9-20-2024 SAINT JAMES @ Talladega

Saint James won its 26th consecutive region game while handing first time opponent Talladega its 26th consecutive loss spurred by Chase Perry's best career game as the Trojans traveled north to defeat the Tigers 35 - 6.

SCORING SUMMARY

STJ (1)   9:04   Conner 30 run                                       (Hines kick)     7 -   0
STJ (2)   4:22   Perry 1 run                                              (Hines kick)   14 -   0
STJ (2)   2:06   Conner 3 run                                           (Hines kick)   21 -   0
STJ (3)   7:49   Offord 81 pass from Perry                     (Hines kick)   28 -   0
TAL (3)   6:32   Smith 18 pass from Lyles                   (pass failed)   28 -   6
STJ (3)   5:18   Phillips 50 run                                         (Hines kick)   35 -   6
TAL (4)   3:25   Moten 3 run                                               (run failed)   35 - 12

COMPLETE GAME RECAP

In a near duplicate of the prior two games, Saint James had the first possession of the game and scored a prompt touchdown. Braylen Corley caught a pass to move the ball into Tiger territory, and 2 plays later Pruitt Conner, on his first run of the evening, broke away for a 30 yard touchdown. Despite a penalty on the extra point attempt, Dylan Hines nailed his first of five to give the Trojans a 7 - 0 lead less than 3 minutes into the game.

A holding penalty on the kickoff return forced Talladega back to their 8 yard line to start their first possession. The Tigers converted one first down, and tried to convert a fourth down and 1 from their own 29 yard line but the Trojan defense held and Saint James was rewarded with excellent field position. Mason Craig caught a pass for a first down at the Tiger 17, but their defense stiffened forcing Dylan Hines to attempt a 41 yard field goal. The kick was easily far enough but drifted wide left and the Trojans remained ahead by 7.

Talladega moved the ball into Saint James territory, but an incomplete pass on fourth down on the first play of the second quarter turned the ball over again on downs. Saint James did likewise as they were stopped on a fourth down and two four plays later. The Tigers again moved into Trojan territory, but a sack and a short punt gave Saint James first down on their own 28. After a holding penalty, Perry found Tabor Offord on a 42 yard pass completion to advance the ball to the Tiger 38. Perry was lucky to recover a fumble and actually advance two yards but two incompletions forced yet another first down. Perry sought and found Offord again near the goal line pylon. It appeared he had scored a 36 yard touchdown pass but he was marked down at the one yard line. On the next play, Perry rumbled in for a yard and the extra point doubled the lead to 14 - 0 late in the second quarter.

A string of bad plays cost the Tigers deeply. A bouncing kickoff was fielded for no return yards at the 10. A loss of 6 yards on a running play pushed the ball back to the Tiger 4. Two pass completions netted 13 yards, but on fourth down a punt was attempted. The snap was bad and the punter had to rush to scoop up the ball. In desperation he ran around the endzone and threw a pass incompletion which seemed like the least disastrous results. However, intentional grounding was called and Saint James took over immediately at the Talladega 3 yard line. From there, it took Conner only one rush to add another touchdown, and Saint James would take a 21 - 0 lead into halftime as the Tigers could not score on their final first half possession.

The Tigers picked up several first downs on their opening third quarter possession, including one amazing play where quarterback X'azvier Lyles avoided a nearly 30 yard loss on a wild snap and somehow found his favorite receiver Malik Smith for one of his 12 catches. The play would only show as a 12 yard gain, but Talladega was lucky to have avoided a huge loss of yardage on the toss. However, the drive stalled near midfield and the Tigers punted again. The Tiger punts were short distance in air, but seemed to always take favorable 20 yard or more bounces. This one actually rolled inside the 20 yard line. No matter. On the first play Perry unloaded and found Offord racing past three defenders. The perfect pass was hauled in and Offord was the recipient of an 81 yard catch and run touchdown. The extra point gave Saint James a comfortable 28 - 0 lead.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the next drive gave Talladega a boost, and they knocked the zero off the scoreboard as Lyles connected with Smith for an 18 yard touchdown on a nice catch just inside the pylon. A bad snap on the extra point attempt led to a two point conversion pass attempt which failed, and Saint James was still ahead 28 - 6. Not for long, as Grant Phillips on the third play of the next Saint James drive broke through the Talladega tackling line and raced 50 yards for a score. Phillips' touchdown gave Saint James over 12,000 career points scored all-time. Hines kick wrapped up the scoring for Saint James as they took a 35 - 6 lead into the fourth quarter.

Primarily Saint James substitutes played the fourth quarter. The Tigers earned one late touchdown as they drove 80 yards with Moten crossing the goal line from the three for the touchdown. Again, there was trouble on the extra point attempt, and another two point pass went incomplete. This continued a rather peculiar streak for Saint James, as they had denied conversions on the last six opponent touchdowns over three games.

Both teams appeared eager to run out the clock in what had been a long game time-wise, and the Trojans extended their school record region winning streak to 26 as they looked forward to a non-region matchup against a tough Trinity team the upcoming Friday.

PRESS BOX STATISTICS - GAME FIVE

SAINT JAMES RUSHING 30 attempts 139 yards 4 TDs (4.63 yards per carry)

        6   Phillips          5 / 65 yards (1 TD)    16   Conner        9 / 65 yards (2 TDs)    13   Bass           3 / 9
                              15   Perry             6 /   7           (1 TD)    4   Johnson       1 /   4                            7   Craig         2 / 2
                              35   Hartshorn     1 /   0                           3   Corley          1 / - 3                          18   Aman         2 / - 10

PASSING 7 completions 11 attempts 0 INTs 195 yards 1 TD

15 Perry 7 - 11 - 0 195 yards 1 TD

RECEIVING

2 Offord 3 / 158 yards (1 TD) 3 Corley 1 / 26 7 Craig 1 / 12
6 Phillips 2 / - 1

TOTAL YARDS: 334

                              KICKS:      XP 5 / 5 FG 0 / 1 (41 missed)
                          2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
                          KICKOFFS: 6 (55,50,45,37,30,51) PUNTS: 3 (48,43,49)
                          KO RETURNS: 3 (13,21,20)          PUNT RETURNS:   0
                          FIRST DOWNS:   10 (5 rushing, 5 passing)
                          THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS:   2 / 9
                    FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS: 1 / 2
                          FUMBLES: 2, lost 1
                          TURNOVER MARGIN: 0
                          POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 0
                          ACCEPTED PENALTIES:   10 / 65 yards
                          TIME OF POSSESSION: 22:37

TALLADEGA       RUSHING    35 attempts 168 yards 1 TD (4.80 yards per carry)
                          PASSING     17 completions 28 attempts 0 INTs 109 yards 1 TD
                          TOTAL YARDS: 277

                          KICKS:      XP 0 / 0      FG   0 / 0
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 2
KICKOFFS: 3 (40,38,50)          PUNTS: 2 (17,24)
                          KO RETURNS: 6 (10,0,0,8,6,40)                       PUNT RETURNS: 2 (0fc,0f)
                          FIRST DOWNS: 14 (10 rushing, 3 passing, 1 penalty)
                          THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS: 1 / 9
                          FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS: 1 / 4
                              FUMBLES: 5, lost 1
                              POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 6
                          ACCEPTED PENALTIES: 7 / 65 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 25:23

2024 - GAME 5