Tuscaloosa Academy Demolishes Holt on Senior Night

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In the final week of high school football before playoffs, the Tuscaloosa Academy Knights, on a senior night destroyed the Holt Ironmen 41-6.

To start the game the Knight deferred and gave the ball to the Ironmen offense. After going three-and-out on the opening drive, Holt punted the ball to the Knights. Starting on its own 44-yard line, the Knights went on a three-play, 56-yard drive, that was capped off by a 45-yard touchdown run by running back Sherebiah Jones.

Holt responded by going three-and-out yet again and the route was looking like it was about to begin. But on the Tuscaloosa Academy return, they fumbled and it was recovered by Holt who ran it all the way to the Knight five-yard line. Two plays later, Ironmen quarterback Kamari Patton ran it in from five yards out. The 2-point conversion was no good so Tuscaloosa Academy kept the lead 7-6.

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Three plays after the Ironmen touchdown, Tuscaloosa Academy responded with a 54-yard drive, that was capped off by a 9-yard Preston Lancaster pass to Lance Kilgore. With 3:53 left in the first quarter, the Knights led 14-6.

The Knights defense held the Ironmen to another three-and-out forced Holt to punt. After the muffed punt, coach Josh Wright decided to put Kilgore back there and he made an excellent choice. Kilgore returned the ball 40 yards and set the Knights up with great field position. With 21 seconds left in the first quarter, Lancaster handed the ball off to fullback Yakut Eksin for a 1-yard touchdown.

Holt badly needed a break and they got it but not the way they thought. The Ironmen offense punted yet again to the Knights' offense but Lancaster threw a pick to defensive back Jordan Samuel.

Holt did nothing after the interception because of penalties and mental mistakes. Starting on the Ironmen 21, Lancaster handed the ball off to Jones for a 21-yard touchdown run. With 5:08 left in the half, Tuscaloosa Academy led 28-6.

The Knights offense got the ball back yet again with a good field position after a Kilgore punt return. Starting on the Holt 38, Lancaster led a 38-yard drive that was capped off by a 25-yard pass to Mitchell Powell.

At halftime, Tuscaloosa Academy led the Ironmen 34-6. The Knights offense was clicking on all cylinders, especially in the first half. In the first quarter, Tuscaloosa only ran nine plays but gained 120 total yards. At the end of the first half, the Knights ran a total of 16 plays for 179 total yards.

The second half was a running clock where Tuscaloosa Academy put in their backups.

The final touchdown of the game capped off an eight-play, 40-yard drive.  The touchdown was a 17-yard pass from the backup quarterback Kaleb Colgrove to backup running back Jadyn Howard. The final score of the game is Tuscaloosa Academy 41 Holt 6.

"I thought we came out and we did what we need to do," says Coach Wright. "I mean Holt did not quit, they played hard but you know I was satisfied because we took care of business in the first half and got to play everyone on senior night".

The Knights with this win end the regular season with an 8-2 record going into the playoffs. Next week they host Lucust Fork Hornets (7-3, 4-2) in the first round of the playoffs.

Holt ends the season winless at 0-10. The good news for the Ironmen though is they can go nowhere but up. They have 21 starters returning and they have an early head start to get ready for the 2023 season.