By Mark Monosky

The North Jefferson News



The Fultondale Wildcats suffered their fifth loss of the season, as they fell 21-8 to Pleasant Valley Friday night to finish their regular-season play.

The game was a defensive battle in the first half, but the Raiders broke the game open in the second half.

“We got whooped,” said Fultondale head coach Keith Register. “We got whooped in every phase of the game tonight. We physically got whooped. We haven’t been whooped in a long time. But tonight we got whooped.”

The scoring started in the first quarter. On Pleasant Valley’s second possession, quarterback Michael Lockridge ran the ball up the middle 60 yards for a touchdown. The score completed a 5 play 72 yard drive. After a Cody Ponder point after kick the Raiders led 7-0.

For the rest of the first half, both teams’ defenses dominated. Fultondale’s offense did put together a long drive late in the first quarter. However, the Wildcat offense fumbled the ball in the end zone and the Raiders recovered. After the fumble recovery, Pleasant Valley drove the ball all the way to the Fultondale 12, but were unable to score when they fumbled the ball and Fultondale’s Christian McCullough recovered.

In the second quarter, the Wildcat defense continued its great play. Fultondale’s Jonathan Craig, Cortez Edison, and Jared Anderson all recorded sacks in the quarter, but the Wildcat offense couldn’t get anything going, so at halftime Pleasant Valley led 7-0.

After the break, Pleasant Valley blew the game wide open. After recovering a Fultondale fumble on the opening kickoff, the Raiders scored on the very next play. On a halfback pass, Ben Haynes threw a 29 yard touchdown strike to Cody Ponder. Ponder kicked the point after to put the Raiders up 14-0.

Pleasant Valley scored again on their next series. Quarterback Michael Lockridge threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Bean to give the Raiders a commanding 21-0 lead.

Fultondale were finally able to get on the scoreboard late in the game. After Jonathan Craig stripped the ball away from Raider receiver Ben Haynes, the Wildcats drove the ball all the way to the Pleasant Valley 5. From there, running back Chris Barber ran it in for the touchdown. Jonathan Craig ran in the 2-point conversion to make the score 21-8 with less than three minutes to go in the game.

Fultondale finishes the regular season with a 5-5 record. They start their playoff run next week on the road against ninth-ranked Reeltown.