BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — With a massive home region game on the horizon, the Auburn High School football team found itself with a potential trap game on its hands against an upstart Moody High School.
Despite those potential distractions, the Tigers (5-1, 3-0) manhandled the Blue Devils (4-2) 41-7 in a non-region matchup that featured a top 7A team against a 5A program looking to win its second-straight state championship.
Quarterback Cason Myers finished 18-of-27 for 196 yards and three touchdowns, wide receiver Joshua Askew caught six passes for 78 yards and a TD and the AHS defense recorded three interceptions in the victory.
It was another complete performance from a Tigers team that now enters the heart of its region schedule. For head coach Keith Etheredge, the victory was defined by an offensive unit that’s now starting to catch up to the defensive side of the ball.
“I’m really, really happy with this win. I thought we played great. Offense finally started clicking and moving like we wanted it to. We still have some things to work on, but I’m really pleased with this win,” Etheredge said. “We’re getting better. And I told everybody this season is going to be stepping stones. This year, we were going to have to take some lumps. It’s not something that happens overnight. But we played really good and we’ve had some people step up.”
With the game against the Blue Devils now behind them, Etheredge also previewed a massive 7A Region 2 game at home against Central High School next Friday.
“We’re not going to reinvent the wheel,”
Etheredge said. “We’re going to do what we do, and they’re going to do what they do. They’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel either. They’ve got really good players. They got studs all over the place. Their quarterback is playing really good and their defense is really good. So yeah, it’s Central.”
While it was another impressive performance through the air for Myers, it was perhaps his legs that made a bigger difference as he rushed 151 yards and a TD on 12 carries. While he was quick to give his teammates credit, his dual-threat ability is a reason why the AHS offense has roared to life within the last several weeks.
“I saw [the field] opening up. When you’ve got good receivers, they have to respect that and bail out. And if they bail out that much, there are usually some open gaps to run through. The offensive line also did a great job of making a hole for me to get out of, and it’s just off to the races there. So that’s everybody just coming together and doing their job,” Myers said. “I think we’ve really gotten better every week, and right now we’re coming together and playing pretty well as an offense. We used to get in the red zone, stall out and have to settle for a field goal. Tonight, we were able to get into the end zone.”
On the defensive side of the ball, it was another strong performance, particularly in pass coverage. Cornerback BJ McGhee, who recorded two of those three interceptions, credited the film study he put in leading up to the game for his big performance.
“Man, it feels good. I’ve been waiting for this game all season,” McGhee said. “I knew I was going to face some big receivers, and I knew I was going to get my chances because I watched film and saw that they just take a lot of shots. So I was just waiting for it.”
Despite the defense holding strong for a fourth-straight game, it was the AHS offense that started with the hot hand in a reversal of the established trend this season.
Following a brief Blue Devils drive, the Tigers marched down the field on their first possession with a 13-play, 75-yard drive highlighted by a 16-yard pass from Myers to Levi Kelly and a 10-yard TD pass again hauled in by Kelly. Following the score, AHS found itself up 7-0 with 5:21 left in the first quarter.
After another short MHS possession, it looked as though the Tigers would stall out around their own 28 yard line with only one first down to show for their efforts.
Facing a long third and eight, Myers sent a jolt through Duck Samford Stadium with a 59-yard scramble that set the Tigers up at the MHS 12 yard line. From there, it took three plays for AHS to find paydirt with a 5-yard TD run from Antonio Welch.
Having found themselves down 14-0 with 1:15 left in the first quarter, MHS embarked on a penalty-plagued drive that never gained traction and ended with a McGhee interception at the AHS 46 yard line.
With all of the momentum on their side, the Tigers put together a lightning-quick drive that lasted just over a minute after Myers scampered for a 34-yard TD run. At that point, AHS enjoyed a 21-0 lead with 10:02 left in the second quarter and complete control of the game.
AHS then quickly added to its lead on the very first play of the Blue Devils’ next drive with a pick-six from Aiden Parker, who instinctively hauled in the tipped pass and hustled down the Tigers’ sideline for the electrifying TD.
That return gave AHS a commanding 28-0 lead with 4:48 left before halftime and deflated the remaining resolve MHS had.
The Tigers then had one final shot to extend the lead before halftime after forcing an incomplete pass on fourth down at the MHS 37 yard line. With less than two minutes left before the break, AHS executed an eight-play drive that ended with a 14-yard TD pass to Askew.
Soon after, both teams retreated to their respective locker rooms with AHS up 34-0 after the extra point was no good.
After halftime, it appeared the second half was destined to be a second-straight scoreless conclusion after neither team was able to move the ball effectively on their first drive.
However, the Tigers eventually put the game away with a 10-play, 68-yard march down the field that saw Welch haul in a 16-yard catch, a 15-yard catch and an 8-yard TD catch. With AHS now up 41-0 with 1:05 left to play in the third quarter, the Tigers’ backups began to prepare to enter the game.
On the very next Blue Devils drive, McGhee stamped an exclamation point on the first string defense’s night with his second interception of the night after MHS attempted to fix their offensive woes with a deep pass.
With the backups now in, AHS was content to eat up the remaining game clock with a mixture of short passes and runs that gave the Blue Devils the ball back with 9:36 left to play.
With nothing to lose, MHS’ Kevin James eventually prevented a second-straight shutout for the Tigers with a 67-yard run that gave MHS their only score of the night with 6:29 left before the final whistle.
What’s Next
The Tigers will remain at home and host Central High School in a 7A Region 2 game on Oct. 3. The Red Devils are currently 5-1 overall and 3-0 in region play, and coming off a 49-14 loss to IMG Academy.
So far, CHS has scored 46 points per game while allowing 28.7 points per game. In comparison, AHS has scored 29.2 points per game while allowing 12 points per game. The Red Devils are the No. 44 team in the nation according to MaxPreps.
