By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
SCOTTSBORO – All season, the Moody Blue Devils have played outstanding defense with pretty much all 11 guys contributing equally. Names like Gavyn Baker, Marshall Teofilo, Zane Smith, Cam Mallory, AJ Madison and a host of others have heard their names called over the loud speaker multiple times. On Friday night, they faced one of the most high-octane offenses in 5A football, the Scottsboro Wildcats.
The Moody football team prays together after beating Scottsboro in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.
Photo by: Greg Ganus
And the Blue Devil defense took that challenge to heart, shutting down that potent offense and beating the Wildcats 28-10. All four of Moody’s touchdowns were scored by a running back. One receiving and three on the ground.
Scottsboro would open the game with the ball and drive it straight into Blue Devil territory. At the 6:39 mark of the first, the Wildcats would put the first points of the game on the board with a field goal to make it 3-0 Scottsboro.
On the ensuing drive, Moody would take the ball down the field. The drive would end on a 33-yard touchdown pass from rising star Charlie Johnston to running back Blaine Burke for the score. Junior Moreno’s PAT would make it 7-3 Moody and that is how the quarter would end.
Determined to clamp down on the Scottsboro offense, Moody would not let the Wildcats cross the 30-yard line for the remainder of the half. Early in the second quarter, Moody backup running back Jacob Hadaway would bust a 54-yard touchdown run to make it 14-3 Blue Devils. Moody had another chance to score, throwing a long pass down to the two-yard line, but it was called back and the halftime score would be 14-3 Blue Devils with the defense smothering the Wildcat offense.
Both defenses would hold serve in the third quarter, ending the period with no more points on the board than when they began.
The Blue Devils would waste no time in the fourth, however, with a Blaine Burke scoring his second touchdown of the night at the 11:55 mark in the fourth quarter to make it 21-3 Moody.
At the 4:30 mark, the Wildcats would finally get the ball past the 30-yard line and manage to put a touchdown on the board to make it 21-10.
Two minutes later, Burke would get his second rushing (third total) touchdown of the night, capping off a spectacular 131-yard night on 18 carries to go with his three total touchdowns. With 2:41 to go in the game, Moody held a 28-10 lead and that is how the game would end.
Charlie Johnston would end the night 12 of 23 for 130 yards and the touchdown to Blaine Burke.
Blue Devil coach Jake Ganus said, “When you go on the road, you have to sometimes overcome circumstances. We can’t control a lot of things on Friday nights. What we can control is our attitude and our effort. Our kids played extremely well. That offense they run presents us with problems by limiting possessions and pounding on our defense. How about our defense tonight, stoning them all night long! We gave up one late touchdown. The offense scored when we needed them to. We did a really good job controlling the clock. I am really proud of our guys. Playoff wins hard to come by. It’s a one-game season and we just got to try to go 1-0 next week!”
The Blue Devils improve to 9-2 on the season and they will welcome the Russellville Golden Tigers to The Bill on Friday night. Russellville is also 9-2 after their first-round win over Fairfield 39-21. The two will play for the right to play the winner of the Ramsay vs Leeds game, so a potential Moody vs Leeds rematch hangs in the balance.
