During the long, hot, dog days of August, the Prattville High School coaching staff preached the gossip of conditioning to their team.

Work harder than anyone else, the coaches preached, especially in the weight room, and with your conditioning you’ll be in better shape than your opponent. If you do this you’ll win the fourth quarter.

Friday night on a miserably cold night in Bulldog Stadium at Opelika, the sermon reaped benefits.

Prattville came out for the second half with the score knotted at 6-6. Reaching back for something extra, the Lions took control, holding the ball for 17 minutes and 35 seconds, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal to escape Lee County with a 23-16 win over Opelika.

With the win, Prattville rolls on to the Super Six in Birmingham, where the Lions will face nemesis Hoover Saturday at 3 p.m.

Opelika only had the ball for six minutes and 25 seconds the second half. The Bulldogs did score a touchdown; but it was gift-wrapped for them, the result of a poor 26-yard punt out of the Lions’ own end zone. Opelika also added a late field goal with less than a minute on the clock.

“We wanted to try and take Albert away, but Smith was really good. We just had trouble with them,” McCracken said. “Offensively they were really good and ÿ
didn’t turn the ball over."

“I can’t say enough about our effort tonight,” Prattville head coach Bill Clark said following the game. “Our backs, our linemen and receivers all did a great job. We had to have everybody contributing to keep playing. The assistant coaches had them ready to play.

“I am concerned about the breakdown in our kicking game; we’ll certainly have to improve on that. We just need to go and work hard this week, to get better and get ready to play a great team Saturday.”

The game took a bad turn for the Lions on their second possession in the first quarter. Holding Opelika to three and out with 7:28 left in the quarter, the Bulldogs were forced to punt.

Justin Albert returned Cody Daniel’s punt 73 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back for a blocking in the back penalty.

Prattville instead took over at its own 34, where the offense bogged down and Josh Allen came into punt.

The snap sailed over Allen’s head down to the 10-yard line, where he chased it down and attempted to punt. The punt traveled only a couple of yards beyond the line of scrimmage and out of bounds. Opelika took over at the Lion 17.

Opelika scored in four plays with quarterback Brandon Dowdell plowing over from the 1. William Albert blocked Brockman Sanders’ extra point attempt. Opelika led 6-0 with 2:42 left in the quarter.

The two teams traded punts on their next possession, with neither making any significant offensive noise. With 10:01 left in the half, Opelika punted out of bounds to the Lions’ 24.

Prattville began a 75-yard, nine-play drive that ended in frustration at the Bulldogs’ 1-inch line. The highlights of the drive were a 12-yard pass to Jeremy Shannon from Smith, and a 50-yard run by Smith to the Opelika 14-yard line.

Prattville had a first and goal at the Opelika 3-yard line. But the Bulldogs’ defense stepped up and held the Lions out of the end zone on four downs. Smith was stopped inches short of the goal.

Opelika couldn’t move the ball, and was forced to punt out of the end zone, Cody Daniel’s punt went out of bounds at the Bulldog 26 with 2:13 left in the half.

This time, the Lions would not be denied. It took eight plays with Albert scoring from the 7-yard line. Brian Egan’s extra point attempt was wide left, as the half ended knotted at 6-all.

In the second half, the Lions began to flex their muscles. Justin Albert took the second half kickoff and returned it 21 yards to the Prattville 29. From there, Prattville embarked on an 18-play, 71-yard drive that ate up seven minutes and 46 seconds of the clock.

Using a balanced attack — eight passes and 10 rushes — the Lions scored with Albert racing in from the 5-yard line. Egan’s extra point gave Prattville a 13-6 lead. The highlights of the drive were two completions from Smith to Albert, one for 20 yards and the other for 11 yards.

The ensuing kickoff was short and traveled only 37 yards. Opelika got one first down into Prattville territory, but the drive fizzled there.

Daniel’s punt was downed at the Prattville 1-yard line. Smith threw two incomplete passes and one rush netted no yards. Allen’s punt traveled only 26 yards.

On first down Dowdell kept, turned right end and raced untouched into the end zone. Sanders kicked the extra point to tie the game at 13-13 with 45 seconds left in the quarter.

On the kickoff, Albert returned 32 yards to the Lion 39. A 5-yard facemask penalty moved the ball to the 44. Larry Smith scrambled for eight yards to the Opelika 48 as the quarter came to a close.

Prattville continued the drive to a first down at the Opelika 21, where the drive stalled. On fourth down, Brian Egan kicked a 38-yard field goal for a 16-13 lead with 8:29 left.

The Bulldogs took the kickoff and began a steady drive, ripping off two first downs to the Prattville 36. Dowdell hit Mike Motley with a 27-yard pass, and then Joseph Wilson had his longest run of the evening, a 20-yarder to the Lion 36.

Prattville took a time out. When play resumed, Wilson was tackled for a 5-yard loss by Dedrick Thomas. On the next play Reggie Dozier plucked Dowdell’s pass at the Lion 22.

With 6:05 left in the game, Prattville began to hammer on the coffin lid. On first down, Albert blasted off-tackle for 30 yards to the Opelika 48. Albert added eight yards on two carries; Smith netted the first down with a three-yard scramble.

Albert rushed for six more yards on two trips, and Smith added three. On fourth and one, and 2:07 remaining, Albert quickly lined up at quarterback. The weary Bulldogs were slow in getting to the line of scrimmage, and Albert took advantage, taking the snap and scooting off right tackle untouched for the game-winning touchdown.

“I caught them. They weren’t down, so I called a quick snap and it worked,” said Albert. “We worked too hard to quit playing tonight. Big-time players make big-time plays in a big-time game.”

Opelika didn’t quit. Marquez Strickland took Egan’s kickoff and returned it 32 yards to the Opelika 38. Dowdell found Chico Canady at the Lion 13 with 36 seconds left. Dowdell lost two yards, and two passes fell incomplete. On fourth down Sanders kicked his second field goal.

Opelika attempted an onside kick, but it was cradled by Ryan Camp at the Lions’ 46. Larry Smith ran out the clock, and Prattville was on its way to Birmingham and the Super Six for the second time in three years.