Albertville pulls away from Sardis 45-20

SARDIS CITY — Turnovers and a disastrous fourth quarter led to a 45-20 Sardis defeat at the hands of Albertville in a battle of playoff teams Thursday night.

Sardis trailed 25-20 at the end of the third quarter, but the Lions lost the field position battle and gave up a two play, 26-yard drive capped by a touchdown run from Albertville's Luke Kelly to make it 31-20 early in the fourth.

Then things went from bad to worse for the Lions as the Aggies scored 14 points in 16 seconds.

Chi Jordan had a pick-six for one touchdown, and on the first play of the next drive for Sardis, quarterback Jay Owens' pass was tipped, intercepted by Elijah Boman and returned to the 2-yard line. Kelly then plunged it in for the Aggies.

There were bright spots for the Lions, as Sardis took the first lead of the game early in the opening quarter on a touchdown pass from Owens to Temon Wilson.

Though Albertville tied the game on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ben Allen to Hayden Mann, Sardis got the lead back on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Owens to Justin Minyard and held that lead until halftime.

The lone second-half score for Sardis came on a 3-yard run from Owens on fourth-and-goal in the third quarter.

Missed Opportunities

Sardis had a chance to score with a minute left until halftime, and a fourth-and-goal trick play almost worked.

A halfback pass made it to the wide receiver's hands before an Albertville defender knocked it loose.

Turnovers also were a problem for Sardis, as the Lions had three interceptions, two fumbles and two turnovers on downs.

Converted Opportunities

Albertville made the most of the Sardis turnovers.

All three Lion interceptions led to points: an 11-yard touchdown run from Allen in the third quarter, Jordan's pick-six and the Boman return to set up the two-yard run from Kelly in the fourth quarter.

A fumble also led to a 24-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Trinity Bell in the second quarter.

Player of the Game

Albertville's Jordan had a pair of interceptions and he returned one of them more than 30 yards for a touchdown.

Coachspeak

"We had two or three missed opportunities that we left on the table and we shouldn't have, and I felt like we didn't tackle very well on defense. They may have had something to do with that." — Sardis coach Gene Hill

Up Next

Sardis (5-4, 4-2) wraps up the regular season by traveling to Class 4A, No. 10 Hokes Bluff (6-3, 4-3).

Albertville (5-4, 2-3) travels up Highway 431 to face Guntersville (6-2, 5-2).