Catholic tops McGill Toolen in first meeting

Story by Griffin Pritchard | Publisher
Photos by Sandie Free |CAScoreboard Photographer

MONTGOMERY – In Friday’s first meeting between Mobile-based McGill Toolen and Montgomery Catholics, the Knights were able to withstand the Yellow Jackets’ stings in route to a season-opening 42-21 victory. 

Catholic – who amassed 491 yards of offense in the win – wasted little time jumping ahead of their much larger foe. Led by Auburn-commit Jeremiah Cobb, the Knights scored on their first two possessions of the opening quarter. Cobb – who finished the night with 215 yards and four scores and was a driving force of the team’s 290 rushing yards on the night – rattled off a 17-yard run to cross midfield and then scored on a 29-yard run. With the point after, the Knights marched to a 7-0 lead. 

“We are very young team, and we made a lot of mistakes,” said Kirk Johnson, coach of the Knights. “We’ve got a lot of growing to do. But we are also a very good team. So, we have a lot of moving parts to what we hope to be a 15-game season. We’ve got some guys banged up, but that’s part of being the first game.”

Defensively, Catholic – led by Jaden Jones’s 10 tackles — withstood the Yellow Jackets’ offensive swarm, forcing a punt that rolled dead at the 13. The distance didn’t faze the hometown team as they were able to move the ball down the field with little resistance. Caleb McCreary – who has garnered interest from a host of schools ranging from Nebraska to Troy to Liberty to the College of Charleston – ended the possession by tossing a 25-yard scoring dime to Justin Rose with 2:41 left in the frame. With the kick, the score doubled to 14-0. 

McCreary finished the night 13-for-20 for 198 and three scores passing, he also rushed for 103 yards. 

Rose – serving as the Knights’ Ironman – pounced on a loose ball, claiming it for Catholic inside McGill Toolen’s 40. 

“For a first game, I thought we played like a first-game team,” said Norman Joesph, coach of the Yellow Jackets. “But we did get better as the game went on. Catholic is an excellent football team and they showed that tonight and I feel that we are too. We’ll learn from our mistakes, get better, and have an exciting season for us.”

After a holding call pushed Montgomery Catholic into a 3^rd and very long situation, McCreary dialed up a 45-yard pass to Cobb, flipping the field. A handful of plays later, Cobb took the McCreary handoff and raced to the wide side of the field and into the end zone for the score. 

The kick moved the mark to 21-0. 

McGill Toolen was able to put points on the board, scoring on a 4-yard pass from Aaden Shamburger to Anthony Eager. The score cut the lead to 14, at 21-7. But the Knights answered with 1:16 left before intermission. McCreary completed a 15-yard pass to Luke Harkless pushing the score to the halftime tally of 28-7. 

Harkless finished the night with 85 receiving yards on six receptions. 

The Knights tacked on two more touchdowns to start the third quarter. McCreary connected with Cobb for a 16-yard pass that saw the future Tiger use all the moves in his evasive repertoire to illude a swarm of Yellow Jacket defenders before finding a crease and exploding through it for the score. Cobb capped the Knights’ offensive exploits, scoring on a 10-yard dive. 

McGill Toolen wasn’t going back to Mobile without a fight, scoring on a double-pass that spanned the length of the field and caught the Knights’ secondary on their heels to end the third period. The Yellow Jackets scored the final points of the night on a 27-yard pass from Shamburger to Eager. With the kick, the final tally was reached, 42-21. 

Johnson: “We’re up big 28-7, come out and score fast and go up 35-7 and then get another to go up 42-7 and you think the games over. But you look up and they are still throwing the ball around and they score and score again quickly. I’m proud of the win, but you can’t do that. You’re giving someone a blueprint of how to beat you. We’ve got to do better.”

Zay Rudolph tallied eight tackles and Brennan Binns finished the night with four tackles, two for loss and an interception. 

The Knights next week will make the epic cross-Capital City trek to face Alabama Christian. McGill Toolen also gets to stay a little closer to the home fires hosting St. Paul’s Episcopal.