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Leroy makes state finals The Leroy Bears made their second consecutive trip to the eastern part of Alabama as they came away with a 34-7 surprise blow-out victory of Houston Academy. The Leroy Bear defense held back-of-the-year candidate Stanley Jones to 46 yards on the ground for the night. “We probably played our best football of the season against Houston Academy on Friday night,” said Leroy Head Coach Danny Powell. “Every aspect of our team played their best.” Leroy came out of the locker room in Dothan ready to play some hard-nosed football as they jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Clint Moseley to Johnny Williams. Paul Gartman added his PAT. The Bears quickly added another touchdown as Ronald Bracy found a hole for an 18- yard touchdown scamper with 2:23 left in the first. Gartman nailed his extra point. The eventual 2A south-region champions added one more score before intermission on a 7-yard touchdown run by Moseley. Gartman added the PAT to make it 21-0. Houston Academy added their only score of the ball game1-yard run up the middle on fourth and goal by Jones. The Raiders added the extra point to make it 21-7 with 2:19 left until halftime. After exchanging punts, Leroy would add another score with 2:59 remaining in the thirdon a 4-yard touchdown run by Ronald Bracy. The Raiders got the ball back to hopefully get back in the game. Those hopes looked promising after a 62-yard run, but those hopes diminished after Leroy’s Josh Trotter grabbed a huge interception and returned it to their own 9- yard line. Following the Leroy interception, the Bears held on to the football for over 10 minutes as they ended the drive on a 9- yard touchdown run by Detrick Powell. Gartman’s PAT missed just slightly to send the score to 34-7 with 3:08 remaining in the semi-final contest. The Leroy Bears look for a rematch from the state championship from two years ago against the Bobcats from Woodland. In this meeting, Leroy will be the visiting team and will occupy the visitor’s section of Legion Field in Birmingham. The Bears look to erase the previous memory of playing at Legion Field when Gordo defeated them in 2001, 14-7. The Bears will be in the 2A state championship game for the third time in six seasons. The Bears also set new means by making it to the semi-finals for three consecutive seasons and to the quarter-finals for five out of seven seasons.
“Woodland has an outstanding group of players,” said Powell. “Their noseguard will probably be the best we have seen all season. Coach Larry Strain’s son, Trae, is a great player. He can run and he can catch the ball very well. He is also the leader in tackles and interceptions on the team.”
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