By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
MOODY – The Moody Blue Devils welcomed the Pell City Panthers to The Bill on Friday night in the first game of the season for both teams and Rush Propst’s first game as Pell City’s head coach. Though the Panther came in more prepared than most thought they would be and gave Moody all they wanted for most of the game, Moody picked up the valuable 28-24 win to begin 2023 1-0.
“All week, I felt like the hype could be too much,” said second-year Moody Head Coach Jake Ganus. It is really hard for your kids to handle that kind of hype for one game when we aren’t used to it. Secondly, it’s a non-region game and it’s the home opener. I just really wasn’t feeling comfortable with it this week for our guys. We let our emotions overtake our emotions.”
The Panthers may have caught Moody off guard right out of the gate by lining up in a wing-t offensive set with 3 running backs in the backfield with a quarterback in the shotgun. Pell City, who received the ball first, would run this set for the first drive and march all the way down the field, taking over half of the time off of the clock in the first quarter. The drive stalled at the 15, where Pell City would settle for a field goal to go up 3-0.
On offense, Moody could not find ground on their first drive, netting -2 yards and having to punt it back to the Panthers. Pell City drove the ball down the field once again, this time getting a four-yard touchdown run from quarterback Caleb Groce to put Pell City up 10-0.
With their backs against the wall, the Moody offense looked to find anything positive on their second drive of the game. On a third and 20, Charlie Johnston, Moody’s new starting quarterback, would show that he can roll out of the pocket and throw as he hit a streaking Braden Wright for a 62-yard touchdown to electrify the crowd and close the gap to 10-7 Panthers. Before the half, the teams would trade punts and head into the locker room with a score of 10-7, Pell City over Moody.
The Blue Devils would be without their star running back, Blaine Burke, for the second half due to an ejection during a sideline altercation in the last minute of the first half. Trying to find some offensive continuity would be a challenge for Moody, but one they welcomed.
Moody started the second half getting the ball first and Abram Jackson would get the call at running back. He had some solid runs and the Blue Devils began putting together a decent drive. Jackson would fumble the ball at the 40, however, and Pell City would recover at the 38. Pell City would then drive to the 10 yard line where Groce would have a fumble of his own. Chace Jackson would scoop the ball up and take it 90 yards the other way to send the Moody crowd into a frenzy and put his team up for the first time in the game, 14-10. On the ensuing kickoff, Pell City’s Joe Berry would catch the ball at the 8 yard line and dart 92 yards to put Pell City back on top, 17-14.
Johnston and company would proceed to take the next drive 50 yards to answer the Panthers, capped off by a pass to Aidan Robinson from 18 yards out to make it 21-17 Blue Devils with just under four minutes to play in the third.
The fourth quarter would not be as exciting as the third, but it was not without its high spots. Moody would score again at the 7:54 mark after holding Pell City to a punt. Abram Jackson would get the touchdown this time from nine yards out to make it 28-17 Blue Devils.
Pell City would completely abandon the run game in an effort to come back and it almost worked. Backup quarterback Nikita Getmanshchuk would find starting quarterback Groce for a 17-yard touchdown with 4:49 to play. Moody would then go three-and-out and give it right back to the Panthers. On a fourth down and four, with the game on the line, Moody’s Ba’Roc Willis, a true freshman who just turned 14, would sack Getmanshchuk to end the game. Willis had no less than 5 tackles with at least two of them being sacks.
Willis said the following about his performance. “God gets the credit. We take Him very serious in these situations. My brother had a big part in me working out every day during the summer. Coaches pushed me. Then there’s nutrition. Eating well, getting rest, taking care of my body. That is what all got me to this point. I feel great right now but we have a game next week and I need to do it all over again.”
Defensive leader A’mon Lane, the four star Auburn commit, who was also baptized this week, had the following to say about his role in keeping things calm during the difficult times. “We kind of looked back on last year. We never had adversity last year. We just beat teams. It was good for us to see it to prepare us for this year. I was telling them to lean on their foundation. That foundation is Jesus Christ.”
Charlie Johnston, who went 7-15-165 and 2 touchdowns in his first start with the Blue Devils, was able to spread the ball around on Friday. He connected with both Braden Wright (3 receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown) and Aidan Robinson (2 receptions for 29 yards and a touchdown) as well as Hewitt Trussville transfer KD Barnes (2 receptions for 29 yards) on the night. Johnston said the following about the game he had. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot. The team played well. We picked it up in the second half. We took a bit to get rolling. We were in our heads a bit and made some mistakes, but we got it together.”
Coach Ganus said the following about his new starting quarterback. “I am so proud of him. I told the others, Amon, Blaine and others, there are going to be some growing pains. He has arm talent. He’s good and he’s a good kid and very level headed. He’s only going to get better.”
“We made some stupid penalties and did some stupid things in all three aspects. The good thing is we did get the win. The most improvement comes from game one to two. I am happy about the win. It was ugly though. Our closest win last year was 22 points. These games do help us and it is a blessing in disguise. I’m really proud of the way we fought. Ba’Roc just turned 14. He won’t even have a permit until next year. He’s a gamer. I told him to just go out and don’t think, but go out and play.”
The Blue Devils will travel to Sylacauga next Friday.