UMS-Wright Outlasts Montgomery Catholic 33-27 in Double Overtime on Richard Scott’s Leaping Catch

MOBILE, Ala. — For two quarters, UMS-Wright looked like it would cruise. For two more, it looked like Montgomery Catholic might steal one. In the end, it took two overtimes, an interception in the end zone and a leaping catch at the pylon for UMS-Wright to beat Montgomery Catholic 33-27 on Thursday night at Erwin S. Cooper Stadium.

Quarterback Max Fowler’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Richard Scott in the second overtime ended a game that UMS-Wright had once led 24-7. The play came one snap after Thomas Delong intercepted Knights quarterback Will Blackwell in the end zone, and it gave the No. 3-ranked Bulldogs their sixth straight victory.

UMS-Wright improved to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in Class AA, Region 1. No. 5 Montgomery Catholic fell to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the region.

“That was crazy,” UMS-Wright coach Sam Williams said afterward.

The final two plays

The game turned on back-to-back snaps in the second overtime, and both ended with a UMS-Wright player catching the ball in the end zone.

Montgomery Catholic had the ball first in the second extra period and appeared to have scored a touchdown, but a holding penalty wiped out the play and pushed the Knights back to the 19-yard line. On third down, Ty Stewart brought heavy pressure on Blackwell, and his floating pass into the middle of the end zone was picked off by Delong.

Stewart said the pressure was about playing for his teammates.

“I play side by side with my brothers and I’m going to fight as hard as I can for them. I’m really happy I was able to get that pressure and force the interception.”

Delong said the defense embraced the moment.

“We kept on battling. We knew we’re at our best in the red zone and when the pressure is on, so we were ready for it. We keep on fighting and never give up.”

Needing only a touchdown to win, UMS-Wright went for it immediately. Scott lined up in the slot to the right, went up over a defender at the pylon and pulled down Fowler’s pass for the game-winner.

Williams said the staff had confidence in the call and in the player it was designed for.

“We had a play we felt really good about. We had our best guy right there on a shot we liked. Just get the ball to your best player. We’ve moved him out to the slot some (from running back) and that has been good for him.”

Scott said he expected the ball to come his way.

“That was a perfect time to call that play. It was a one-man game on that call. Coach said to either throw it out of bounds or throw it up. Max trusted me to go get that ball.”

A fast start, then a long drought

UMS-Wright dominated the first half and took a 24-7 lead into the locker room. The second half belonged to Montgomery Catholic’s defense.

The Knights held the Bulldogs to minus-2 yards on their first possession of the third quarter, 2 yards on the second, minus-15 yards on the third and 7 yards on the fourth. While the UMS-Wright offense stalled, Montgomery Catholic scored 17 unanswered points to tie the game 24-24 and force overtime.

Williams credited the Knights’ approach after halftime.

“Richard Scott has really been good for us all year and when we put him out to slot receiver, it’s been really good for him. Montgomery Catholic came out in the second half, ran the ball and slowed the game down. That team’s only given up 15 points a game, so to get 33 is big.”

Field goals trade in the first overtime

Under the overtime format used in Alabama high school football, each team gets a possession starting in its opponent’s territory, and play continues in additional periods until one team leads at the end of a full overtime.

UMS-Wright took a 27-24 lead in the first overtime when Donald Urquhart made a 27-yard field goal. Montgomery Catholic answered on its own possession with a 27-yard field goal by Joao Pedro Costa, sending the game into a second extra period, where Delong and Scott took over.

Scott and Fowler lead the Bulldogs

Scott finished with nine catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns. The former running back also carried the ball six times for 18 yards, a reminder of the versatility that led the coaching staff to move him into the slot.

Fowler completed 19 of 31 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Scott. He also scored on a 2-yard run. Timothy Davidson caught a 5-yard touchdown pass for UMS-Wright’s other receiving score.

Fowler has been a steady producer for the Bulldogs this season. Earlier this fall, he accounted for four touchdowns before halftime in a 35-10 win over Faith Academy.

Montgomery Catholic’s effort

Montgomery Catholic leaned on running back Kaiden Johnson, who ran 21 times for 84 yards, as the Knights shifted to a ground-oriented approach in the second half.

Blackwell completed 18 of 40 passes for 195 yards. He threw touchdown passes of 9 yards to Tymori Player and 12 yards to Weston Bell and scored on a 1-yard run, but he was intercepted twice, including Delong’s decisive pick in the second overtime.

Knights coach Aubrey Blackwell said he was proud of how his team responded after falling behind by 17 points.

“I was so proud of how our kids made this a football game. There are a lot of teams that would have rolled over and quit but we fought and found a way to get back in the game. I told our guys that tonight they proved that no matter what is thrown their way they are willing to fight. What a great football game.”

A series UMS-Wright still owns

UMS-Wright has never lost to Montgomery Catholic. Before Thursday, the Bulldogs’ most recent win over the Knights came in 2019.

The result also reshaped the top of the region. Entering the week, McGill-Toolen, UMS-Wright and Montgomery Catholic were all 4-0 in Class AA, Region 1 play. UMS-Wright’s win dropped the Knights out of that tie, and McGill-Toolen stayed unbeaten in region play with a 38-14 win over Glenwood the same night, leaving the Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets both at 5-0.

In Alabama’s private school classifications, every team qualifies for the postseason, so the region race is about seeding rather than survival. Higher seeds can earn home games and potentially easier paths through the bracket. This season, every AHSAA state championship game will be played at the University of South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile during the first week of December, giving local private schools such as UMS-Wright extra motivation to make a deep run.

A night moved up by the storm

Like nearly every area high school game originally scheduled for Friday, this one was moved to Thursday night because of the threat from Hurricane Isaias, which made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Friday. The earlier kickoff allowed teams, bands and fans to finish the game and get home before conditions deteriorated.

Elsewhere Thursday: Williamson and Mobile Christian roll

Two other highly ranked Mobile teams had far easier nights.

No. 1-ranked Williamson beat host Citronelle 42-7 to improve to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in Class 4A, Region 1. Quarterback Thad Wilder completed 21 of 27 passes for 402 yards and four touchdowns, and Nathaniel Mitchell ran for 165 yards on 13 carries, including a 78-yard touchdown. Jayden Rogers (five catches, 112 yards), Derek Godbolt (four catches, 103 yards), Jakenyon Allen (seven catches, 101 yards) and Jacob Massey each caught a touchdown pass, and Jordan Jackson added a 14-yard scoring run. Ellis McGaskin made 12 tackles for a defense that has allowed only 25 points all season. Citronelle (5-2, 2-2) scored its only touchdown on Tim Rivers’ 4-yard run in the second quarter.

Williamson led 21-7 at halftime and shut out the Wildcats the rest of the way. Coach Antonio Coleman said the early defensive struggles were by design.

“Defensively, we started off a little slow because we tried to put some younger kids in and get them some experience. That was the focus of this game and then we got better.”

Williamson faces No. 3 Vigor next week in a rematch of last season’s state semifinal.

No. 4-ranked Mobile Christian pulled away from St. Luke’s for a 42-7 win. Cameron Roberts completed 16 of 21 passes for 266 yards and six touchdowns. Hakeem Winston caught four passes for 102 yards and four touchdowns, covering 20, 44, 4 and 34 yards, and Dwight King caught scoring passes of 6 and 16 yards and intercepted a pass on defense. Tristan Aragon ran for 90 yards on 10 carries as the Leopards improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in Class A, Region 1. St. Luke’s (4-3, 3-2) got 103 rushing yards on 22 carries from Talon Safiran, who also threw a 20-yard halfback pass to Ryan Keys for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter.

What’s next

UMS-Wright returns home next Friday for one of the area’s most storied rivalries, the Battle of Old Shell Road against St. Paul’s. The Saints head into the game coming off a 42-0 win over Faith Academy on Thursday that improved their record to 3-4.

Montgomery Catholic will face a third straight opponent from Mobile next Friday when it hosts McGill-Toolen in another key region game.

Box score highlights

• Final: UMS-Wright 33, Montgomery Catholic 27 (2OT)
• Halftime: UMS-Wright 24, Montgomery Catholic 7
• End of regulation: 24-24
• Max Fowler (UMS-Wright): 19 of 31, 170 yards, 3 TDs; 2-yard rushing TD
• Richard Scott (UMS-Wright): 9 catches, 95 yards, 2 TDs; 6 carries, 18 yards
• Timothy Davidson (UMS-Wright): 5-yard TD catch
• Donald Urquhart (UMS-Wright): 27-yard field goal in first overtime
• Game-winner: Fowler 10-yard TD pass to Scott in second overtime
• Thomas Delong (UMS-Wright): Interception in second overtime
• Will Blackwell (Montgomery Catholic): 18 of 40, 195 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs; 1-yard rushing TD
• Kaiden Johnson (Montgomery Catholic): 21 carries, 84 yards
• Joao Pedro Costa (Montgomery Catholic): 27-yard field goal in first overtime

Update: Why Williams Passed Up the Field Goal, and How the First Half Unfolded

With the Knights shut out in their half of the second overtime, conventional wisdom said UMS-Wright should run the ball into the middle of the field a few times and kick the winning field goal. Coach Sam Williams went the other way and called for the pass to Richard Scott on the very first snap.

“Man, you just don’t want to trust a field goal,” Williams said. “I mean, we played well all night. We had a bad little three-drive stretch there to start the third. But all in all we had a play I felt really good about. They had jumped out two or three times, even at the end of half.”

Quarterback Max Fowler said the call was made on the sideline. “Coach said, if you do what you’re coached to do and you do your job, he’s going to walk. And it ended up happening.”

Scott said he had been hoping his number would be called. “I was on my knees praying for that last play right before I ran out on the field,” he said. “I knew I was gonna make a play. My quarterback trusts me. … It’s a special moment. It just showed how much coach Williams trusted me and he trusts the quarterback.”

He added that the Knights did not see it coming. “I saw their coaches were not expecting that when I turned around. I mean, they looked shocked. Everybody looked shocked. All the players look shocked. But we did it and they didn’t expect it.”

Scoring Details

• Donald Urquhart put UMS-Wright on the board with a field goal 27 seconds before the end of the first quarter.
• Matthew Warren recovered a Montgomery Catholic fumble, and the Bulldogs turned it into a 10-0 lead on Fowler’s 2-yard run.
• After the Knights scored their first touchdown, Scott broke a 25-yard touchdown run.
• Mack Keaton intercepted a pass late in the half, setting up Fowler’s touchdown pass to Timothy Davidson with 7.3 seconds left for the 24-7 halftime lead.
• Montgomery Catholic’s comeback ended with a 41-yard field goal that tied the game 24-24 with 5:34 left in regulation. UMS-Wright’s first four drives of the second half netted minus-8 yards.

Region Race

The win leaves UMS-Wright tied with crosstown rival McGill-Toolen for first place in the region, with Montgomery Catholic alone in third. After this week’s Battle of Old Shell Road with St. Paul’s, the Bulldogs play McGill-Toolen on Oct. 23 in a game that could decide the region’s top seed for the state playoffs.