AHSAA CLASS 5A FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP — St. Paul’s 41, Mortimer Jordan 26: Devils title bid falls short
TUSCALOOSA — The clock finally struck midnight on Mortimer Jordan’s football season.
The most successful campaign in the school’s 95-year history came up just short of its ultimate goal, as the Blue Devils lost to defending champion St. Paul’s Episcopal by a 41-26 score in the AHSAA Super 7 Class 5A championship game Thursday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The Saints exorcized the Devils through a potent running game, with finals MVP Ostin McPherson leading the way. He was the main force behind St. Paul’s first two touchdowns, which came at the end of lengthy drives — the first for six minutes and 14 seconds, the second for a bit more than four minutes. He gained 111 yards in the first half and 155 yards overall.
Early on, Jordan couldn’t muster any offensive momentum. It was well into the second quarter before they got their initial first down, and their first score came off a turnover deep in Saints territory, as JuJu Washington recovered a fumble off a muffed punt return on St. Paul’s 4-yard line. Spencer Brown scored from the 1 two plays later.
The Saints engineered another clock-eating drive after that, with B.J. Edmonds capping it with a 1-yard plunge. Edmonds struck again about two minutes later, after Jordan’s Conner Bruce had intercepted a pass by St. Paul’s Miller Mosley. Edmonds then picked off a Duncan Hodges throw and ran it back 36 yards for a touchdown with 4:29 left in the first half.
The Devils put together a long drive of their own to end the half, but Hodges throw on third down and 12 and the Saints’ 14 was intercepted in the end zone as time expired.
Jordan started off the second half with a long opening drive — one that looked a lot like St. Paul’s — that finished with a 1-yard plunge by Hodges. His 2-point pass failed, but that cut the Saints advantage to 15 points midway through the third period.
The teams traded turnovers again, with St. Paul’s recovering a fumble by Jordan’s Jacob Dean at the Devils 25. Miller turned that into a touchdown six plays later to put his team ahead 34-12 with 22 seconds left in the third period.
The Devils turned to the passing game to try to erase the deficit, and Hodges moved the ball downfield efficiently with throws to Dean and Walker McCleney. Brown got his second score of the night on a 1-yard dive with eight minutes left.
But in the end, St. Paul’s returned to the sure hands of McPherson, who ran the ball on six plays of a seven-play drive for the Saints’ final score, which came on the MVP’s 2-yard charge.
Jordan got a late touchdown on a Hodges pass to Dean for 13 yards with 26 seconds left.
The game marked the first time the Devils had ever advanced to the state championship — in fact, they had never won a quarterfinal or semifinal game until this season. It was an accomplishment not lost on coach Dusty Goode, who finished his third season in that position and his fourth overall as a head coach.
“The only reason I’m here is because of players and [other] coaches,” Goode said. The community bought in. When everyone buys in and there’s more at stake, it makes it easy to get the guys to work hard.
“We were blessed to be here. It wasn’t how we wanted it to turn out, but I’m a happy man and coach,” Goode said. “These guys are competitors and winners. This game doesn’t define who we are. They fought to the bitter end.”
Colby Moon, who saw significant time as a running back — in fact, he led the team with 43 yards rushing on 10 carries — as well as his usual defensive secondary play, recounted how Jordan wasn’t on most fans’ radars to start the season.
“Everyone counted us out, and that’s what we wanted,” Moon said. “I think the seniors have a hard work ethic, and if you believe, nobody can stop you.”
Dean caught 10 passes for 123 yards, and Hodges finished with 20 completions on 36 attempts for 211 yards with two interceptions.
“We had talent, but we are blue-collar players and worked hard for what we got,” Hodges said.