Kimbrell's heroic TD lifts Eagles to thrilling victory

ALABASTER – Oak Mountain High School sophomore quarterback Jackson Kimbrell said he was living on a prayer during the final play of his team’s Friday night matchup at Thompson.

It got answered.

With 3.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and his Eagles trailing 28-24, Kimbrell rolled out to his left, wound his left arm behind his shoulder and floated a wobbling, 22-yard spiral over a wall of outstretched arms into the hands of his teammate, Ethan Duncan.

“Man, I’ve just got to get it up there, hope God does some work for you,” Kimbrell said of the play. “That’s all you got to do.”

The game-winning, end-of-regulation touchdown pass lifted Kimbrell’s Eagles (2-3, 2-1 Class 7A, Region 3) to a momentous 30-28 victory over region foe Thompson (2-2, 1-2) on the Warriors’ homecoming night at Larry Simmons Stadium.

“The kids hung in there. We’ve been preaching all week: believe, believe, believe, and they did,” Oak Mountain head coach Cris Bell said. “We fell behind early – just proud of the way, especially defensively – the way we battled back and made plays when we had to.”

Oak Mountain didn’t hold a lead the entire game until the game clock donned double-zeros. The Eagles climbed out of two early 14-point holes, jogged to the halftime locker room tied at 21-21 and then stagnated through the next 23 minutes of action.

Thompson limited Oak Mountain’s offense to two first downs in the second half until the Eagles’ 50-second, 75-yard drive in the game’s final minute.

“They made some adjustments at halftime that we didn’t react very well to,” Bell said. “I thought we probably tried to get away from what we were trying to do.”

What the Eagles did in the first half was rush for three, second-quarter touchdowns in a span of four drives. Relying primarily on the ground game, Oak Mountain received two TDs (of 12 and 2 yards) from running back Daniel Salchert and one from fellow back Jaylin Gaines (2 yards).

Unable to find the same momentum in the second half, the Eagles relied primarily on timely plays, courtesy of its defense and special teams.

Oak Mountain’s Carson Bobo recovered a Thompson muffed punt on the Warriors’ 17-yard line early in the fourth quarter. The recovery set up a Nick Carney 30-yard field goal with 10:39 to play.

The Eagles forced three turnovers on the night – two in the first half, plus Bobo’s recovery. Bell said it was the first time all season his team won the turnover battle.

“We’ve got to continue to generate and create turnovers, and that’s probably the difference in the game,” Bell said, “because if we don’t get those, they probably get one more score.”

Carney’s successful attempt trimmed Thompson’s lead to 28-24. Toward the end of the third quarter, the Warriors had pushed ahead on a designed screen pass from quarterback Caleb Ragland to wide receiver Sam Holmes that went for a 71-yard touchdown.

Thompson looked poised to maintain its advantage until the final buzzer, as the Warriors’ defense produced a critical defensive stop with less than six minutes to play. Oak Mountain owned a first-and-goal from the 6-yard line, but couldn’t punch it in. An errant pitch on fourth-and-goal from the 3  resulted in a turnover on downs.

Thompson drained the clock over the next four-and-a-half minutes, as it moved the ball deep into Eagles territory.

But Oak Mountain’s defense delivered a back-against-the-wall stand when it had to, preventing Thompson from converting on fourth-and-4 in the Eagles’ red zone.

Oak Mountain assumed possession at its own 25 with 50 ticks remaining, and Kimbrell took over from there. Shifting to the shotgun formation – a rarity for a Bell-coached team – Kimbrell completed a 22-yard pass to wide receiver Noah Egan on the drive’s first play.

“He showed, for a sophomore, a tremendous amount of poise,” Bell said.

A Thompson mental mistake helped, too.

The Warrior defense snatched a pick-six on one of Kimbrell’s ensuing pass attempts, but it was called back due to a pair of roughing the passer and illegal participation penalties.

Given a second chance, he fired a 15-yard completion across the middle to his running back, Salchert.

Positioned at the Warriors’ 17-yard line, Kimbrell then made what was thought to be the game-clinching TD pass.

The signal-caller lobbed a ball to Egan in the back, right corner of the end zone for an apparent completion, but that too was nullified due to the Eagles sending an illegal man downfield.

But on the following play, Kimbrell connected with Duncan, who was streaking across the back line of the end zone.

“It’s a player’s dream,” Duncan said of his reception. “Best feeling in the world.”

Kimbrell finished the game 9-of-12 passing for 137 yards and one touchdown. He also led the team with 69 yards rushing.

“Coach Bell’s telling us, the later we play, the longer we play, the better we get, and you’ve got to dive in with him,” Kimbrell said. “He knows what he’s doing.”

Oak Mountain gets a bye next Friday, but will return to action on Friday, Sept. 30. The Eagles will host Hoover at Heardmont Park.