Moody Secures a Year’s Worth of Braggin’ Rights

By Michael Mee/The Leeds News

Last week the Moody Blue Devils got a win over their cross-bridge, city rival in the Leeds Green Wave 7-6 last Thursday night to close out the regular season.

After the game, Moody’s head coach Brandon Wiley talked about the lead up to the game and what he told his team from the time he took over.

“The kids just never gave up,” Wiley said of their performance last week. “When I got the job… I told the kids you’ve just got to get one cookie at a tie and quit grabbing for a handful and trying to fix all your problems at one time. Fix one at a time. That’s what I told them from the start. But I knew being good to the kids [would work]. Good things happen to good people and we’ve got good kids.”

St. Clair County Superintendent of Education Jenny Seals joined Wiley on the field after the game. “I’m so proud of you,” she told Wiley before giving him a big hug.

Wiley, who has been with the Blue Devils for a decade, said that although there is a size difference in the schools now, it still feels like a regional matchup when the two teams hit the field together.

“It’s a region game because Moody hasn’t been around long enough [in 5A],” said Wiley, who was in high spirits after the win. He acknowledged the fans in the stadium and talked about his staff and the short amount of time they had to get the guys in shape in the pre-season.

“In these people’s minds it’s a region game. They’ve never beat them… and with an interim coach and a late hired coaching staff… in my book it’s a region game,” he said with Seals at his side.

Wiley touted the Moody defense and their performance at Leeds and at Sylacauga three weeks ago. He said the D-line were “unbelievable” in their recent performances. He said that he put “playoffs” on the wall in the Blue Devil locker room

“There’s a lot of teams that run the football and throw the football, but it all reverts back to playing good defense and running the ball and not turning the ball over,” Wiley said.

Wiley talked about the lead up to the game, which in the past could get quite heated.

“My hats off to that bunch right there,” he said pointing to the fans in the stadium, just after the Green Wave and the Blue Devil players had embraced one other and told their rivals, “good game.”

He shared what he told Leeds’ head coach Keith Etheredge when the players were meeting on the field after the game. “I told Keith, ‘We acted like two teams that are five miles away that play football. We haven’t had any problems, we haven’t had any Internet stupid-ness and we haven’t had any personal fouls in the game.’”

Etheredge echoed Wiley’s sentiments and noted that for three weeks strait, his team had last minute, hold-your-breath endings. “We just came up short this time. It’s hard to do it every time. We had a late opportunity and Keaton got all his leg into it, but it came up short. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times,” he said referring to a close, fourth down ball spot. “You know, I’ve never seen a referee get out to measure with a wallet; I always thought you were supposed to use a credit card. When he did the wallet, it hit the ball, so I don’t understand what that was. We had a couple of tough calls. We had two touchdowns called back. We had our chances, we just shot ourselves in the foot.”

How it went down

Nine times Leeds and Moody got together on the grid iron, and nine times the Green Wave walked away winners. If you read the stats from last week’s game, with Leeds’ 253 yards of total to Moody’s 71 yards of total offense, it might look like another Leeds blow out. But that was not the case on that night.

The opening drive looked promising for the Green Wave. Starting from their own 37 yard line, Rush Perkins handed off to Dedrick Forsythe and he ran through defenders for thirty four yards. Perkins followed with an eight-yard gain. The Green Wave drove deep into Blue Devil territory; but the drive stalled out and Keetan Glass converted on a twenty seven yard field goal. With 8:02 left in the first quarter Leeds led 3-0.

Leeds stopped the Blue Devils in three plays on their first drive of the night, forcing a punt. Leeds took over from their own 46 yard line. Leeds took to the air some on their next drive.

Three plays into that drive, Perkins hit Jonathon Rose for a 13-yard gain and a Leeds first down. Two plays later he connected with Shane McGinnis for an 11-yard gain. Leeds found themselves at the Moody twelve yard line, but a penalty backed them up and forced them to try and thirty seven yard field goal. Glass made another field goal and Leeds led 6-0 after the first quarter.

Moody started the second quarter first and ten at the Leeds 37 yard line. The workhorse on the drive, Brandon Hicks, kept the ball moving for the Blue Devils.

Moody quarterback Brett Owens also completed two big passes during the drive: one to Brandon Watson for eight yards to keep the drive alive and one to Cory Payne also for eight yards. That second eight-yard pass set Moody up first and goal at the Leeds five. Hicks fought his way into the endzone for a five-yard touchdown, and with the extra point Moody led 7-6 after the first half.

The third and forth quarters saw the Green Wave moving the ball once again, but Moody’s D-line and penalties at the worst time killed Green Wave drives and touchdown runs.

A touchdown run by Forsythe was called back on an apparent formation penalty. The biggest penalty came in the forth quarter. Leeds looked to put together its third game-winning drive in as many weeks.

Leeds had the football at their own 33 yard line. Ladarius Rogers started the drive off with a nine-yard gain. Runs of four, three and four yards by Forsythe set Leeds up at the Moody 49 yard line.

Perkins tossed the football off to Rose and he raced around right end 49 yards to the house for a touchdown, but a holding penalty bought the touchdown back. Facing forth and eight at their own 49 yard line with 3:08 left in the game, Shane Mcginnis hit Rush Perkins for a 12 yard gain, and a Leeds first down. Leeds faced forth down once again this time at the Moody 37 yard line. McGinnis took the snap and stood calmly in the pocket and the raced for the first down, but fell two yards short, giving the ball over to Moody on downs.

The Green Wave had one more crack at the game after Moody was held around their own 25 yard line. Moody was set to punt. The ball was snapped over the punter Brandon Watson’s head and a mad chase was on for the football. Watson recovered the football in the endzone and ran it back to the line. The ball then belonged to the Green Wave.

With no time outs, Leeds quickly set up for a possible game-winning 37-yard field goal. The kick went up and just hit the cross bar on the bottom left side, inches from going over. Moody had done it. After nine straight losses to their archrivals.

Hicks led the way for the Blue Devils with 33 yards on ten carries. Dedrick Forsythe led the Green Wave with 104 yards on seventeen carries. Mcginnis had 34 all-purpose yards, 14 receiving, 18 rushing, and 12 yards passing. Glass converted on two field goals.