Nov 21, 2020
Jeremiah Cobb rushed for 265 yards on 20 carries as Catholic amassed 547 yards of offense in a 24-15 win at Thomasville on Friday night.
The Knights (11-2) advanced to the semifinals for the second time in school history and will face Montgomery Academy next Friday at McLemore Field.
“We put together a really outstanding team effort tonight,” Catholic coach Aubrey Blackwell said. “We’ve jelled really well. We’ve got guys in the right spot and are starting to get continuity, especially in the trenches on both sides of the ball. We played an outstanding football game tonight.”Catholic jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead with a 40-yard pass from Caleb McCreary to DJ Carter and a 70-yard run by Cobb, who established a career high with his performance on Friday night.
“He played really well,” Blackwell said. “They were intentional on trying to take away the passing game to Myles (Butler) and DJ. We were able to block up front and block well. That’s what we’ve been needing the whole year. That extra presence in the running game paid off well for us tonight.”
Judd Osten booted a 33-yard field goal with 10:31 remaining in the game to put Catholic on top 17-0 before the Tigers finally broke loose with a 70-yard touchdown pass from Carter Hankins to Javian Johnson.Thomasville (10-2) was held to 90 yards rushing on 32 carries, while Hankins completed 10 of 23 passes for 157 yards, most on it coming on the one long pass to Johnson.
Catholic responded with a touchdown drive of its own as McCreary connected with Butler on a 27-yard scoring toss with 7:17 left in the game. McCreary completed 9 of 16 passes for 242 yards, with Carter and Butler combining for 217 yards on eight receptions.
Thomasville took advantage of four major-distance penalties on its ensuing drive as Hankins threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Chandler Guerra. Quez Jackson ran in the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 24-15, but Catholic recovered the onsides kick and ran out the clock.
“We played excellent up front on defense,” Blackwell said, “and Pat Ryan had 15 or 16 tackles. He had a big night. The defense played extremely well.”
The win marked the second time Catholic has advanced to the semifinals, reaching that point in 1989 before losing to Georgiana. This year’s semifinal game is a rematch of a game won by Montgomery Academy (32-21) on Sept. 25.
