By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
AUBURN – A year ago in the Class 3A high school football championship game, the Piedmont Bulldogs rallied with a comeback for the ages to win their fifth state title.
On Thursday in Auburn, the Bulldogs couldn’t hold off a comeback by the St. James Trojans.
Piedmont held a 10-point advantage at halftime and received the ball to open the third quarter, but the Bulldogs fumbled on the kickoff, which led to a KJ Jackson 20-yard touchdown pass to Clint Houser. The play ignited the Trojans, as they scored 35 second-half points in a 45-28 victory. It was the school’s first-ever football state title.
“We are so proud of our school,” Trojan coach Jimmy Perry said. “St. James has been around for 50 years and it’s the first championship we have won in football. This has been a three year process. We have grown every year and this is the result of hard work.”
Jackson, the game’s Most Valuable Player, completed 10-of-15 pass attempts for 351 yards and five touchdowns for the Trojans (13-2). All five of his touchdown passes came in the second half.
“In the first half, I came out really slow,” Jackson said. “It was nerves that were getting the best of me. After halftime, everyone put faith in me and it was all up from there.”
“I thought we had great effort today. It just didn’t go our way,” Piedmont coach Steve Smith said. “I want to give all the credit to St. James for what they did. They’re obviously very talented and have an outstanding team. Coach Perry and his staff are to be commended for an outstanding effort, especially the second half. Give them credit for winning the championship today.
“The first half went about as well as it could go for us, trying to slow the game down. We kind of felt like we’d have a difficult time matching up with them in a track meet, so to speak, if it was a high-scoring game. The second half it kind of got away from us a little bit there.”
Before St. James made its comeback, Piedmont (12-3) appeared as if it would claim its sixth title. Senior quarterback Jack Hayes accounted for three first-half touchdowns on runs of 3, 4 and 1 yards to give the Bulldogs a 20-10 halftime advantage.
But things began to unravel for the Bulldogs on the second-half kickoff.
Cole Anderson recovered a Bulldog fumble at the Piedmont 23-yard line. Two plays later, Jackson hit Houser for a 20-yard score to pull the Trojans within three at 20-17.
Following a Bulldog punt, Jackson connected with Ziggy Holloway on a 48-yard scoring strike to put St. James in front 24-20. Another Piedmont punt led to Jackson’s 57-yard touchdown toss to Houser, giving the Trojans a 31-20 lead after three quarters.
Piedmont crept closer on Hayes’s fourth touchdown run of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run. Hayes ran in for the 2-point conversion to make it a 31-28 game.
Piedmont pinned the Trojans back deep in their own territory at the 6 on the ensuing kickoff, but on a 2nd- and-9, Jackson rolled out and found an open Ethan Beard for a 93-yard score to take momentum right back.
“I thought we did a good job of answering and getting it back to 31-28 starting in the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “We had a big hit on the kickoff. We had them pinned deep, but tip your hat to those guys. They made a big play. Those guys are very dangerous out on the perimeter. Our guys battled hard, but they had some playmakers out there who got loose on us a couple of times and stretched it back out.”
Jackson put the game out of reach on his final touchdown with 8:29 remaining – a 53-yard scoring strike to Beard. Jackson added the 2-point pass to Clint Shores for the final.
“The second half just didn’t go our way,” Hayes said. “They played better than we did in the second half and that’s why they won the game. You could tell they were fired up after we fumbled the first kickoff (in the second half). It just went downhill from there. We dug ourselves too deep a whole and couldn’t come back from it.”
Beard caught four passes for 194 yards and two scores. Houser had three catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Holloway caught three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.
The game marked the end of a brilliant career for Hayes. The state record holder in multiple offensive categories, Hayes finished running for 214 yards on 35 carries with four touchdowns. He was also 6-of-26 passing for 80 yards.
“It’s been fun playing with my best friends all throughout, from peewee to high school,” Hayes said. “I wouldn’t trade these guys for nothing in the world. I’m happy for the two state championships we won. I wish we could’ve gotten three. We just fell a little bit short.”
Smith said it’s been an honor for him to coach a “generational talent” like Hayes.
“I think what we’ve witnessed the last four years out of Jack Hayes is going to be hard to be matched in this state,” Smith said. “He’s got several career records. In the AHSAA, there’s been a lot of good quarterbacks who have come through this state. He’s also started 60 games. I don’t know if there’s anybody who’s ever started 60 games at quarterback in this state. Him being the leader of this football team and leading our program and the records he’s achieved individually, he’d be the first to tell you it’s a reflection of all the people around him – those linemen, those receivers, those running backs.
“Jack has a unique characteristic too that if you’ve not been around him you don’t get it. You don’t understand it. Obviously there’s people out there at the next level who don’t understand it, but you’ve got a kid here who’s able to elevate the play of everybody around him and inspire everybody else to play above and beyond what they think they can do, and just willing his team and putting his team on his shoulders and say ‘Hey, we can do this.’ The great part about Jack is he’s never done that in a way of ‘Look at me.’ It’s always the ‘we’ game. It’s us. It’s our team. It’s the players who play with him. They have the utmost respect for him. Everybody who plays against him – coaches, players – have the utmost respect for him because of how he plays the game. The thing that makes him the most special is the person he is on top of all that.”
Smith also commended the other Bulldog seniors for their effort throughout their careers.
“They give you everything they’ve got,” he said. “They play the game the right way. They represent our school, our community, our football program, their families. They do it the right way. They’ve got a lot of class. They win with honor. They lose with humility. They do things the right way off the field.
“Coaches talk about what their checklists are of things they want. There’s not a box that doesn’t check for the head coach at Piedmont High School. The biggest part of all that, regardless of the wins, the facilities the academics. Getting to be around these guys, it’s been a great four years for me. It’s an honor to be their coach.”