PREP FOOTBALL: Prattville rolls to win over Central

PRATTVILLE — Darren Daniel is listed at 6-foot-4. But even Central’s senior quarterback couldn’t see over the wave of maroon jerseys coming after him as he received the snap.

Prattville’s defensive line pestered the Red Devils’ quarterback on every play en route to a 45-9 victory in the second round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoffs Friday.

“They had a good blitz scheme and kept coming,” Daniel said. “We had the running back in to block on passing downs when he’s usually open on those plays.”

Central only trailed 17-3 at halftime. Antonio King kicked a 46-yard field goal right before the break to give the Red Devils some momentum as they received the ball to start the third quarter.

But Prattville (10-2) never faltered. The Lions held Central’s usually-powerful running game to just 113 yards on 31 carries.

Deon Hill had 17 rushes for 36 yards. Daniel led the Red Devils with 46 rushing yards on five carries, trying to avoid the big pass rush. He had two separate runs of 37 and 21 yards to set up King’s long field goal.

Cordary Clark-Allen, Hill’s running mate, rushed seven times for just 1 yard. He had the team’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The game was already in hand for the Lions, who played most of their second stringers in the final quarter.

“We couldn’t block them and we had to leave running backs in to try and compensate for that,” said Central coach Ron Nelson. “That’s just an awful good football team.”

The Lions had no trouble moving the ball on the ground. Senior quarterback Sam Gibson, an LSU commit, rushed eight times for 104 yards.

Even linebacker Cory Lee rushed for two touchdowns as part of Prattville’s goal-line package.

“We just knew we’d be able to run the ball tonight,” Gibson said. “In the playoffs, we don’t have a regular practice schedule, so we have more of a recovery time during the week. We got our legs back for this game.”

Earl Lucas must have rested well during the week for the Lions. His first touch turned into a 75-yard touchdown run to put his team up 10-0.

When Corey Shelton took a screen from backup Justin Thomas 62 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the fans started to clear out.

The play seemed to be dead in the backfield, but Shelton managed to juke past five Central defenders, stay in bounds near the sideline and sprint to the end zone.

Prattville coach Jamey DuBose downplayed a possible matchup with Auburn High two weeks from now. But when the game was in hand, Prattville’s fans wanted to know how Auburn managed a late drive by Wetumpka.

“It might come to be, it might not,” DuBose said. “We’re focused on next week and we’re going to take it one game at a time. Some people in this state want to downplay us this year a bit because of some out-of-state teams we’ve played, but they should go check those teams’ rankings and what they’ve done this year.”

Central ends its season with a 10-2 record. Prattville travels to Davidson in the third round.