MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Cam Taylor scored four touchdowns to lead #5 Park Crossing to a 34-19 win over rival #2 Sidney Lanier to win the Class 6A, Region 2 Championship. The Park Crossing defense turned four Sidney Lanier turnovers into scores to the Thunderbirds their third consecutive region championship and 5-0 over Lanier.
Park Crossing (8-1, 6-0) used a heavy ground game of Taylor and Uziah McDaniels to get the big win. "I thought we played outstanding, I knew it was going to be a hard tough game," said Thunderbirds Head coach Smitty Grider. "I was disappointed that we didn't put the game away in the fourth quarter when we had chances to score. We have to make better decisions to run the ball and to keep the clock running. We kept our composure in a chippy game and did a great job of running the football tonight." McDaniels had 182 yards on 28 carries in the win.
Park Crossing scored first in the game when Taylor scored his first touchdown on a 14-yard run. The extra point was missed and Park Crossing led 6-0 with :59 seconds left in the first quarter. With 8:38 left in the second quarter, Taylor scored again on an 8-yard touchdown play. With the TD run, Park Crossing led 13-0 midway through the second quarter. The Thunderbirds defense setup that score when they held Lanier on a 4th down play on the PC 44-yard line.
Sidney Lanier (7-1, 4-1) scored on a James Foster to Delancey Tolliver 19-yard scoring play for the Poets. With the extra point, Park Crossing led 13-7 with 7:55 left in the second quarter. With 6:55 left in the second quarter, Lanier tied the game at 13-13 when Foster hit Rodriquez Ellington on a 48-yard scoring play for the Poets.
With 3:21 left in the half, Tremaine Osborne picked off a Lanier pass and returned it into Poets territory to setup up Park Crossing right before halftime. With 1:22 left in the half, Taylor scored on a 9-yard run up the middle of the defense and the Thunderbirds led 20-13. With less than a minute left in the half, this is where the game changed for Lanier due to a very controversial play by the officials. With :08 seconds left in the half, Lanier drove the length of the field with no timeouts, but when the Lanier receiver was spotted down at the PC 2-yard line, the officials didn't spot the ball while the head referee was waving his hands to stop the clock to spot the ball but the clock kept running before Lanier could get another play off. Both coaches were on the officials for around five minutes to sort out the chaos on the field. The decision was made to end the half.
In the second half, with 6:29 left in the third quarter, Taylor scored again on a 3-yard touchdown run and Park Crossing led 27-13. Taylor has four touchdowns midway threw the third quarter. "It was a very physical game, we came off our game a little in the first half, but came back with the lead before halftime," said Thunderbirds QB Taylor. "When our offense gets rolling, we are tough to stop. The defense did a great job of stopping Foster and winning the region is an amazing feeling." Taylor ran for 130 yards on 23 carries and four touchdowns. Also added a couple of big passes for 58 yards and an interception.
With :33 seconds left in the third quarter, Osborne picked off his second interception on the night and returned it 50-yards for a Thunderbirds touchdown. With the score, Park Crossing led 34-13. Early in the fourth quarter, Foster was thrown out of the game when an official said he threw a punch at a player. Foster finished the night completing 10-of-27 passing for 265 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
With 10:03 left in the game, Da'Coreyon Johnson found a wide open Jacory Merritt on a 19-yard touchdown pass for the Poets. With the TD play, Park Crossing led 34-19 early in the fourth quarter. Ellington caught five passes for 112 yards. La'Dedric Jackson led the Poets defense with 16 tackles with a fumble recovery and was all over the field making tackles.
On a sloppy play by both teams, Lanier committed 17 penalties for 156 yards. Park Crossing committed 11 penalties for 80 yards.
Up next, Park Crossing travels to play Clay-Chalkville while Sidney Lanier will play Stanhope Elmore at Faulkner College next week.
