Priceville ousted by Saints

By Staff
Zonya Ponder, Enquirer Correspondent
ODENVILLE — St. Clair County proved to be too strong for Priceville in the opening round of the Class 4A state playoffs Friday night.
The Fighting Saints’ defense kept the Bulldogs in check and posted a 28-0 win at Fighting Saints Stadium.
Priceville finishes the year with a 6-5 record after reaching the playoffs for the first time in school history.
Playing very tough teams and losing two players early in the season - Mark Pope to a broken leg and Gregory Roman Jr. to a car accident - did not stop the drive and heart in this team to take themselves all the way to the playoffs.
St. Clair County’s defense ended the Bulldogs’ historic run.
But Priceville could not move past the rock-hard defense of St. Clair County.
St. Clair County quarterback Spencer Duncan threw a touchdown pass to give the Saints a 7-0 lead early.
Priceville’s Jeremy Hale and Jayson Hamilton moved the ball to the Bulldogs’ 43-yard line on the next possession, but the Bulldogs were forced to punt the ball away when the drive stalled.
The Bulldogs again drove to midfield with a strong run by Eli Allen before being stopped by the St. Clair defense on downs.
St. Clair County’s defense set up the Saints’ second score of the night with an interception at the end of the first quarter.
The Saints took the ball to the end zone in just three plays and added the two-point conversion to increase their lead to 15-0.
St. Clair County’s defense added another interception with a little over a minute left in the first half. After having a tough time with the Priceville defense, the Saints extended their lead to 22-0 just before the end of the first half.
St. Clair had a tough time on the line with the ‘Dogs defense but finally found their mark and scored the third touchdown. A good PAT from the Saints sent the score to 22-0 going into halftime.
St. Clair County recovered a Priceville fumble in the third quarter, but Priceville’s defense kept the Saints from driving into scoring territory.
The Saints did put one final touchdown on the board in the fourth quarter after driving into the red zone one more time with less than four minutes remaining in the game to make it 28-0.
Priceville graduates 18 players from theteam this year, but the Priceville fans are anxious to see history repeat itself next season.