Roundup

SOUTHSIDE — Fletcher Jennings threw four touchdowns and ran for another, the Cullman defense bowed up in the second half, and the Bearcats secured a playoff spot in Friday night with a 42-40 win over the Southside Panthers.

Cullman (5-3, 3-2 in Class 6A, Region 7) had to survive two attempts at onside kicks in the final stages by Southside after the Panthers (2-6, 1-4) scored a late touchdown.

Interim coach Mark Stephens, stepping in for longtime coach Mark Britton — who was diagnosed with cancer in September and is set to undergo surgery — next week — was pleased with the win for multiple reasons.

“From a personal standpoint, it’s huge shoes to fill,” Stephens said. This was the first game since 2000 Britton hadn’t roamed the sidelines for the Bearcats. “Coach Britton has been in so much of life. He came into my life when I was 12 years old, and he means so much to me, so I want to come in and finish the way he would want it finished.”

Friday night was a good start, as Cullman had to overcome two-touchdown deficits on multiple occasions to get the win. An adjustment on defense in the second half made the difference, as after allowing Southside to score on all five of its possessions in the first half, the Panthers punted the first three teams they had the ball in the second half.

“The main thing is, the defensive staff with coach (Matt) Hopper, we talked and he said we just need to simplify our gameplan,” said Stephens, whose team was down 34-21 at halftime. “We were struggling with our linebacker keys. We needed to keep our eyes at home, and that made all the difference in the world. We got out of our gameplan, and we usually been really really good against the run all year. We just went back to our strengths.

“It was just a matter of simplifying and tweaking our linebacker.”

Offensively, Jennings threw two touchdown passes apiece to Reese Harbison and Carson Freeman and went over 300 yards passing on the night. It made the Bearcats’ loss against Pell City two weeks ago a distant memory.

“The difference tonight in Fletcher and the last game against Pell City is he kept his eyes downfield,” Stephens said. “It comes from a couple of things: One, that’s been coached a lot the last couple of weeks, and two, our offensive line giving him time to throw. When he worked within the system, it was really effective.”

A 70-yard touchdown connection from Jennings to Harbison at the 10:05 mark of the third quarter pulled Cullman within a score. The Bearcats took the lead on Jennings’ 84-yard touchdown pass to Freeman, and Jennings added another score in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run to make it 42-34.

But with 2:55 to go in the game, Southside got the ball at its own 40 with a chance to knot the score. A halfback pass back to the quarterback got the Panthers to the Cullman 30, and a few plays later, Gavin Griffith threw an 11-yard touchdown pass on a jump ball to pull the Panthers within two points. Cullman’s defense stood tall on the conversion attempt, turning Southside away to force the onside kicks.

“We had every reason to implode or shut it down out there,” Stephens said. “On the offensive side, those guys played really, really well tonight. Our front has improved tremendously over the last two weeks so they continue to add a spark. It was a just a matter of getting settled defensively.”

Cullman got on the board first on its opening possession with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to Harbison.

But then Kenneth Bothwell went to work. The junior running back scored his first of four first-half touchdowns with an 80-yard scoring sprint on the Panthers’ first play of the game. Bothwell added a 15-yard score later in the first quarter before Tyler Abernathy made it a 21-7 lead for Southside on a 1-yard dive.

Cullman responded with a touchdown strike from Jennings to Freeman from midfield at the 9:34 mark of the second quarter, but Bothwell returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for another Southside score.

Cullman made it 28-21 midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard plunge from Jayden Sullins. The sophomore scored after setting up the Bearcats offense inside the red zone with a 58-yard catch and run from Jennings.

Southside made what would be the halftime score at 34-21 with less than a minute to go on Bothwell’s 6-yard run.

But Cullman took command of the game with the three straight touchdowns to open the second half.

The Black and Gold returns home next week for its region finale against Brewer before traveling to Chelsea to conclude the regular season.