Austin pulls away from Athens for 38-16 win

Published 10:52 pm Thursday, October 31, 2019

Austin scored two late touchdowns to hold off a comeback attempt by Athens and take a 38-16 victory in a non-region game Thursday night.

Up by eight points, Austin running back Jevon Jackson scored on touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards in the fourth quarter to fend off the Golden Eagles, who had trimmed a 24-0 halftime deficit to just eight points.

Jackson finished the game with 137 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries.

Austin jumped out to that big lead thanks to two first-half touchdown passes from quarterback Quincy Crittendon. The first one came on Austin’s first drive. He checked down to Tybo Williams on a screen pass, and Williams made multiple defenders miss on the way to an 82-yard touchdown.

Crittendon’s second touchdown was a 22-yard strike to wide receiver Tre Shackelford to put Austin up 14-0.

The Black Bears kicked a field goal before the half. Then, Jackson opened up the second half with a 4-yard touchdown that came right after he sprinted 45 yards into the red zone.

Athens came out a different team in the second half, and went to work cutting into the Black Bears’ lead. Jaelen Cates had touchdown runs of 30 and 23 yards in the third quarter to cut the lead to 24-16 after both 2-point conversion attempts were successful. Cates finished with 83 rushing yards in the game.

However, Austin had two interceptions and a physical running game to make sure it not only hung on, but expanded the lead in the fourth quarter to take the win.

Athens finished the regular season with a 7-3 record and will host Buckhorn in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs next Friday.