As one of the most tradition rich football programs in north Alabama, Athens usually finds itself in the playoff mix this time of year.

Senior defensive lineman Alfred McCullough said the Golden Eagles’ players are well aware of the program’s tradition, and they take pride in making sure the football tradition at Athens continues to grow.

Athens added another chapter to its storied football tradition Friday when the Golden Eagles knocked off No. 2-ranked Fort Payne (11-1) 41-7 to advance to the Class 5A quarterfinals for the third consecutive time.

“We have a lot of football tradition here at Athens, especially in the playoffs,” McCullough said. “We take a lot of pride in what we do, so we expect a lot out of ourselves. It means a lot to be a Golden Eagle this time of year.”

The Golden Eagles travel to Hartselle – who beat Athens 35-31 earlier in the season – Friday for the quarterfinals. All four playoff teams from Class 5A, Region 8 advanced to the quarterfinals.

“We’ve known that Region 8 was one of the toughest 5A regions in north Alabama,” Athens coach Allen Creasy said. “From top to bottom, the competitive level in our region was very high. You could put Decatur and Muscle Shoals in another region and they probably could have been playoff teams. It’s tough to get in the playoffs in Region 8, but if you get in you’re probably going to make some noise. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me that all four of our teams are still playing.”



Building tradition

Over the past few seasons, East Limestone has been gradually building its own football tradition. Former Indians coach Phil Cavnar – who died from heart failure before the start of last season – began to lay the foundation at East Limestone by establishing the Indians as a perennial playoff contenders. Michael Cavner carried on that tradition last season, guiding the Indians’ to one of the best season’s in the program’s history by advancing to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs to finish with a 9-3 record.

With first year coach Jeff Pugh at the helm, East Limestone took the next step in becoming a legitimate state championship contender by knocking off previously undefeated Tarrant 26-18 to advance to the Class 4A quarterfinals.

One of the primary reasons for the Indians’ run in the playoffs this year is the play of junior running back Jonathan Pinque, who rushed for 212 yards and scored two touchdowns in Friday’s second round win. Pinque ran for 107 yards and scored the only touchdown of the game in East Limestone’s 6-0 win over Cherokee County in the first round of the playoffs.

East Limestone faces another big task this week when the Indians’ host Guntersville – who knocked off Brooks 28-14 Friday.



Big-time defense

In order to slow down Fort Payne’s high-powered offense, Creasy knew Athens would need a solid performance from its defense. The Wildcats entered Friday’s matchup averaging 39.5 points per game.

The Golden Eagles’ defensive unit responded to the challenge, holding Fort Payne to 190 yards and one touchdown. Creasy wasn’t surprised at how well Athens’ defense performed.

“I’m extremely pleased with how our defense played,” he said. “With the exception of one big play, our guys played exceptional. Our guys knew what Fort Payne was capable of doing offensively, and they looked at it as a challenge. I have to say they responded.”

Athens defensive lineman Karlos Jones said the Golden Eagles’ gameplan was to try and create turnovers by playing physical defense and maintaining constant pressure on Fort Payne quarterback Slade Smith. The strategy worked to perfection as the Wildcats had five turnovers – five fumbles and three interceptions – and Smith was sacked five times in the loss.

“We knew if we came out and hit them in the mouth, then we could get them to cough the ball up,” Jones said. “We knew they had scored a lot of points, but we also don’t think anyone had attacked them the way did. Getting that many turnovers was huge because they couldn’t ever get any momentum on offense.”



Stepping up a notch

Creasy said Athens 41-7 win over Fort Payne was impressive, but he still doesn’t believe the Golden Eagles have played their best game of the season yet.

He said if the Golden Eagles were going to advance this week, they would need to play their best against Hartselle.

“We played a pretty good game Friday, but I still don’t think we’ve played our best,” Creasy said. “We still had too many turnovers and you usually can’t do that if you’re going to win in the playoffs. We’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the football. We’re going to work on that this week in practice.”