By Josh Bean | For the AHSAA

TUSCALOOSA – St. Paul’s Episcopal High School turned the Class 5A championship game into a glorified version of keep-away.

It worked.

The Saints (15-0) ran 30 straight plays in the second half – thanks to a surprise onside kick and reliance on a beefy offensive line – and rallied for a 29-21 victory over Pleasant Grove as the AHSAA 25th State Championships concluded its second day of action at Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium Thursday night.

Class 5A championship game MVP Will Passeau also caught two long touchdown passes to pace the win as St. Paul’s won its fifth state championship, all since 2007, and it’s the Saints’ fourth title in the last seven seasons. The victory was also the school’s 400th win in 559 total games since starting football in 1972 and completed a perfect season for the Saints.

“We wanted to get back to what we do in the second half, which is run the football, play good defense and have a good kicking game,” St. Paul’s coach Steve Mask said. “That’s what we did.”

Pleasant Grove, coached by Darrell LeBeaux, appeared on its way to victory when Kentucky commit Chris caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from Zyquez Perryman in the opening minute of the second half for a 21-10 lead. But the Spartans never got the ball back in the third quarter.

St. Paul’s answered Lewis’ long TD with a 42-yard return kickoff return by Javonte Graves-Billups, who also capped a 14-play, 37-yard drive with a 1-yard run midway through the third quarter. Mask then called for an onside kick, and the Saints recovered. That led to another clock-sapping, 16-play drive.

“I don’t think there’s any question, that was the turning point of the game,” Mask said. Of the onside kick. “We executed it.”

The Spartans defense made it difficult, however. The Saints had seven plays inside the Spartans’ 10 and couldn’t score, and by the time Grayson Myles kicked a 25-yard field goal to make it 21-20, it was the fourth quarter with 10:54 remaining.

Pleasant Grove ran just three plays in the third quarter, while St. Paul’s had 30 clock-sapping snaps that took more than 12 minutes off the clock on its back-to-back possessions. Pleasant Grove had the ball for just 4:08 of the second half.

St. Paul’s kept the pressure on, and Blake Nelson intercepted Perryman on the ensuing possession and returned it to the Spartans’ 47. Passeau delivered his second TD, catching a short pass from Bestor McFadden and juking past a defender to score untouched for a lead-stealing 39-yard touchdown.

The Saints called timeout to set up a 2-point play, but Pleasant Grove’s Jalen Stewart broke up McFadden’s pass to Passeau. No matter, because St. Paul’s led 26-21 with 8:12 to go.

“Will is a guy who has made play after play for us,” Mask said.

The Spartans fumbled on the next drive, leading to a 29-yard field goal for Myles for a 29-21 lead with 5:47 to go. St. Paul’s’ Zack Grey picked off Perryman with 3:39 remaining, and the Saints ran out the clock.

“Our guys never quit,” Mask said.

Pleasant Grove (12-3) fell one win shy of its first state championship after also finishing as 5A runner-up in 2019 and 2014. St. Paul’s also beat Pleasant Grove to win the title in 2014.

“I don’t know that they did anything different than they had (in the second half), LeBeaux said. “We made a few mistakes. They capitalized on being able to control the clock. … When we got opportunities, we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”

Lewis led Pleasant Grove with six catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns, and Perryman finished 20-of-34 passing for 280 yards, with two TDs and two interceptions.

For St. Paul’s, Passeau had six catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Jaylen Sutton ran 16 times for 102 yards, and Graves-Billups added 32 catties for 83 yards a touchdown. Trey Parker had 5½ tackles and a sack to lead the St. Paul’s defense.

St. Paul’s started the scoring when McFadden hooked up with Passeau, who made one defender miss and raced untouched to a 57-yard touchdown for a 7-0 lead with 8:37 to go in the first quarter.

Pleasant Grove replied with 11-play, 79-yard scoring drive, and Lewis caught a 9-yard touchdown from Perryman to make it 7-all with 4:01 to go in the first quarter.

St. Paul’s answered with a 29-yard field goal from Myles with 1:35 to go in the first quarter, and the Saints recovered a Pleasant Grove fumble on the first play of the ensuing possession but went three-and-out so the score remained 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Pleasant Grove appeared to re-take the lead midway through the second quarter when Perryman scrambled and found Keri Bester, who zigzagged for a 44-yard touchdown. The play was nullified by an illegal man downfield penalty.

The Spartans did re-take the lead on Demarcus Lacey’s 3-yard touchdown run with 2:23 to go before halftime, making it 14-10 at intermission.

Perryman was tackled just a yard short of a game-winning touchdown on the game’s final play last year in a 31-27 championship-game loss to Central of Clay County. Pleasant Grove used that loss as motivation for the last 364 days to make a return trip to the Super 7.

“It’s a blessing to have the opportunity to play a great team like St. Paul’s” in a second straight championship game, LeBeaux said.

AHSAA SUPER 7 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Dec. 2-3-4

Wednesday, Dec. 2
CLASS 7A Finals
Thompson (14-0) 29, Auburn (11-2) 28

Thursday, Dec. 3
CLASS 3A Finals
Fyffe (15-0) 21, Montgomery Catholic (12-3) 16

CLASS 1A Finals
Linden (15-0) 32, Pickens County (11-4) 8

CLASS 5A Finals
St. Paul’s Episcopal (15-0) 29, Pleasant Grove (11-3) 21

Friday, Dec. 4
CLASS 4A Finals
Gordo vs. Handley, 10 a.m.

CLASS 2A Finals
Abbeville (12-1) vs. Mars Hill Bible (12-2), 2:45 p.m.

CLASS 6A Finals
Spanish Fort (11-3) vs. Pinson Valley (11-2), 7:30 p.m.