’s a third of the game, and we know that. As much as we work on it, we hope it pays off.”

With 3:54 to play in the first half, Clarence Morris took a ball off the foot of Selma punter Emmanuel Moore. Morris then returned it 10 yards for a 25-7 lead.

Reggie Dozier picked up a blocked punt on the first drive of the second half and returned it to the Selma 1-yard line. On the next play, receiver Jerodis Williams went in for a touchdown and a 32-7 lead.

With less than five minutes to play, Dozier blocked a punt then recovered it in the end zone for the game’s final score.

“This was a team effort all around,” Dozier said. “Everyone did their jobs, and I just did what the coaches asked me to do. This feels great. I’ve never lost a region game.”

Prattville’s Justin Albert added a pair of touchdowns on a 118-yard rushing effort. Casey Weston threw a 2-yard touchdown to Dekendrick Moncreif for the game’s first score.

The Saints worked on a quick kick all week in anticipation of the Lions’ speed rush.

It obviously didn’t go as planned.

“We knew they were going to bring pressure; we saw that in their game last week,” Selma coach Brian Montgomery said. “The quick kick went fine, it was just the protection. Our protection broke down.”

Keaton Spears replaced Justin Brown at quarterback in the second half and guided Selma to back-to-back scoring drives. He ran in a 4-yard touchdown to cut Prattville’s lead to 32-14 late in the third.

Spears then found Patrick Bonner for a 36-yard score with 8:21 left in the game.

Spears led the Saints in rushing with 33 yards and was 5-for-10 passing with 64 yards before exiting in the fourth with a knee injury.

It was an 18-yard pass from Brown to Bonner in the second that first got Selma on the board and made it a 10-7 game.

The Saints matched the highest point total of any opponent against Prattville in the last 29 games. Hoover scored 21 in its 14-point loss to the Lions in last year’s 6A championship game.

“That’s a great thing,” Montgomery said. “I finally have a group that can come out here and compete with Prattville. They didn’t come out here and lay down. This showed we have a great future. We’re definitely getting there.”