PREP FOOTBALL: 5 locals noticed by AHSAA, ASWA for Week 3 performances

Published 11:01 pm Monday, September 8, 2014

West Point needed about a half to settle in against Columbia at Alabama A&M’s expansive Louis-Crews Stadium.

Luckily for the Warriors, Kobe Smith was good to go from the start.

The junior accounted for West Point’s first three scores last Friday, sandwiching 23- and 4-yard touchdown runs with a 93-yard punt return for a score to keep the Warriors afloat until they took off for a 42-14 waxing of the Eagles. He finished with 108 of the Maroon and White’s whopping 347 rushing yards.

For his efforts, Smith, who now has five rushing touchdowns and six overall for 2-0 West Point, was one of five local student-athletes — Vinemont’s John Michael Dye, Holly Pond’s Dakota Burks, and Cold Springs’ Josh Freeman and Austin Moore rounded out the group — selected for the “other top performances” section of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Prep Spotlight release for Week 3. Dye and Burks doubled up with mentions in the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Player of the Week package.

Dye shed plenty of tackles for 257 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns in Class 3A Vinemont’s 45-26 homecoming victory over 4A Danville. The running back, whose scores came on scampers of 10 and 4 yards, led the Eagles to their first win a week after coming close in a nail-biting opener at Addison.

A lengthy losing streak doesn’t always directly correlate to a lack of effort.

Just ask Holly Pond’s Burks, who returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown and caught a scoring pass in a 60-26 defeat at Oakman. The two-way threat ended the evening with two receptions for 38 yards.

Freeman and Moore were quite the tandem in Cold Springs’ 24-14 home triumph over new region-mate Southeastern. The former roped in four passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, while the latter piled on 111 rushing yards and two scores to help the Eagles secure a 3-0 start, their best since 2003.

Tallassee’s Brandon Baynes was named the ASWA Offensive Player of the Week after returning a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and racking up 383 rushing yards and three scores in a 40-6 win against Talladega. His three rushing touchdowns came on totes of 70, 34 and 88 yards.

Baynes bested Fayette County’s Kyle Nalls and Homewood’s Carson Griffis for the honor.

Nalls blazed to 300 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in a 27-20 triumph over Hamilton. Griffis turned 26 tries on the ground into 271 yards and two scores and completed 11 of 13 passes for 97 yards and another touchdown in a 37-30 win at Pelham.

The ASWA’s Defense/Special Teams Player of the Week went to Thomas Espy, who did a little bit of everything in Eufala’s 19-12 thriller over Sidney Lanier. Espy returned one of his three interceptions for a touchdown and snagged another in the final minute to ice the outcome. As if that weren’t enough, he also added a tackle for a safety, kicked a 35-yard field goal, made seven tackles and was 2 for 2 on extra-point attempts.

Hokes Bluff’s Phillip Ward and Walker’s Isiah Cox were the other finalists.

Ward returned punts 77 and 55 yards for touchdowns on consecutive second-half kicks in a 35-7 victory versus White Plains. He also had a 52-yard interception return that set up Hokes Bluff’s last score.

Cox reached the end zone on kickoff returns of 75 and 65 yards to go along with a 76-yard punt return and 17-yard run for touchdowns in a 64-14 win over John Carroll.

Valley’s Martravious “Tre” Williams earned the AHSAA Prep Spotlight after picking up three touchdowns and 175 of his 198 rushing yards in the fourth quarter of a 25-21 comeback against Oxford, which had led 21-3.

Williams topped Spain Park’s Mason Duke for the accolade.

Duke was 25 of 29 through the air for 401 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-28 victory over Thompson.