Report courtesy of AL.com
MOBILE – Deontae Lawson ran for one score, but his 4-yard run on 4th-and-3 with just 1:58 to play sealed Mobile Christian’s tense 17-14 first-round Class 4A state playoff win over Cherokee County.
The fourth-ranked Leopards now travel to Tuscaloosa next Friday for a meeting with unbeaten No. 1 ranked American Christian, 65-21 winners over Geneva in their opening round game.
Cherokee County ends its season at 7-4.
After a scoreless first quarter, Jackson Chandler’s 23-yard field goal staked Mobile Christian to a 3-0 lead in the second period before Alabama commit Lawson bulled over from the 1 and Patrick Sullivan’s 7-yard run made it 17-0 just three minutes before halftime.
But Leopard quarterback Johnny Schmitz fumbled inside his own 5 while trying to run out the clock to halftime and Warriors’ defensive lineman Jay Watts scooped up the loose ball at the 1.
From there, Damien Ramsey scored from a yard out for the first of his two touchdowns. His 29-yard dash in the third quarter keyed what looked to be a serious Warrior comeback.
But a series of miscues and frustration over a plethora of personal foul calls late in the game took away whatever momentum Cherokee County had mustered.
After Ramsey’s run cut the lead to 3 points, the Warriors smelled blood in the water. But Patrick Lawson’s interception killed any threat of a Cherokee County comeback.
Lawson, son of Leopards linebacker coach Charles Lawson and brother of secondary mate Jaden Lawson, is no relation to Deontae.
Chandler’s missed 52-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter gave life to an already rejuvenated Warrior offense, but a first-down holding call pushed them back 10 yards and three plays later they were forced to punt.
Schmitz wasn’t sharp, finishing just 8-of-16 for 67 yards passing. Warrior quarterback Slade Alexander, who hadn’t played since Sept. 18 when he suffered a leg injury against White Plains, played valiantly, going 8-of-13 for 86 yards, but was plagued by several key drops from his receivers.
Ramsey carried 16 times for 82 yards and the two scores.
“My heart’s ripped out,” an emotional Cherokee County head coach Jacob Kelley said. “It’s going to hurt so bad because these seniors are so special to me. They started out with four seniors when I first got here and we finished with 13.”
“We bent but we didn’t break,” Mobile Christian coach Ronnie Cottrell said. “The defense did a heck of a job. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t do more offensively, but you’ve got to give them credit for that. I thought Cherokee County’s kids wanted to play.”