Scottsboro runs past No. 5 Guntersville, sets up shot to repeat as region champ
Story From Combined Reports
What a difference a week made for the Scottsboro football team.
After an upset loss to a one-win Brewer team seven days earlier, Scottsboro looked more like itself Friday while putting itself in position to claim another region championship.
Scottsboro outscored No. 5-ranked and previously undefeated Guntersville 21-3 in the second half to post a 31-13 Class 5A Region 8 victory Friday night at Trammell Stadium.
The victory means Scottsboro (5-3, 4-1) can clinch its second consecutive region championship if it wins at Arab next week.
“I’m proud of them. These guys went out and won the game. Dominated the game. Played their tails off. They went out there and won it,” said Scottsboro head coach Tyler Vann, whose team officially clinched a playoff berth with the victory. “These guys went out and played their tails off. This community should be proud of how hard they played, not (just) the win — they left it out there for them and themselves.”
The win avenged two straight losses to Guntersville (6-1, 3-1) and was Scottsboro’s third straight home win in a series that began in 1914 and has now been played 90 times.
Scottsboro’s offensive line paved the way for the Wildcats to amass 388 total yards, including 336 rushing yards, against a Guntersville defense that came in holding teams to just 12.3 points per game. Scottsboro senior running back Jacobi Edmondson had a memorable night, rushing for 294 yards and four touchdowns on 35 carries while surpassing 4,000 career rushing yards — he is now at 4,091 — and moving into third place on Scottsboro’s career rushing list behind Blake Earl (5,295 yards) and DK Billingsley (5,170 yards).
Edmondson started the scoring with 4-yard touchdown run just over two minutes into the game, and the first of Cole Raeuchle’s four extra points gave Scottsboro a quick 7-0 lead. Street Smith’s 3-yard touchdown run and Brandon Manganaris’s 44-yard field goal moved Guntersville in front 10-7 lead early in the second quarter, but Rauchle’s 29-yard field goal for Scottsboro tied the game with two minutes left before halftime. It was Rauchle’s 13th career field goal, which eclipsed the previous school record that was held by Bailey McGaha Potter (12).
Scottsboro opened the second half with an 11-play, 80-yard drive to take a 17-10 lead with 6:50 left in the third quarter on Edmondson’s 5-yard touchdown run. Manganaris’ 28-yard field goal cut the Scottsboro lead to 17-13, but Edmondson broke a 74-yard touchdown run a minute later that gave the Wildcats a two-score advantage.
“I told (the offensive linemen) at halftime,” Vann said, “‘we were so close to one busting. Keep blocking your tails off and eventually and you’re going to look up, hear the crowd and see (Edmondson) running.’”
The Wildcats put a bow on the win with Edmondson’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and after a long Conner Vaden interception return — the sophomore had two more interceptions and now has 10 on the season, tying the single-season Scottsboro record set previously by Don Webb in 1965 — they took a knee inside the Guntersville 5-yard line to run out the clock.
Jayden Gilbert added 39 rushing yards on seven carries and had 17 receiving yards for the Wildcats and Vaden had a 30-yard reception on a pass from fellow wide receiver Cohen Thompson while Colton Harding was 2-of-4 passing for 22 yards.
Meanwhile, Scottsboro’s defense held Guntersville to a season-low 13 points and limited it to 254 total yards (139 rushing and 115 passing). Smith was 12-of-21 passing for 108 yards while Garrett Christie ran for 81 yards on 12 carries.
› Scottsboro Football statistician/historian Greg Bell contributed to this report.
