ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — Vigor went 3½ hours up the road to answer a question about itself, and its defense did most of the talking. The No. 3-ranked Class 4A Wolves smothered No. 5-ranked Class 5A Benjamin Russell and Alabama quarterback commitment Kingston Preyear on Friday night, winning 20-10 at Martin-Savarese Stadium in a game that was never as close as the final margin suggests.
Vigor’s defense held the Wildcats to 25 rushing yards, stopped them on all 10 of their third-down attempts and turned back two second-quarter trips inside the Wolves’ 20. A blocked punt set up the game’s first touchdown, and backup quarterback Jhi Brown put it away in the fourth quarter with two touchdown runs, the last a 54-yarder on fourth-and-1.
The win lifted Vigor to 4-1. Benjamin Russell fell to 3-2.
At a Glance
- Final: Vigor 20, Benjamin Russell 10
- Where: Martin-Savarese Stadium, Alexander City
- Records: Vigor 4-1; Benjamin Russell 3-2
- Rankings entering the game: Vigor No. 3 in Class 4A; Benjamin Russell No. 5 in Class 5A
- Key numbers: Benjamin Russell 0-for-10 on third down, 25 rushing yards (minus 6 in the second half)
- Vigor’s next game: at LeFlore on Thursday in a Class 4A, Region 1 matchup
A Defense Built for a Big Night
Preyear arrived as one of the most celebrated quarterback prospects in the South, and Vigor treated him that way. The Wolves limited him to 5 completions in 16 attempts for 142 yards. Seventy-two of those yards came on a single throw, a late touchdown pass to Jamichael Greer that came long after the outcome was settled.
The Wildcats could not lean on the ground game to take pressure off their quarterback, either. Benjamin Russell finished with 25 rushing yards, which Vigor’s numbers put at 225 yards below the Wildcats’ average coming in. After halftime, Benjamin Russell ran for minus 6 yards.
The most telling statistic may have been on third down. Benjamin Russell faced 10 third downs and converted none of them.
Leading the way up front was edge rusher Jabarrius “Chicken” Garror, a four-star prospect committed to Texas. Garror was credited with 2½ sacks, and even on snaps when he did not reach Preyear, he often chased him toward teammates, including four-star linebacker Isaac McNeil, an Auburn commitment.
Garror said the Wolves never gave Preyear a clean picture of what they were doing.
“We were just checking out of the coverages and showing different defenses,” Garror said. “Going into the week watching film, we knew what we needed to do to win this game. They’ve got a great quarterback, so we knew he was gonna have to do something different to win this game.”
He also brushed aside outside talk that the road setting favored the home team.
“We heard people saying they might win because we were on the road but we just let that go through one ear and out the other,” Garror said.
How Vigor’s Coaches Attacked Preyear
Vigor coach Renardo Jackson said his staff built the plan around taking away what Preyear does best: reading a defense before and after the snap and delivering the ball quickly.
“We tried to do a few things that we didn’t have on film just because we’re respecting his arm talent,” Jackson said. “On film, what popped off to us was his decision making. We tried to give him different pre-snap looks and some different post-snap because if he knows what you are doing, it’s hard to stop him. As you can see, he doesn’t need a lot of time to score points.”
That last point was proven on the 72-yard strike to Greer. For most of the night, though, the disguised coverages worked as designed. Preyear rarely found a rhythm, and Benjamin Russell’s offense never put together the kind of sustained drive that would have allowed it to lean on its quarterback’s arm.
Two Goal-Line Stands Before Halftime
The Wildcats’ best chances came in the second quarter, and Vigor erased both of them.
On back-to-back possessions, Benjamin Russell pushed into the red zone. Each time, the Wolves held on downs, stopping Preyear for no gain once at the Vigor 15 and again at the Vigor 7. Those two stops kept Vigor in front and, as Benjamin Russell’s coach acknowledged afterward, swung the game.
“That’s the game,” Wildcats coach Kirk Johnson said. “When we needed to make the big play right there to flip the momentum, the field position, all that, we just didn’t. Hats off to Vigor, they’re a really good team and a great defense. When it was time for them to make the play, they figured out how to make a play.”
How the Scoring Unfolded
Vigor’s special teams set the tone early. Branden Ball blocked a Benjamin Russell punt, giving the Wolves a short field, and quarterback Anthony Gill finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Zy Wilson.
That touchdown carried Vigor all the way into the fourth quarter, with the Wildcats managing only three points in the meantime. Then Brown took over.
- 11:55, fourth quarter: Brown scores on a 10-yard run to stretch the Vigor lead.
- 2:58, fourth quarter: Facing fourth-and-1, Brown breaks a 54-yard touchdown run to make it 20-3.
- Late fourth quarter: Preyear hits Greer for a 72-yard touchdown to account for the final 20-10 margin.
Brown’s fourth-down run was the kind of decision that says a lot about a coaching staff’s confidence in its team. Rather than punt and trust the defense to protect a two-score lead, Vigor went for it, and Brown turned a yard to gain into a game-sealing touchdown.
Brown has been a valuable piece all season. Earlier this month, he started in place of an injured Gill against Citronelle and threw two touchdown passes and ran for another in Vigor’s 42-8 win.
Winning Without Playing Clean
For all that went right, Vigor was far from tidy. The Wolves were flagged 12 times for 119 yards, a total that would have sunk plenty of teams against a ranked opponent on the road.
Jackson made that the centerpiece of his postgame message. Standing with his players on a rough, worn playing surface after the game, he told them the trip was about proving something to themselves.
“We’re drove 3½ hours to prove to ourselves,” Jackson told his players. “That is a good program with a good coach and staff. But we’ve got a good program with some good coaches too. From this point forward, we’re not answering that question.”
Then he turned to what comes next.
“Now we’re gonna work our butt off to play clean and perform like a great team every Friday,” Jackson said. “The day that we put together four clean quarters of football, somebody’s in trouble. This team can play with anybody in the state of Alabama. We’ve got to put together four clean quarters of football and we’re gonna keep working until we do that.”
Jackson’s Fast Start at Vigor
Jackson is in his second season leading the Wolves, and the win pushed his record to 16-4. That .800 winning percentage is the best start through two seasons by any coach in Vigor history.
His first season ended one game short of a title. Vigor reached last year’s Class 5A state championship game in Birmingham, where it lost 25-0 to Moody in a downpour. This fall, following the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s reclassification, the Wolves compete in Class 4A, and Jackson has made no secret of the goal: get back to the final and win it, preferably on a dry field.
Vigor knows the route. The Prichard school, which opened in 1944, has won state championships in 1987, 1988 and 2021, when it beat Oneonta 52-14 at Protective Stadium in Birmingham for the Class 4A crown. The program also reached the 2018 state final, losing by a single point.
The school has a long tradition of sending players to the next level. Its alumni include Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Robert Brazile, four-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Willie Anderson and Super Bowl champions Paul Crane and David Windham.
A Season That Has Tested the Wolves
Friday’s result was the latest chapter in a season that has already asked a lot of Vigor.
The Wolves opened with wins over Blount (28-7) and Mary G. Montgomery (47-3) before stumbling 21-19 at Orange Beach in the Class 4A, Region 1 opener. Vigor played that game without several key starters, including Garror and Wilson, who were suspended. Orange Beach stopped a two-point conversion attempt to hold on for the upset.
With its full roster back a week later, Vigor routed previously unbeaten Citronelle 42-8, then had a bye before the long trip to Tallapoosa County. The Wolves are 1-1 in region play; Friday’s game against Class 5A Benjamin Russell was a nonregion contest, but it gave Vigor a quality win to carry into the heart of its region schedule.
About Benjamin Russell
Benjamin Russell High School is part of Alexander City Schools and sits in the heart of Tallapoosa County, roughly 50 miles northeast of Montgomery. The Wildcats wear red, white and blue, and the program is best known nationally as the high school home of Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Terrell Owens.
Johnson took over the program in 2025. Before him, Danny Horn led the Wildcats from 2009 to 2018 before moving on to Clay County, where he won six state championships.
Benjamin Russell entered the night ranked fifth in Class 5A and had Preyear, one of the most sought-after quarterbacks in the region, running its offense.
What’s Next for Vigor
The Wolves do not have long to savor the win. Vigor returns to Class 4A, Region 1 play on Thursday at LeFlore, which improved to 4-2 on Friday night by beating Class 6A Alma Bryant 44-14.
Region 1 has been one of the most competitive in Class 4A this season. Top-ranked Williamson and Orange Beach are both in the mix, and Orange Beach is scheduled to meet Williamson on Oct. 2 in what has become one of the region’s marquee games. With Vigor already carrying one region loss, every remaining region date matters.
Garror, McNeil and the rest of the Wolves’ defense will face a LeFlore team that scored 37 straight points against Alma Bryant. If Vigor can match Friday’s defensive effort with the cleaner, penalty-free football Jackson keeps demanding, the Wolves will look every bit like the state title contender they believe themselves to be.
As Jackson put it to his players, the day they put together four clean quarters, “somebody’s in trouble.”
More From Alexander City
Vigor won despite being flagged 12 times for 119 yards, a number Jackson will want cut down before region play resumes. Benjamin Russell’s only points before the late touchdown pass came on Collin Murphree’s 38-yard field goal, which cut Vigor’s lead to 6-3 late in the third quarter. The Wolves answered with their best drive of the night, going 80 yards in seven plays, with Anthony Gill’s 35-yard rollout pass to Zy Wilson setting up Jhi Brown’s touchdown run five seconds into the fourth quarter.
On the second of Vigor’s two red-zone stops in the second quarter, Jabarrius Garror was joined by defensive backs Rashad Miles and Kelton Agee in bringing down Preyear; defensive lineman Cameron Williams made the first stop. Gill finished 12-of-15 passing for 131 yards, with one harmless interception.
“I saw the gap and I felt like I was way bigger and stronger than the person in front of me, so I blew right through him and got to the punter,” Branden Ball said of his first career blocked punt.