PREP FOOTBALL: Late punt return lifts No. 2 Prattville over No. 1 Auburn High

Auburn High came up 18 yards short of advancing to the first state final in school history.

Or, if you trace the flight of Calvin Jenkins’ pass into Prattville safety Nick Perry’s waiting arms, 1 yard.

The Alabama commit’s sixth pick of the year with 1:13 to go Friday sealed a 13-9 semifinal win for the Lions that advanced them to their fourth straight state final.

“Anybody could’ve won it, ain’t no doubt about it,” Tigers coach Tim Carter said. “Tough to surrender it there at the end.”

By all rights, No. 1 Auburn (13-1) outplayed the No. 2 Lions (12-2) at its home field before a crowd of between 10,000-11,000 by athletic director Clay McCall’s estimate.

The same Prattville team that dusted the Tigers, 42-0, on the road last year.

But with 1:57 to go, Prattville’s Corey Shelton fielded a bounding punt at his own 45, beat half the Tigers defense to the visitors’ sideline, then outraced the rest to the end zone to put the Lions up 4.

“He just made a play,” Carter said. “We had him surrounded, and he just made three or four people miss, and made a great play.”

The Tigers’ defense didn’t let LSU commit Sam Gibson beat it. The quarterback was 5-for-18 for 90 yards, a touchdown and two picks, and ran for 7 yards on 17 carries.

It didn’t let the rest of the Lions’ offense beat it either. Prattville managed only 124 yards on 50 plays.

Just a 5-foot-6 white-and-maroon blur streaking down the visitors’ sideline, a sight that will probably make for some sleepless nights for Carter and his players.

“That’s the best defensive effort I’ve ever seen on this football field,” Carter said. “They played their guts out. Our defense just kept giving us opportunities.”

After the punt return, Jenkins gave the Duck Samford faithful hope that he could pull out his 33rd win as the starting quarterback at Auburn High.

With 1:44 to go, on a second-and-10 from the Tigers’ 31, Jenkins found Desmond Purter wide open down the visitors’ sideline. Purter cut to the middle of the field and went down after a 51-yard gain to the Lions’ 18 that gave Auburn a chance.

But two plays later, Perry sealed the deal for the three-time defending state champs.

Jenkins finished his illustrious high school career with an 11-for-24 performance for 92 yards, 56 yards on the ground and a 7-yard touchdown toss to Tony Holland that put Auburn up, 9-7, with 3:18 to go in the third.

And that pick on the last throw of his prep career.

Auburn ended with 243 yards of offense on 61 plays.

“They’ve got an outstanding defense. We just found it hard to do anything,” Carter said. “We moved the football some, but we could never just make the big play to get it in the end zone consistently. But I love my kids. Great effort. They’ve won a lot of football games in the last two years.”

Friday night dropped the curtain on the most successful two-year stretch in the history of the Tigers, one that saw them win back-to-back region championships, set records in points scored each year, advance to the second semifinal in school history and put together 25 wins.

Auburn’s most successful two-year stretch before the past two years was 20 wins in ’07-’08.

The Tigers’ senior class exits Auburn High with 33 wins to its credit.

But it could not hurdle the one obstacle that has gotten in the Tigers’ way seven straight times since 1981.

“Best season I’ve ever been a part of,” Carter said. “(These seniors) go out the winningest group.

“They’ve taken us to another level.”

dmorrison@oanow.com | 737-2568