Tuscaloosa Academy Suffers First Loss of the Season on Friday

Tuscaloosa Academy lost its first game of the season on Friday to Isabella in a 21-19 region matchup, which saw the Knights’ missed extra point come back to haunt them.

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The Knights started this game off looking strong, with their defense making a stop in the opening drive of Friday’s game, with Tuscaloosa Academy’s offense hitting on all cylinders in the first quarter, with Mark Norris leading the team into the red zone on TA’s opening drive, where he’d find Matthew Atkinson for a ten-yard touchdown pass to give the Knights the first points of the night.

Isabella answered with a two-minute drive, which was capped off by a one-yard rush by the Mustangs’ quarterback Levi Wilkins to make it a tied matchup with 4:35 left in the first quarter.

Tuscaloosa Academy answered back 14 seconds later when Norris connected with Akins for the duo’s second touchdown of the game, this time for 55 yards to make the score 13-7, but unfortunately, the Knights missed the PAT.

The score remained the same for the remainder of the first quarter and for the majority of the second, with Isabella breaking the drought of points when Wilkins threw to Mustangs’ wide receiver Kaden Tuttle for a ten-yard touchdown to make it 14-13 with under a minute remaining in the half, where Isabella recovered a muffed kick return setting the Mustangs up inside Tuscaoosa Academy’s 30-yard line with 50 seconds remaining in the first half.

Tuscaloosa Academy came close to finishing the first half without allowing any additional points, but a pass interference call against the Knights provided the Mustangs with one final opportunity before halftime, which saw Wilkins pass to wide receiver Alexander Fjedstad, who powered his way into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown. This score gave Isabella a 21-13 lead as the teams headed into the half.

The second half saw TA open strong, with the Knights finding themselves inside the Mustangs’ 30-yard line until a fumble, which was recovered by Isabella’s defense, spoiled Tuscaloosa Academy’s drive. Isabella’s offense went on to hold the ball for seven minutes, resulting in TA regaining possession with under two minutes left in the third quarter.

The Knights went on to score again, but not until the start of the fourth quarter, which saw Norris throw for his third touchdown of the game when he connected with TA’s wide receiver Hinton Howell for a five-yard touchdown. This made the score 21-19 with 11:03 left in the game after the Knights failed to convert the two-point conversion.

Isabella managed to take five more minutes off the clock before punting to the Knights, leaving them with under six minutes left in the game.

TA’s offense, led by Norris, marched down the field and seemed poised to score and take the lead; however, an interception thwarted TA’s chances of executing a fourth-quarter comeback. With 3:45 left in the game, Isabella’s offense gained possession and managed to secure two first downs. This forced the Knights to use all their timeouts, allowing Wilkins to take a knee and secure the Mustangs’ first win of the season.

Tuscaloosa Academy falls to 3-1 and 1-1 in Region play. The Knights will look to bounce back next week when they travel to Greene County to take on the Tigers.

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