By Marla Jones, Sports Editor

marla@southerntorch.com

Gardendale 38-Fort Payne 28

The Fort Payne/Gardendale game was not the game that Wildcat fans would have wanted.  Fort Payne fell to number 10 ranked Gardendale. The bitter back and forth match was enough to make your head spin.

Gardendale got on the board early racking up 10 points quickly in the first.  Fort Payne answered back with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Wanya King to Desmon Turner.  Sam Young recovered a Gardendale fumble, the next play of the game to set up excellent field position for the the Wildcats.  Turner cashed in with his one yard dash into the endzone, giving Fort Payne the lead with 11:51 left in the half.  Gardendale would score and Fort Payne would checkmate.  Seconds before the half, Gardendale regained the half time lead with another touchdown.  Going into the half, the score was  Gardendale led 24-21.

Gardendale scored quickly in the third quarter.  With less the 3 minutes left in the third quarter, Desmon Turner scored to make the score, 31-28.  There were fumbles and interceptions that prevented any more scores for both teams, in the third.

In the fourth, Gardendale scored on a 32-yard touchdown preventing any chance for a Fort Payne comeback, that they are famous for.  Final Gardendale 38, Fort Payne 28.  Fort Payne will host Southside this week.  This will be their final region game.  Since Southside loss to Scottsboro, Fort Payne sealed up the Class 6A, Region 7 title. This is a title that they have not held since 2012.

Coach Paul Ellis had this to say about the game, “ Gardendale had a great team and they played well.  The game had a playoff feel to it.  I thought our kids played hard and fought the entire game.  We had a chance to win the game more than once.  Our team is a work in progress but hopefully we are building toward something special this year in the playoffs.”