BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — After a magical undefeated regular season last year, a quarterfinal loss to eventual state champions Thompson High School loomed over the Auburn High School football team.
The singular goal this past offseason was to exorcise the Tigers’ recent playoff demons and return to the state championship game to play for the right to win the school’s first gridiron title.
No. 4 AHS (10-2) took a massive step in that direction with a 40-0 mauling of No. 8 Daphne High School (9-3) at Jubilee Stadium on Nov. 14. That win now sets up a massive 7A semifinal showdown with crosstown rival Opelika High School.
Jaeden King rushed 16 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns, Alex Gamston recovered three fumbles and Elijah Scott recorded three sacks in the victory for the Tigers.
While AHS head coach Keith Etheredge was hesitant to characterize it as his team’s most complete performance of the season, he praised every aspect of the game from offense to defense to special teams.
“I think there were aspects of the game that were complete,” Etheredge said in a postgame phone interview from one of the team buses. “The coaches did a great job of calling plays. Coach [Wagnon] and Coach [Goolsby] did a great job, and the kids executed really well. We still have some stuff we need to work on, but it was a dominant performance. We made big plays when we needed to make them.”
Among those performances was the heroics of backup quarterback JD Pate, who relieved Cason Myers after the starting signal caller went down with what appeared to be a minor injury midway through the first quarter.
In the remaining three-and-a-half quarters, Pate completed 8-of-14 passes for 87 yards and two TDs, including a 45-yard TD pass to Joshua Askew on his first pass attempt, and rushed 12 times for 40 yards and one TD. For Etheredge, his contribution was hardly surprising considering his preparation throughout the week.
“We trust him, we have a lot of confidence in him,” Etheredge said. “He does a really good job at practice. He stays focused and stays in the game. We feel really comfortable with JD in there. We have to change a couple of things, but not a whole lot because he understands our whole offense.”
According to Pate, the message on the sideline was simple: just go in and do your job. His attention to detail leading up to the game even as a backup certainly didn’t hurt his cause.
“It was nice,” Pate said. “I tried to get prepared during the week and stay ready on the sideline to do my best if I was called. Coach [Etheredge] called my name and told me to run out there, and I just did it. I watched film and tried to see what I thought they were good at and what they were bad at, and I paid attention at walk-throughs and tried to get the best out of every rep.”
The game began as a tense, cagey affair as both teams opted to probe each other through the first several drives for weakness they could exploit, which led to numerous punts by both teams.
With 6:15 left in the first quarter, Gamston broke things open with a fumble recovery that set the Tigers up at the DHS 47 yard line. After a six-yard sack sidelined Myers, Pate entered the game and ripped a gorgeous ball to Askew, who found himself alone behind the defense – two plays later for a 45-yard TD pass.
A blocked extra point kept the lead at 6-0 with 4:51 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing Trojans drive, momentum shifted even further toward the Tigers after Gamston recovered a second-straight fumble at the DHS 19 yard line. From there, King finished the short field off with a 16-yard TD run off right tackle. A successful two-point conversion pass from Pate to Cash Reif then put AHS up 14-0 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
Following that TD drive, both teams traded punts, including a booming 47-yard punt from Joseph Daniel that pinned the Trojans at their own one yard line. That punt directly set up a safety after Carnell Jackson penetrated the backfield on the very next play and tackled the DHS ball carrier in the end zone.
With the Trojans forced to kick the ball to the Tigers while being down 16-0 with 8:43 left in the second quarter, AHS looked to effectively put the game out of reach. They did just that with a grinding eight-play, 53-yard drive that included a 27-yard run by King and a one-yard Pate TD run that gave the Tigers a 23-0 lead with 5:31 left in the second quarter.
AHS then extended its lead right before halftime with a quick two-play, 21-yard drive after an excellent punt return by Reif set the Tigers up near the DHS red zone. That scoring play came courtesy of an 11-yard passing TD from Pate to Joshua Askew that put AHS up 30-0 with 35 seconds left before halftime.
After halftime, the Tigers opted for a more conservative play-calling approach that featured mostly runs.
That approach eventually paid off as AHS embarked on a critical 13-play, 88-yard drive midway through the third quarter that burned more than five minutes of game clock and ended with a 14-yard King TD run.
Just when it appeared that the Trojans might end the shutout, a misexecuted lateral pass was recovered by Gamston and gave the Tigers the ball at their own 41 yard line with 9:57 left in the fourth quarter.
Another grinding 11-play, 30-yard drive chewed up nearly seven minutes of game clock, and backup freshman kicker Andrew Figel ended the scoring with an amazing 46-yard field goal with 3:11 left in the fourth quarter.
What’s Next
The Tigers will return to Duck Samford Stadium and host the No. 10 Bulldogs in the 7A semifinals on Nov. 21. OHS is currently 9-3 and coming off a 35-9 victory over Baker High School.
So far, the Bulldogs have scored 27.4 points per game while allowing 21.8 points per game. In comparison, AHS has scored 32.1 points per game while allowing 15.2 points per game.
“It’s going to be a great football game,” Etheredge said. “We’ve got to come in ready to play, because they’re definitely going to be ready to play. It’s for all the marbles. It’s Auburn and Opelika playing to go to the state championship. So it’s an absolutely huge game.”
