By DRUW GIAMALVA, Sports Editor
ALBERTVILLE — There was no love lost in the Class 5A, Region 8 championship game between the Boaz Lady Pirates and the Albertville Lady Aggies on Tuesday as Boaz would escape the emotional and physical matchup with a 20-18 victory over Albertville to claim their third straight region championship and a No. 1 seed in the upcoming Class 5A AHSAA Playoffs.
“I’m just so proud of this group,” Boaz head coach Will Penton said. “The atmosphere on both sides was electric and Albertville has a really good team. Coach [Quinton] Williams does such a great job. This was a lot of fun and I am proud of our girls.”
“Our girls fought till the end,” Albertville head coach Quinton Williams said. “We took it to the last play and we never gave up. A lot of these girls have been through so much and they’re just resilient. I’m so proud of them.”
Despite the loss to Boaz, Albertville will be a No. 2 seed and will host a playoff game for the first time in school history. The win for Boaz improves them to 11-2 on the season with Albertville falling to 15-4.
The Backyard Brawl would start with Albertville on offense first. Albertville would have a strong start as quarterback Henley Kilpatrick would toss a first down pass to Sheniah Techierah. The Boaz defense would quickly adjust after the first down as Raina Underwood would pick off a pass to give Boaz the ball.
Boaz’s first offensive drive didn’t last long as Kilpatrick made her presence felt on defense as she produced an interception to give Albertville the ball back.
Kilpatrick’s interception would lead Albertville to the first score of the night as Kilpatrick would also pass for a 1-yard touchdown to Ella Brown to put Albertville ahead 6-0.
To start the second quarter, Boaz would respond with their own scoring drive with Pipe Hales running in a score. A good 1-pt conversion pass from Peyton Hall to Lauren McKee would put Boaz ahead 7-6.
Albertville’s next drive would begin with Kilpatrick tossing a first down pass to senior Bethany Strickland. Kilpatrick would continue to impress with two more first down throws to Brown to get Albertville in scoring range. The drive would end with Kilpatrick throwing a touchdown to Sawyer Burgess to put Albertville ahead 12-7 at halftime.
Boaz would begin the second half on offense. It took just two plays for the Pirates to reclaim the lead as Hall would find McKee for a deep first down pass. Hales would rush in her second touchdown of the night on the next play to put Boaz ahead 14-12.
After a short drive by Albertville, the Pirates would extend their lead to 20-12 after a touchdown pass from Hall to Braelyn Burke. Boaz would enter the final quarter with the 20-12 lead.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Aggies would cut the Boaz lead to 20-18 with Kilpatrick finding Aven Danne in the end zone.
The Aggies would get the ball back midway through the fourth quarter but Underwood would again make a big play on defense with another interception.
With Boaz chewing through more clock, the Pirates would be forced to punt the ball back to Albertville with 1:42 remaining in the game.
In Albertville’s last chance for the region championship, the drive started with Kilpatrick finding Strickland for a first down. Albertville would get into scoring range quickly as Kilpatrick would find Techierah for a deep first down. After a pass interference call on Boaz, Albertville would be at the 10-yard line with 29 seconds remaining. The next three plays would all be incomplete as the Boaz defense stood strong. With five seconds remaining on fourth down, Albertville’s final pass would fall incomplete and the Pirates would go on to celebrate their third straight region championship with the 20-18 win over Albertville.
“I told the girls let’s go make a play on that fourth down,” Penton said. “Our girls did a good job and it just shows the growth we’ve had throughout this season.”
“This one was a war,” Williams said. “We will be preparing for the postseason now. We’ll wait and figure out who we play and start working from there.”
Boaz would be led by Hall who finished with 147 passing yards and a touchdown. Hales would rush five times for 23 yards and two touchdowns. Underwood would finish with three interceptions on defense.
Albertville would be led by Kilpatrick who finished with 277 passing yards and three touchdowns. Kilpatrick also produced an interception on defense.
While this game concluded the regular season for Albertville, Boaz will celebrate Senior Night on Monday against Spain Park at 5:30 p.m.
Lady Pirates celebrate their third straight region title with a win over the Lady Aggies. DRUW GIAMALVA l The Leader
