Three Brayden Jenkins touchdown runs and a stout defense propelled Class 6A, No. 1-ranked Theodore to a 35-20 home victory over Sidney Lanier in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs at C.A. Douglas Field on Friday night.
Jenkins’ touchdown runs covered 1, 13, and 10 yards, and he finished with 22 carries for 194 yards for the Bobcats (11-0). Theodore jumped out to a 21-0 lead.
“The offensive line came out tonight, and offensively, we did our job,” Jenkins said. “We never underestimate anybody; we just come out on game day and do what we need to do.”
Stat sheet: Sidney Lanier’s Tacaris Bozeman finished with 148 carries on 16 carries and three touchdowns. … Theodore quarterback Cameron Rigby was 5-of-14 passing for 31 yards and a score, and also ran for a touchdown. … Theodore had a tough night with penalties—13 of them for 117 yards
Coachspeak: “Our kids played hard, and we’re still working on a few things. We had a bunch of penalties tonight, and we have some things we need to get fixed. But our kids played hard. They played physical, and as long as we keep doing that, we’ll be all right. Brayden’s a phenomenal back—he’s got great vision and he’s got great balance.” — Theodore coach Eric Collier
“We tried to play hard, because we knew Theodore was going to be aggressive. We tried to hit them up with some matchups. We fell behind but the guys fought back a little bit, but we couldn’t finish it out. Bozeman’s an amazing kid and an amazing football player. He’s going to do what he does—you give him the ball, and our game plan was to feed him the ball and eventually he was going to get plays and he did. He got himself going in the second half because he’s not a quitter.” — Sidney Lanier coach Derone Fagan
Scoring summary: Theodore jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on Jenkins’ touchdown runs of 1 and 13 yards. The Bobcats made it 21-0 in the second on Rigby’s 4-yard run before the Poets’ running caught fire in the second half and made it 21-6 on Bozeman’s 28-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. On Theodore’s ensuing possession, Jenkins answered with a 10-yard scoring run.
Sidney Lanier then drove 76 yards, aided by a pass interference call, and Bozeman got his second touchdown on a 35-yard burst early in the fourth quarter to make it 28-12. The Bobcats replied with a 66-yard drive that ended with Rigby’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Treyvian Glover.
Bozeman’s final touchdown run, covering 12 yards with 1:23 left to go, ended the scoring.
What’s next?: Theodore advances to play Hueytown. Sidney Lanier finishes the season with a 5-5 record.
