Hale County shakes up AHSAA 4A playoff race with late fake punts vs. Sipsey Valley

BUHL - Just one week ago, Hale County was emotional following a region loss to West Blocton, thinking its 4A playoffs hopes were over.

But the door is still open.

The Wildcats won at Sipsey Valley, 32-24 on Friday night, in one of the most unlikely ways to cause chaos in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in 4A-Region 3. In a fourth quarter of a tie game, Wildcats junior Erius Hamilton converted two fake punt runs on scampers of 22 and 23 yards.

Hale County coach Ryan Locke did not know of the plans for the first fake. Hamilton, a speedster who serves as punter, and running back Jay Brown decided to to make the call after the special teams unit took the field.

The conversion led to the game-winning score, a 33-yard run by Keavious Manson.

Hale County (4-5, 3-4) stalled after Hamilton’s second fake punt, but he pinned Sipsey Valley (4-5, 3-4) deep in its own territory. Two plays later, Sipsey Valley quarterback LJ Cormier was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, an automatic safety to stretch the lead to eight points.

“We got a lot of leaders on the team,” Hamilton said. "I try to be like the brother of the team to keep everybody up when they’re down. I just try to keep everybody on their feet, heads high.”

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Hale County didn’t have an answer to Sispey Valley receiver Wyatt Bailey in the first half, but overcame a 17-14 halftime deficit.

"Honestly I told them we're playing a little bit for pride right now, we're playing for the seniors," Locke said. "And also I want to see how we're preparing for next year. If we get into the playoffs that's extra practice for next year. And who knows what happens if we get in the playoffs."

The win doesn’t, however, mean the Hale County is confirmed for the playoffs. It’s actually still on the outside looking in because of AHSAA tiebreaker rules.

Hale County, Sipsey Valley and Montevallo (3-6, 3-4) are all tied with identical region records. Neither team defeated both other two, which would have solved the tiebreaker.

Sipsey needed just a win over Hale County to clinch its berth with a 4-3 region record. It couldn’t because of sloppy tackling and technique on defense and an offense that stalled when it needed the most.

The three-way tie will come down to whose defeated non-region opponents have the most wins. Hale County and Sipsey Valley each have one non-region win, and both their defeated opponents have three wins, Greensboro (3-7) and Oak Grove (3-6) respectively.

Montevallo doesn't own a region win and the only team left on its schedule is Tarrant (2-7). It's mathematically eliminated.

Hale County's points in this tiebreaker are essentially locked at three wins for two reasons. Greensboro can't earn any more wins because its season is finished with 10 games played. Secondly, next week, Hale County faces powerhouse Gordo, the No. 2-ranked 3A team in the state, and is expected to lose.

Sipsey Valley is still in the driver's seat. Its defeated non-region opponent, Oak Grove, plays Carbon Hill (1-8), which has been outscored by 246 points this season. If Oak Grove wins, Sipsey Valley wins the 4 seed that way.

Sipsey Valley can also clinch the 4 seed by beating Northside (7-2, 5-2), which has uncharacteristically struggled in region games and has also had trouble defending capable passing attacks, which Sipsey Valley has.

"We wanted there to be no doubt. We played hard," Bears coach Joey Milligan said. "I don't think we played smart, didn't really play good defensively ... These kids are really hurting. They've had a long, hard season and overcome a lot of adversity."

Should Oak Grove lose to Carbon Hill and Sipsey Valley lose to Northside, Sispey Valley and Hale County would almost certainly tie with one defeated non-region opponent with three wins.

Hale County would then win the 4 seed because it owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Sipsey Valley because of its comeback. What started as a simple race quickly turned into a mess. Buckle up.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Hale County uses late fake punts to shake up AHSAA 4A playoff race