St. Mathews – Senior quarterback Paxton Wall escaped the blitz on third down and 16 yards
to go and turned it into a 65-yard touchdown run to propel Jefferson Davis Academy to a 20-14
win over Holly Hill Academy to capture the SCISA 8-man football state championship at the
Calhoun Academy field.
“The pass wasn’t there so I was trying to get the first down and get out of bounds, but I saw
my tight end pick up the outside guy, so I cut back inside, and it was wide open,” said Wall, who
helped JDA snap Holly Hill's run as 8-man champion at 3.
The title game was the third game this season between the top two teams in 8-man
football, with JDA capturing the first matchup 28-22 in overtime early in the season, snapping HHA's
39-game winning streak. Holly Hill returned the favor, winning the second game 36-16 to win the
region title. Two playoff wins by each team set up the third meeting of the year.
“Without a doubt these were the two best teams this year. Hats off to Holly Hill. They played a
great game’, said JDA head coach Anthony Reitenour. “The game was back and forth all night, but
we told our guys if we had more will and stayed in the game, we could win it in the fourth quarter.
“My boys did a great of executing and staying disciplined. In the end we kept pushing and were
able to make one more big play.”
JDA finished the year with a 12-2 record while HHA finished 11-2.
“It was a great football game, but we did not make enough plays to win when it is all said and
done,” said HHA head coach Andy Palmer.
JDA took the lead on its second possession of the game, going 82 yards in six plays with Wall
scoring from the 11 on a bootleg right. James Grubbs had a 30-yard run and Nasir Void followed
that with a 30-yard run to set up Wall’s touchdown Wall added the 2-point conversion run for an 8-0
lead.
HHA got on the board on the first play of the second quarter when Tyree James broke through
the line and outran everyone for a 48-yard touchdown. It capped a 75-yards, 5-play drive. James
carried the rock four times for 62 yards on the drive. The 2-point conversion attempt was no good.
The Raiders of JDA answered the HHA drive with a 10-play, 81-yard drive to push the lead to 14-6.
Void was the catalyst on the drive as he carried the ball four times for 54 yards including a 41-yard
touchdown jaunt. The conversion was no good and JDA led 14-6 as the teams headed to halftime.
HHA would tie the contest at 14 on their first drive of the second half after a JDA onside kick was
returned to the JDA 8 by Charlie Perkins. Three plays later, quarterback Ashton Soles scored from the
2 and Mason Rudd added the 2-point conversion run to tie the score.
After each team punted on their next possessions, the HHA defense came up with a big stop at
the JDA 41 at the 3-minute mark of the third quarter. HHA moved the ball down to the JDA 7 after Soles
hit Perkins with a 27-yard pass and Rudd carried the ball to the 7.
Then the biggest play of the game occurred when James skirted around the left side. He was hit
at the 4 and the ball popped out, went forward and crossed over the pylon, going out the side of the
end zone for a touchback.
After Wall scored on his 65-yard scramble for a touchdown, HHA had two more chances to tie the
game or take the lead. However, the JDA defense came up with two big stops inside its territory to
preserve the win.
After a sack by Void stopped the last HHA drive, a kneel-down by Walls allowed the celebration to
began.
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