Lowndes Academy beats Jackson again to repeat AISA Class A state football championship
Jackson Academy may have come into Thursday with a perfect record and higher ranking, but Lowndes Academy had the target on its back.
The Rebels upset the Eagles in last season's AISA football Class A state championship game. That meant much higher expectations throughout the 2022 campaign, especially as they graduated just five seniors. Lowndes marched through the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs without a loss to another team in Class A.
"We told them before the game, if you want respect, you gotta go get it today," said Lowndes coach Shane Moye.
And when it came time to defend their title, the Rebels meant business. They defeated Jackson, 24-8, at Cramton Bowl to win their second straight state championship and fourth all-time.
"It means the world," Moye said. "We set it out in the beginning of the year, that’s what we wanted to do. They just played so hard and with so much pride. They gave everything they got for each other."
Lowndes (11-2), which had battled through injuries on defense in recent weeks, got healthy at the right time. The same hard-hitting, aggressive unit that held the Eagles to 50 yards of offense in last year's title game was on display once again, limiting Jackson to seven first downs and negative-5 yards rushing.
The Rebels also got just enough key plays from junior quarterback Clayton Hussey. A wide receiver last season, Hussey dominated with his legs and his arm Thursday, going 8-of-15 for 111 yards while rushing for another 117.
Hussey scampered for a 19-yard touchdown in the first quarter, which would end up being the only score of the first half. After Jackson (12-1) opened the second half on Huntley Dees' 11-yard pass to Luke Gunter, Hussey did Dees one better with a 40-yard scoring strike to Noah Smith which gave the Rebels the lead for good.
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LAST SEASON:Lowndes Academy upsets Jackson Academy in AISA Class A championship
Having fully recovered from a second-quarter interception, Hussey scored on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter to make it a two-score game. On the other side of the ball, his pass breakup on fourth down with four minutes to play ended the Eagles' last best chance to make it a contest.
"As soon as I threw it I knew it was gonna be a pick," Hussey said of his interception. "Coach told me to make up for it. I was like, I gotta take over. He said, 'you want the ball?' And I said, 'yes sir.' "
Cooper Dansby had seven tackles, two of them for loss, and Kasen Dismukes had six to lead the Rebels in that category. Smith recovered a pair of fumbles, Ashton Yelder recovered another and Scott Stinson intercepted a Hail Mary with seconds left to put the icing on the cake.
"I think that was the difference," Moye said. "Our speed and physicality."
Like last season, Lowndes will return a large crop of sophomores and juniors with only six graduations and will likely enter 2023 as favorites to win a third straight state title.
But the Rebels' success, according to Moye, is less about the individual players coming back and more about their culture they've created.
"It doesn’t matter at the end of the day who gets the limelight, who gets the ball, who scores the touchdowns, who makes the tackles," Moye said. "They don’t care. They pick each other up, and that’s the big reason why we are who we are."
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: AISA football championship: Lowndes Academy beats Jackson, repeats
