Scottsboro leans on run game, defense to down archrival North Jackson

Story By Jason Bowen

The Scottsboro football team leaned on its senior running back dynamic duo and another strong defensive effort to notch a win in the 38th Battle of the Valley.

Senior running backs Jacobi Edmondson and Jayden Gilbert combined for 331 rushing yards while the Wildcat defense pitched a shutout during a 28-0 victory over visiting Class 4A No. 7-ranked North Jackson at Trammell Stadium Friday night.

Edmondson ran for 207 yards on 31 carries and scored two touchdowns while Gilbert had 124 yards and two scores on 16 carries.

“(Edmondson) and (Gilbert), how about those guys,” Vann said. “It’s not an A-B punch, it’s a good A-A punch. They do a really good job of feeding off each other.”

Meanwhile, the shutout was the first for Scottsboro (1-1) since the 2022 season and the first in the Battle of the Valley series since Scottsboro’s 33-0 win in 2019. The Wildcats forced three turnovers, getting interceptions from Taygan Harris, Conner Vaden and Quincie Franklin.

“Defense made plays when they had to,” Vann said. “That’s what our defense is going to be about all year.”

The victory extended Scottsboro’s winning streak in the series to seven, two shy of the series record of nine set by North Jackson from 2004-12. The Chiefs hold the overall series lead 21-17, but Scottsboro has now won 10 of the last 11 matchups.

The teams traded interceptions to start the game — Harris intercepted a deflected North Jackson screen pass before Nick Price Jr. made a leaping interception on Scottsboro pass — before Edmondson and Gilbert got the Scottsboro run game going, with Edmondson carrying five times and Gilbert three times on Scocttsboro’s next possession leading to Edmondson capping a 60-yard drive with 1-yard touchdown run. The first of Cole Raeuchle’s four extra points gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

After the Scottsboro defense forced North Jackson (1-1) to turn it over on downs at the Scottsboro 25-yard line, the Wildcats pushed their lead to 14-0 with 4:49 left in the half on Gilbert’s 26-yard touchdown run. 

After a scoreless third quarter, Gilbert capped a 15-play, 78-yard drive that took 9:02 off the clock with an 11-yard touchdown run to give Scottsboro a 21-0 advantage just 32 seconds into the final quarter.

Vaden ended the Chiefs’ ensuing drive with an interception in the end zone, and the Wildcats marched 80 yards in just over three minutes to up the lead to 28-0 with 4:16 left on an 18-yard touchdown run by Edmondson, who went over the 3,000 career rushing yard mark during the game.

Scottsboro finished with 337 rushing yards.

Meanwhile, North Jackson finished with 242 total yards but was unable to cash in on four trips inside the Scottsboro 30-yard line. Nick Price Jr. rushed for 139 yards on 25 carries for the Chiefs and Creed Richardson completed 12 of 24 passes for 89 yards while Haven Massengile caught four passes for 21 yards and Kadyn Pace caught three for 21 yards.

“We moved the ball effectively in the run game, but we’ve got to do that and get in the end zone. Nick is a warrior. He played really hard tonight,” said North Jackson head coach Joe Hollis Jr. “We’ve got to execute better. I’ve got to get the team better prepared and we’ve got to play better. Eight straight region games (coming up). Got to learn the lessons this, put it behind us and get ready to play region games.”

After a losing to TopCat rival Fort Payne in the final minutes a week ago, Vann said Scottsboro got over the sting of that loss and turned their focus quickly to their archrival this week. 

“I’m just glad our guys got back on the winning track,” Vann said. “Last week was a tough loss. You go back-to-back rivalry games. I thought (North Jackson) had good game plans on both sides. They’re going to win a lot of games in that 4A region. I thought we settled in. It’s big four our guys. I thought the guys played hard and played really physical. I’m proud of their effort.”