By Fred Woods
Editor
The Opelika Chiefs were soundly beaten by the Mississippi Dynasty, 40 – 20, in the APDFL National President’s Cup Championship game Saturday night at New Orleans’ Behrman Stadium.
The Chiefs came out flat and never recovered. Mississippi scored on the second play from scrimmage, a five-yard quarterback keeper set up by a beautiful 70-yard run down the left sideline by Jabari Baker, a former teammate of Chiefs’ QB Kyle Caldwell at the University of West Alabama.
The Dynasty scored again on their second possession. Then the Chiefs got their first score on a Caldwell 10-yard pass to Ralph Spry. Mississippi promptly ran a fumbled two-point conversion all the way back for two points. 16 – 6, Mississippi.
Mississippi scored twice more for a 28 – 6 halftime lead. The Chiefs briefly came to life in the third quarter, grinding out two TDs to close the gap to 28 – 20. Some 450 – 500 Chiefs‘ fans who traveled to the game thought, “Hey, we’re coming back!”
Mississippi quickly doused those hopes, dominating the fourth quarter and adding two more scores for the final 40 -20 margin.
Head Coach Hunter Price didn’t try to make any excuses for the loss. Price said, “We had a tough loss tonight. Congratulations to the Mississippi Dynasty on a game well-played.”
Price added, “Although the season didn’t end as we wanted, words can’t express how much the players, coaches and, especially the fans, are loved and appreciated. Hold your heads up high; you are the Opelika Chiefs and you had an amazing season.”